Proving Self: The Problematic Imperative (Mainstreaming, Mentally Retarded, Integration, Phenomenology)
Bullock, Charles Cannon
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/70935
Description
Title
Proving Self: The Problematic Imperative (Mainstreaming, Mentally Retarded, Integration, Phenomenology)
Author(s)
Bullock, Charles Cannon
Issue Date
1985
Department of Study
Leisure Studies
Discipline
Leisure Studies
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Recreation
Abstract
This dissertation is an interpretive phenomenological study of the integration of mentally retarded and non-mentally retarded children in play settings. The study attempts to unravel and display the structures of the lived experience of mentally retarded children who are placed into play situations with similar aged non-mentally retarded peers.
The thesis of this inquiry is: mentally retarded children are placed into mainstreamed situations, are called upon to prove their competence, and are seldom able to carry out that mandate. They are bound by the perceptions and understandings that their labels imply. This dissertation explores that thesis by first presenting rich descriptions of instances of the experience of integration as it naturally occurs in recreation situations and then subjecting them to phenomenological processes in order to reveal the structure of the experience as it is lived and understood by the participant.
Because of differential taken for granted realities, inclusion of mentally retarded children into regular recreation/play settings requires mainstreamed mentally retarded persons to employ various interpretive strategies in order to even hope to fit into, and become a part of, the mainstreamed group.
These interpretive strategies are to either withdraw or attempt to prove self. Withdrawal, often the easiest response, is often the least employed response. There are two kinds of withdrawal: (1) episodic; (2) general. The other interpretive response to the proof mandate is to attempt to prove self through: (1) interactional passing; (2) interactional realignment; and, (3) interactional misrepresentation.
A summary of conclusions and recommendations, especially as they relate to organized recreation and play situations is offered at the end of this study.
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