Jeff Nisker’s text, Calcedonies, is a play that deals with the lack of social services available to persons with disabilities in Canada (Nisker, 2010, p. 418). This play also uses Scott McCLoud’s (1993) notion of “amplification through simplification” (p. 30), to heighten the ill person’s lived experience by going beyond the written page to subjecting the audience to ‘sensorial impacts’ (Nisker, 2010, p. 418). The sets, facial expressions, music, costumes and other theatrical strategies help to convey the ill person’s emotions so that the audience can better understand their feelings. Module 3 in this health humanities course is about ‘Bodies on Stage’, and the lecture in which Nisker’s play was an ‘optional reading’, is a part of this module. …show more content…
Week 8’s lecture, ‘When is health care like a dramatic performance?’ has three assigned readings: two that are required – Rites of Bioethics and More Bodies: A Performance of Five (or More) Bodies – along with this optional play. Due to its limiting length, this paper will solely concentrate on the Tod Chambers’ paper Rites of Bioethics, in conjunction with Nisker’s Calcedonies.
Hence, this paper will make the argument that Jeff Nisker’s Calcedonies should be incorporated into future iterations of this course due to the following reason: it proves to be a necessary accompaniment to Chamber’s essay, Rites of Bioethics, by providing a solution to the flaw of this required text. The essence of Tod Chambers’ argument is that informed consent in our time (21st century) has been reduced to this legal transaction between medical practitioners/ researchers and their patients/ subjects. Chambers believes that this is a problem. When we understand informed consent as a kind of legal transaction, this basically extricates or provides some sort of immunity from liability on the health profession. He argues that this is not doing anything when it comes to creating a relationship between the researchers and their participants. There is no relationship being built and that is what is missing from contemporary experiences of informed consent. Chambers provides a solution to this problem, by stating that the time and the relationship of consent should be stretched out so that it instead of it being just ‘a moment of transaction’ between a physician and their patient, it should become “processual” (Chambers, 2014, p.368) – an ongoing process of consent where one can change their minds at any point in time – that is stretched out over the duration of the relationship. This idea that informed consent ought to be an ongoing consent of both parties having a partnership as opposed to a small moment of transaction, is precisely what Chambers believes should occur in the health system. He argues that we need to rehearse (practice) the ways in which this kind of relationship surrounding informed consent is possible. How does one go about accomplishing this? Unfortunately, Chambers does not provide an answer. This is a flaw in Chambers’ essay and a possible solution to this shortcoming is Nisker’s play, Calcedonies. Although Chamber’s essay draws attention to a relevant present-day issue in the health sector, provides a promising remedy, he fails to impart any instances as to what that would look like in the health settings. Basically, he just presents a nice idea without any substance. This could be remedied by re-classifying Nisker’s play from ‘optional’ to ‘required’. Calcedonies, is a play that explores a person-centred story of health, illness, and disability. More importantly, Calcedonies is a prime example of what Chambers’ ‘processual’ aspect of informed consent resembles in a health care setting. There are two characters in this play, Ruth – a quadriplegic whose illness narrative is being told – and Friend – a physician at Ruth’s hospital. In the beginning, the relationship between Ruth and Friend is that of a typical physician-patient relationship; however, due to Ruth’s condition, informed consent was not always an option presented to her by her doctors. An example of this can be examined in the following quote from the text: “FRIEND: ‘I also want to apologize For examining you last week when you were unconscious. [Pause] Without your permission’” (Nisker, 2014, p. 452). This quote was spoken by Friend, who was Ruth’s physician at the time. Friend’s words demonstrate the lack of a relationship being built out of the informed consent of nowadays between a physician and their patient. Chambers would agree that at this point of the play, there is not much of a relationship between Ruth and her doctor Friend, seeing as how he does not obtain her consent – or permission – before conducting examinations on Ruth’s body. It is not until Friend ceases to be Ruth’s physician and instead becomes her friend, that he begins to have the type of relationship that Chambers envisions would occur in all doctor-patient relationship. Upon becoming Ruth’s friend and terminating his role as her doctor, Friend begins to exemplify the instances of informed consent rehearsals in the healthcare setting that Chambers fails to demonstrate in his essay. From the moment Friend decides to be Ruth’s friend, the informed consent rehearsals begin; “FRIEND: ‘Because I want to ask your permission to visit you as a friend. You’re free to say ‘no,’ Or, if you say yes now, You can change your mind at any time.’ RUTH: He’s asking my permission in such a formal way, That I’m surprised he doesn’t shove a consent form in my face…” (Nisker, 2014, p. 453). Friend is a little rusty when it comes to asking for permission, which is why Ruth observes that he asks for permission in such a formal way – how doctor’s normally conduct informed consents. However, upon further opportunities to rehears the growing partnership between the two, Friend soon learns how to stretch the process of informed consent in their relationship. Here are some excerpts from the play that highlight this process: “RUTH: …Then he quickly asks my permission To introduce me to the students. FRIEND: ‘Not as a patient here but as your friend.” RUTH: He wants my permission again” (Nisker, 2014, p. 455). “RUTH: …He walks over, still smiling, And asks if he can ‘accompany me’ to the van” (Nisker, 2014, p. 457). “RUTH: … My strange-doctor friend catches up And asks my ‘permission’ to wait with me” (Nisker, 2014, p. 458). “FRIEND: ‘Would you give me permission to bring my children in to meet you?’” (Nisker, 2014, p. 464). Although Friend is no longer Ruth’s physician, but her “strange-doctor-friend” (Nisker, 2014, p. 469), Chambers would still argue that their relationship is one that physicians/ researchers and their patients/ participants should strive to emulate. Calcedonies, is a play that depicts what Chambers calls ‘processual’ informed consent; in which, the process of informed consent is constantly being rehearsed over the duration of the doctor-patient relationship.
