MURPHYS CONTRIBUTIONS TO DISABILITY STUDIES - AN INQUIRY INTO OURSELVES

Robert Murphy's career, culminating in the study of disability, gives evidence of deep commitment to understanding the human condition in ad versity. His life-long interest in the psychological, sociological and cultural significance of behavior; his work on alienation, developed through fieldwork in small scale societies in South America and Africa ; his fascination with the estrangement that arises from the conflict between our need to integrate and to be autonomous; and his own experi ence of a progressive debilitating disease provided him with rich insi ghts for his interpretation of disability. This paper examines Murphy' s contributions to our understanding of the meanings and implications of disability, for those who personally experience it, and for the 'ot hers' in their lives.