Deck 15: B: Health,aging,and Disabilities

Question 1

Discuss two reasons for the increasing numbers of persons with disabilities in Canada today.

Answer 1

This increase is a result of two main factors.First,with advances in medical technology,many children born with a serious disability or many people injured in accidents are more likely to survive today than they were in the past.Second,as the population ages,a higher percentage of people are more likely to experience chronic diseases (such as arthritis)that may have disabling consequences.

Question 2

Discuss whether,given the definition of disability,obesity should be categorized as a disability.Do you agree with this categorization? Why or why not?

Answer 2

Answers will vary by student but should include an understanding of the definition of disability as a mental or physical condition that limits people's everyday activities and restricts what they can do and how this relates to obesity.

Question 3

Describe what is meant by the term medicalization and provide an example.

Answer 3

Examples will vary,but Answer:Answers should include an understanding of how health care professionals,drug companies,medical equipment companies,and indeed the entire medical establishment have a vested interest in sponsoring sickness to promote unrealistic health expectations that require more treatments and resources.Experts suggest that the health care system transforms pain,illness,and death from a personal challenge into a technical problem: medical practice removes the potential for people to deal with their health on their own and by doing so promote a new kind of "un-health." The point is not that these conditions may not be helped by medical treatments,but that we need to recognize that the boundaries of what is considered acceptable have narrowed over time.

Question 4

Explain the gap in life expectancy between Aboriginal people and the rest of the Canadian population and give reasons for the discrepancy.

Question 5

Name two ways in which alternative medicine poses a challenge to Canada's health care system.

Question 6

How does a post-structuralist theorist approach the concept of "aging"?

Question 7

Give two examples of how economic inequality affects people with disabilities.Which theoretical approach would be concerned with the inequality faced by people with disabilities?

Question 8

What are current Canadian attitudes regarding euthanasia? Do you agree? Why or why not?

Question 9

Compare and contrast systems of "socialized medicine" with "socialized insurance."

Question 10

Define ageism as a form of discrimination and give an example.

Question 11

Define the "sick role" and discuss expectations associated with it.

Question 12

Compare and contrast disengagement theory and activity theory.Which theoretical perspectives are they associated with? Which one do you agree with more and why?

Question 13

What does Foucault mean by his concept of biopower,and how does it relate to people's conceptions of their health?

Question 14

What is one reason that people in low-income groups could be found to be more likely to experience mental disorders than people in high-income groups?

Question 15

What is the basis for the feminist critique of "medical science"?