Although, technically the relationship between Friend and Ruth is that of ‘doctor-friend’-patient, it is still relevant to Chambers ideas. As a matter of fact, their relationship provides a wonderful example of what Chambers failed to assert in his essay – which is the instances as to what ‘processual’ informed consent would look like in the health settings. Friend is a physician; hence, these interactions he has with Ruth are rehearsals/ practices for him that he can probably implement with his interactions with the other patients he attends to. Chamber’s paper, Rites of Bioethics, is a required text in this course; however, it is flawed because it omits an important component. Nisker’s play, Calcedonies, is the missing piece to Chambers’ essay. Calcedonies should be a required reading in this course, and not an optional reading, because it is a sensible accompaniment to Rites of
Bioethics.
These two essays are about two dissimilar disabilities. Nancy Mairs and David Sedaris act as examples of how an author’s writing can change the tone and meaning of a narrative. Mairs message was educational and encouraging as she explained her life with MS and how society sees her. Sedaris use of experience and memories portrays his life with obsessive-compulsive disorder; what he calls “tics”. These two writers take similar topics and pitch them in ways so the reader can see the illustration behind them.
Sarah Cullen and Margaret Klein, “Respect for Patients, Physicians, and the Truth,” in L. Vaughn, Bioethics: 148-55
In her essay “On Being a Cripple,” Mairs describes her path of acceptance of her multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis by declaring that she is a “cripple” in alternative to the more broadly acceptable terms: disabled or handicapped. Her essay is written with humor, satire, an open heart, and open eyes. Mair’s purpose is to describe her acceptances of her condition by using rhetorical elements and appeals, such as ethos and pathos, in order to allure her audience.
All these and more evidences used in the book support Peterson’s thesis and purpose—all of them discuss how having a disability made Peterson and others in her situation a part of the “other”. Her personal experience on media and
Throughout Rajiv Joseph’s play, Gruesome Playground Injuries, the two characters, Doug and Kayleen, sporadically meet throughout the course of 30 years due to injuries ranging from getting “beaten up pretty badly” (Joseph 31) to going into a “coma” (Joseph 27). The play starts out with the two characters first meeting in the school nurse’s office with injuries of their own. This is the start of a relationship that is full of pain and healing throughout the years. Told in a very unique structure of five year increments, the play shows how injuries, a reoccurring image that may be self-inflicted or inflicted upon one, bring the pair together when either is in a dire situation.
Nancy Mairs, born in 1943, described herself as a radical feminist, pacifist, and cripple. She is crippled because she has multiple sclerosis (MS), which is a chronic disease involving damage to the nerve cells and spinal cord. In her essay Disability, Mairs’ focus is on how disabled people are portrayed, or rather un-portrayed in the media. There is more than one audience that Mairs could have been trying to reach out to with this piece. The less-obvious audience would be disabled people who can connect to her writing because they can relate to it. The more obvious audience would be physically-able people who have yet to notice the lack of disabled people being portrayed by the media. Her purpose is to persuade the audience that disabled people should be shown in the media more often, to help society better cope with and realize the presence of handicapped people. Mairs starts off by saying “For months now I’ve been consciously searching for representation of myself in the media, especially television. I know I’d recognize this self becaus...
In the book, The Short Bus, Jonathan Mooney’s thesis is that there is more to people than their disabilities, it is not restricting nor is it shameful but infact it is beautiful in its own way. With a plan to travel the United States, Mooney decides to travel in a Short bus with intentions of collecting experiences from people who have overcome--or not overcome--being labeled disabled or abnormal. In this Mooney reinvents this concept that normal people suck; that a simple small message of “you’re not normal” could have a destructive and deteriorating effect. With an idea of what disabilities are, Mooney’s trip gives light to disabilities even he was not prepared to face, that he feared.
