A Taste of Honey Essay Example for Free

A Taste of Honey Essay In a normal mother-daughter relationship a mothers part is to provide love and affection all the time. A mother should provide this love and affection even more when the daughter is feeling depressed and down in the dumps. A normal mother should care for her daughter when she is ill and nurse her back to full health. She should give her daughter advice when problems come up and her get through the problem by helping to come up with a solution. A mother should guide her daughter through life and prepare her for its challenges. A mother should learn from her mistakes and ensure that her daughter doesnt make the same mistakes. A mother should provide stability for her daughter. She should do this by giving her a good home in one place, by providing food and doing things like washing clothes for her. A mother should ensure that her daughter gets a good standard of education. She should encourage her daughter in everything she does and push her so that she achieves it to the highest standard. A mother should teach her daughter the differences between right and wrong so that it will give her a chance to build up her own set of principles in life. The most important thing a mother should do is give her daughter unconditional love and sacrifice her pleasure for the sake of her child. The daughters part in a normal mother-daughter relationship is to have respect for her mother and to not do things like calling her by her first name. A daughter should not take her mother for granted and should help her with the housework as much as possible. A daughter should take care of her mother when she is ill. At the start of the play Helen and Jo have just moved into a new flat. Immediately we see that Jo has a lack of respect for her mother, Helen. I know this because Jo calls her by her by her first name. JO: Can I have that chair, Helen? We see that Helen doesnt care about Jos well being and whether shes hurt or not. I know this because Jo wants to put a scarf around an unshaded light bulb and Helen just sits by and watches her burn her hand. JO: Can I have that chair, Helen? (Jo takes chair from Helen, stands on it and wraps her scarf round light bulb burning herself in the process) There are many examples of Helen not caring including the time when Jo wants to turn on the gas stove but she is afraid she will cause a gas explosion. Helen doesnt come and help her like a normal mother would but just gives her a stupid piece of advice. JO: Which knob do I turn? HELEN: Turn them all. Youre bound to find the right one in the end. In the play we also see that Helen is not teaching Jo the basic rights and wrongs of life. For example when Jo tells Helen that she has stolen some bulbs she doesnt tell her off like any normal mother would but she condones it. HELEN: Where did you get those bulbs? JO: the Park. The gardener had just planted about two hundred. I didnt think hed miss half a dozen. HELEN: Thats the way to do things. Helen doesnt care what Jo does with her life and whether she gets proper education or not. For example when Jo tells Helen she is going to leave school, Helen just tells her to do what she likes. HELEN: its your life. Ruin it your own way. A normal mother would have tried to persuade her daughter to finish school and get good qualifications. When Helen recognises Jos talent as an artist she just gives her daughter a backhanded compliment, whereas a normal mother would praise her and push her to go to art school. HELEN: I didnt know I had such a talented daughter. Look at that, its good isnt it? JO: Im not just talented. Im geniused HELEN: I think Ill hang this on the wall somewhere. Now where will it be least noticeable The above quote gives me the impression that Helen maybe wants to encourage her but doesnt know how to. Helen has provided no stability in Jos life. Jo was always moving houses and schools. JO: Too many schools and too many different places. This was because Helen was always running away from one of her fancy men. JO: Why did we have to come here anyway? We were all right at the other place. HELEN: I was fed up with the other place JO: You mean you were running away from somebody Helen is a bad influence on Jo and does not act appropriately in front of her. When Peter arrives she allows him to make sexual advances towards her and doesnt really do anything to stop it. PETER: Arent you wearing your girdle? HELEN: Now Peter PETER: Whoops! HELEN: Well you certainly liberate something in me and it definitely aint maternal instincts. A normal mother would do this sort of thing in private without the presence of her daughter. Another example of Helen being a bad influence on Jo is when she encourages Jo to drink. When Jo refuses Helen almost tries to force it down her. HELEN: have some of this if youre cold JO: You know I dont like it HELEN: have you tried it? JO: No HELEN: Then get it down you A normal mother wouldnt force her 15-year-old daughter to drink. Helen doesnt sacrifice her pleasure for Jo. For example she always throws Jo out of bed, every time one of her fancy men comes. JO: You should have asked him to stay. It wouldnt be the first time Ive been thrown out of bed to make room for one of your A normal mother would go somewhere else. Another example of this is when Helen decides to go to Blackpool with Peter for the weekend. She just leaves