LIFE-HISTORY OR CASE-HISTORY - THE OBJECTIFICATION OF PEOPLE WITH LEARNING-DIFFICULTIES THROUGH THE TYRANNY OF PROFESSIONAL DISCOURSES

Case histories of people with learning difficulties tend to privilege information that is useful to professionals, such as IO and medical di agnosis. Such information allows professionals to slot people with lea rning difficulties into categories which inform 'treatment' and aid pr ognosis. Case records, as they are currently constructed, appear to fu rther silence an already oppressed group of people, and to objectify, pathologise and label them. The subjects of such case records do not a ppear to be treated as stakeholders in the case recording process: the ir voices are not represented in such writings. Case records do not ap pear to contain information about the lived experience of people with learning difficulties. Ignorance of the unique histories of people wit h learning difficulties is dehumanising and allows professionals to ps ychologically distance themselves. Once humanity has disappeared, it i s possible to treat people as 'objects' that can be controlled through 'respected' professional theories and their discursive practices.