With Lisa I.Iezzoni’s reading, it showcases how disability is a without a doubt attached to discrimination of disability by separation of identity, people. It adheres to the moral reflection that people need to garner which emphasizes “cultural perspectives on health and illness, social justice, and the moral dimensions of patient encounters.” (Jones, Wear, Friedman, 2014) In turn, health and illness as depicted in a narrative can uncover the truth and contentions of a phenomenon through repeated phrase, metaphor and perspective as with the case of “Stand
This tone is also used to establish an appeal to pathos which he hopes to convince the audience of the fact that handicapped people are still people and not less than anyone else. A very prominent example of Peace’s emotion is displayed when he says, “Like many disabled people, I embrace an identity that is tied to my body. I have been made to feel different, inferior, since I began using a wheelchair thirty years ago and by claiming that I am disabled and proud, I am empowered,” (para. 15). This declaration demonstrates to his audience that Peace is honored by who he is and what disabled people can do and that he is tired of being oppressed by the media. Peace also makes this claim to support his thesis in the first paragraph that states, “The negative portrayal of disabled people is not only oppressive but also confirms that nondisabled people set the terms of the debate about the meaning of disability,” (para. 1). This is Peace’s central argument for the whole article and explains his frustration with society’s generalization of handicapped people and the preconceived limitations set on them. Peace’s appeal to pathos and tone throughout are extremely effective in displaying to his audience (society) that those who have disabilities are fed up with the limits that have been placed in the
The hardships of living with a disability are communicated using minor characters as props and how they are misconceived as being unintelligent or even abnormal. For example, a waitress suggests that Raymond is a “very clever boy”. Fascinatingly, she is the only minor character who treats Raymond with respect and sympathy, in contrast to Charlie and the general public who evidently takes advantage of his condition. In addition, the mise-en-scene composed of high key lighting and a wide-angle shot creates an ambient atmosphere, which makes it seem as if Raymond is unique, in contrast to abnormal or strange.(Cinematheque, 2010, p. 1). This conversation with the waitress shows that Ray’s disability makes him unique, in a positive way, especially because the general public seem to be uneducated about mental disabilities in this film; this is evidently shown where a man is seen screaming as Raymond, as he stands in the middle of a busy intersection. As a result, the director breaks down these misconceptions and generalisations about the, as if he is reprimanding that the disabled are a part of our society and that they should be treated with respect.
The two essays “On Being a Cripple” by Nancy Mairs and “A Plague of Tics” by David Sedaris are excellent pieces of work that share many similarities. This paper would reflect on these similarities particularly in terms of the author, message and the targeted audience. On an everyday basis, people view those with disabilities in a different light and make them conscious at every step. This may be done without a conscious realisation but then it is probably human nature to observe and notice things that deviate from the normal in a society. In a way people are conditioned to look negatively at those individuals who are different in the conventional
Steinbock, Bonnie, Alex J. London, and John D. Arras. "’Rights- Based’ Approaches." Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine. Contemporary Readings in Bioethics. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. 23. Print.
Shakespeare, T (2013) “The Social Model of Disability” in The Disabilty Studies Reader Ed Davis, L D. Routledge: New York
Applied Theatre work includes Theatre-in-Education, Community and Team-building, Conflict Resolution, and Political theatre, to name just a few of its uses. However, Christopher Balme states that “Grotowski define acting as a communicative process with spectators and not just as a production problem of the actor” (Balme, 2008: 25). Applied Theatre practices may adopt the following “theatrical transactions that involve participants in different participative relationships” such as Theatre for a community, Theatre with a community and Theatre by a community Prentki & Preston (2009: 10). Whereas, applied theatre one of its most major powers is that it gives voice to the voiceless and it is a theatre for, by, and with the people. However, Applied Theatre practitioners are devising educational and entertaining performances bringing personal stories to life and build
In the essay “Disability,” Nancy Mairs discusses the lack of media attention for the disabled, writing: “To depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of life is to admit that there is something ordinary about disability itself, that it may enter anyone’s life.” An ordinary person has very little exposure to the disabled, and therefore can only draw conclusions from what is seen in the media. As soon as people can picture the disabled as regular people with a debilitating condition, they can begin to respect them and see to their needs without it seeming like an afterthought or a burden. As Mairs wrote: “The fact is that ours is the only minority you can join involuntarily, without warning, at any time.” Looking at the issue from this angle, it is easy to see that many disabled people were ordinary people prior to some sort of accident. Mairs develops this po...