Jo to fend for herself with only a quid to live on. HELEN: Can you give us a quid, Peter? Id better leave her some money. We might decide to make a weekend of it and she cant just live on grass and fresh air. Jo is very insecure and is afraid of the dark. JO: Im not frightened of the darkness outside. Its the darkness inside houses I dont like This is probably because Helen left her alone a lot of times since she was a child. Jo is very possessive about her mother. JO: You leave me alone. And leave my mother alone too. This also shows she is insecure. As I said at the start of the essay about Jo not having any respect for Helen, Helen also doesnt have any respect for her daughter as she calls her names like a whore. HELEN: You know what theyve been calling you round here? A silly little whore Jo craves her mothers love and affection throughout the play and for most of the time she doesnt get it. Helen directs her love and affection to her fancy men and not to Jo, leaving her jealous. HELEN: Cant bear to see me being affectionate with anybody JO: Youve certainly never been affectionate with me. You have seen in the above examples about how Helen is not a good mother but Jo is not completely innocent. There are examples of Jo often trying to spite her mother deliberately and annoying her. One example is when she makes her mothers coffee as weak as she can, as she knows she likes it strong. PETER: What sort of coffee is this anyway? It an hardly squeeze itself through the spout HELEN: She always does that. Makes it as weak as she can as she knows I like it strong Between Helen and Jo there are sometimes fleeting moments of affection shared. An example of Helen caring is when Jo tells her mother that she is getting married at her age. Helen tells Jo that she should learn from her mistakes and not ruin her life by getting married. HELEN: Oh Jo, youre only a kid. Why dont you learn from my mistakes? It takes half your life to learn from your own. This is one of the few moments in the play where Helen is acting like a proper mother and giving the advice that she should give. When Helen and Jo are having this conversation they are at the point of having a heart to heart when they suddenly start having the normal banter that they do. This has happened often in the play and it gives me the impression that they cant communicate with each other properly and cant talk about their feelings openly. Throughout the play Helen often refers to Jo as she as if there is a third person in the room. Helen most often does this when she is frustrated with Jo. At a point in the play when Helen is arguing with Jo and is really fed up with her, she says HELEN: Youre asking for a bloody good hiding, lady. Just be careful. Oh shed drive you out of your mind A normal mother would talk to her daughter directly. Helen and Jo often have conversations a normal mother and daughter wouldnt talk about. They talk about things like sex. For example JO: He was thin, weak-chinned, with a funny turned up nose. HELEN: It wasnt the nose I was interested in. When Helen and Jo are in the same room together the atmosphere is always fraught and the pair are always making sarcastic comments to each other. For example HELEN: Do I look all right? Pass me my fur. Oh my fur, do you like it? JO I bet somebodys missing their cat. Helen has never given a second thought to Jo. As soon as a better offer comes along she would take off and leave Jo alone. This comes true when she gets married to Peter as she just leaves to go to live with Peter leaving Jo with no money and no support. Jo is all alone. In the time that Helen is away Jo becomes pregnant. The boy is gone and she needs someone to look after her properly. She finds that someone when she meets Geoff. He is a homosexual boy and he looks after Jo throughout most of her pregnancy. In other words he became a mother figure to Jo. He did all the things Helen should have done like the cooking, cleaning and teaching her things about the pregnancy. When Helen comes back she gets rid of Geoff. So as always a really good thing in Jos life has been short-lived and she is right back to where she started. Helen comes back because Peter has chucked her out. She has nowhere to go. This gives me the impression that Helen only sees Jo as a convenience. In conclusion this assignment proves that Helen and Jo have an abnormal mother-daughter relationship. There is a lack of respect between the pair and they cant communicate properly. They cant express their feelings towards each other even though deep down they do love each other. The assignment proves that that Helen is not a good mother and doesnt know any parenting skills. It also proves that Jo is a neglected daughter who craves her mothers love and affection. Having said that, Helen is not a completely bad mother and has given her daughter worthwhile advice sometimes and Jo has done some bad things to her mother sometimes. The title of the play is A TASTE OF HONEY and it means a little bit of sweetness in life. In the play Helen and Jo have A TASTE OF HONEY in their life. Helen got it from Peter. Jo got it from the boy and Geoff. It was short-lived and they ended up right back to where they started. I thought that A TASTE OF HONEY an interesting play and was quite sad reading about a daughter who was rejected for most of her life and a mother who didnt know how to be a good parent.

