Professional blindness and regimes of haste: Support of self-sufficiency in eating in institutional care for people with mental handicap (original) (raw)

Abstract

The text is an unpublished English translation of: Synek, M., and R. Carboch. 2014. "Profesní slepota a režimy spěchu: Podpora soběstačnosti při jídle v institucionální péči o lidi s mentálním znevýhodněním [Professional blindness and regimes of haste: Support of self-sufficiency in eating in institutional care for people with mental disability]." Biograf 60: 59 paragraphs. People living in “homes for people with health impairments” perform activities connected with the preparation, serving and eating of food at various degrees of self-sufficiency. Their autonomy in eating is influenced by their cognitive, sensory and physical abilities. But our observation of the assistance provided while eating also shows that self-sufficiency is negotiated – it is the result of an agreement between the client and the network of care, constituted not only by clients and carers, but also by technologies, rules, and the architecture of the surrounding “material” world. Self-sufficiency – in this case manifested as the ability to consume breakfast or lunch more or less independently – is not the client’s essential quality. It does not exist by itself, in a space formed solely by his or her “level of mental impairment”, but in a complex network of associations constituted by many human and non-human actors undergoing constant change. In the practice of institutional care for people with mental impairment we are frequently confronted with a situation characterized by a lack of time, individual approach, cooperation or the necessary resources indispensable for promoting self-sufficiency. We propose to describe this state of affairs – called “professional blindness” by the actors – not as an impairment of sight or judgment, but as an ordering of the network of care in which the space for promoting self-sufficiency is limited by accepted regimes of haste. The research described in the article focuses on several specific situations influenced by institutionalized regimes of haste and, together with the actors, seeks possibilities for their analysis and re-tuning.

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