Perceptions of Parents With Down Syndrome

Perceptions of Parents With Down Syndrome A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE PERCEPTION OF PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH DOWN SYNDROME: THE CASE OF A FAMILY IN BAMENDA, CAMEROON AND A FAMILY IN LEUVEN, BELGIUM ABSTRACT Down syndrome is a form of disability which retards the growth of children. This form of disability is perceived differently in different cultures and these different perceptions affect the relationship between the rest of the family and the Down syndrome child. While some cultures see Down syndrome children as abnormal beings that have come back in human form to torment families, others see them as just children who have retarded growth and needs an extra help to grow in their own world. These different perceptions therefore enhance the type of treatment granted to these children by their parents. This article is based on evaluating the perception of parents with Down syndrome children within an African context and a Western context. Case study for the case of African will be based on my experience with Down syndrome children in Bamenda and other available literatures while that of the West will be based on ethnographic study with a family in Leuven. This research will examine the different views on the causes of Down syndrome and how this influences the relationship between the Down syndrome child and the family. Also, this article will analyze the type of treatment provided in these different cultural setting. INTRODUCTION Down syndrome most often is caused by trisomy due to no segregation of chromosome 21 in the formation of the oocyte or spermatocyte and it can also be caused by translocation of trisomy 21. This translocation takes place in instances where a piece of chromosome 21 becomes attached to another chromosome often number 14 during cell division. This disability occurs very often in 1 of every 1000 live birth children. This always leads to impairment in cognitive ability and physical growth which could be very mild of severed with some affected children. The recognition of this is very limited. A great number children suffer from Down syndrome disorder in the world today. Not all these children have the means of being diagnosed to know what they are suffering from due to socio economic reasons. Not being diagnosed is a major problem because it affects their development. The number of children who actually are diagnosed and given adequate treatment is greater in developed countries more than developing countries. The perception parents have about the cause, diagnosis and treatment of children with Down syndrome is an interesting aspect that has a great impact on the development of these children. In the light of different cultural point of view, biomedical and socio-cultural factors play a very important role. Betancourt Lopez, 1993 explains that cultural and familial factors are dynamic, non-static entities rather than objective social address variables impacting on child development. The immediate family is the first teacher of a child and their relationship influences the childs development. White and Hastings (2004), also adds that among other factors, the maintaining of positive perceptions of the child, along with optimistic attitudes, gaining information in order further to understand the nature of the condition, fostering family cohesion, and identifying, and gaining access to, support services are all important in the childs development. This is why parents perception about the childs disability whether being biomedical or socio-cultural has a tremendous impact on the childs development. While the modern context perceives biomedicine and other social problems as the cause of this disability, a purely traditional context perceives supernatural, magical, religious and metaphysical factors as the cause of this disability. This different perception affects the relationship between the child and the family and also influences the kind of treatment provided for the children. This article therefore is based on a comparative study on the perception of parents of children with Down syndrome using the case of a modern context and traditional context. Also, evaluating issue of social stigma which puts the disabled child in an inbetween space. OBJECTIVES Main objective To evaluate a comparative study on how different perceptions due to different cultural believes affect the development of Down syndrome children. Specific objectives To assess what the parents believe to be the cause of this disability. Investigate the type of treatment they give as a result of their different perceptions. Compare the social stigma faced DS children in the different cultural backgrounds. Finally to analyze the impacts of these diverse perception on the child development. RESEARCH QUESTION How do the perceptions of parents of children with Down syndrome affect the childs development? METHODOLOGY The perception of parent of children with Down syndrome is an interesting issue with diverse perceptions. These diverse views are influenced by different socio-cultural environment. All of these views have necessitated a multi- approach in collecting data for this article. The methodology therefore was divided into two parts considering the different cultural settings; Data Collection These included the ways in which data was collected from the field. Questionnaires (individual depth interviews), unstructured interview, key informant interview, lectures from class, group discussion, and participant observation were used to collect data from the family with the Down syndrome child in Leuven. I visited this very welcoming and hospitable family seven times and I was allowed to be an active participant observer. While the source of data for the traditional setting in Cameroon came mostly from past experience with the families of children with Down syndrome in a typical African traditional setting and also secondary data were used to collect data. The particular case I used was a child in my neighbourhood. The Perception of Parents of Children with Down Syndrome in a Tradition African Society In a typical traditional society, disability in general is not seen as normal thing. In most of these societies, disable people are not recognised as human beings but are attributed to different things. Not only do these societies have insufficient means of rehabilitating disabled people but they do not treat them as normal people and they suffer from chronic social stigma. This is also the case of children with Down syndrome. This chapter will present the case of Down syndrome children in a typical African traditional society where the people have a strong attachment to their cultural believes. Also examining how the peoples perception of the cause of Down syndrome affects their relationship with the child. Down syndrome is a disability that has been realised only of recent in most developing countries including Cameroon. Though this disability has been diagnosed in this part of the world, Down syndrome children are still widely seen as abnormal children. In my own town, they are considered as witches. They are believed to have come back to torment parents for one reason or the other. I will like to give a brief story of a Down syndrome child who was my neighbour in my home town. This young girl got married and became pregnant and had a normal pregnancy. She was a hairdresser and her husband a bus driver. During her pregnancy she was always advised not to walk at night because it is a common believe that pregnant women should not walk at night or else they will be possess by evil spirits. This womans job made her work late into the night and she had to trek back home every night from work. When she finally gave birth to a girl called Blandine after her due period, the first thing she noticed about Blandine is that she did not cry immediately she was born. This was abnormal but the doctors said she was ok. The child stayed in the incubator for about two weeks because she was not very active. As Blandine grew we discovered that she was not very active like other children. It became clear when she was about 5months because by then she could not seat not to talk of creeping. She started creeping when she was around 9months which was a very slow rate of growth sin ce she was actually suppose to be standing and trying to walk. Her growth rate was relatively low. Being in a traditional society with strong cultural believes different reasons where attributed for the cause of her retarded growth. When the child was 4months due to this slow development the mother consulted a woman who had being a traditional midwife and she was advised to use the bone of an elephant to strengthen the legs of the child and also to apply mbuma oil which is oil from a particular type of snake. She used all these but there was no improvement. The childs parent visited several other traditional herbalists who said different stories. Most of which said she had being possessed by an evil spirit since she walked late in the night during her pregnancy. For them the only thing she could do was to keep the child near a river so that she can return to where she came from. It is a common believe that when you place such children near a big river, after some rituals they turn into snake and return to the water where they came from. For Blandines parents it was very difficult to do such a thing to her, though this perception greatly affected their relationship with their daughter. At the age of 2year, the child had really grown very big and could not be carried around since she could not walk and there were no baby carriers to carry her. She was always abandoned at home alone for hours. We always heard that when she is alone she will play with other invisible witches or evil spirits. There were perceptions that some of these children turn into old people and eat all the food in the house when they are left alone. We always heard very strange stories about these children which frightened us and people around could hardly accept to carry the little girl. Other pregnant women never went near her because they feared she could possess them too. Other parents also restricted their children from going close to the girl. She was not treated like other children and was always neglected. What worsened the situation is the fact that she was always sick too. The general perception was that she became sick only when her father had money in other that the money will be spen t on her. The parents hardly took her to the hospital but often to a traditional herbalist who will demand several things in cash and kind. Other family problems between the couples were attributed to the child. After she had reached certain age, the coupled tried to have another child to no avail. It was therefore believed that this evil child had blocked the woman of the mother. She was always insulted and asked to go back to where she came from. They coupled had serious marital problems since they couldnt get another child knowing the importance of children in an African context. This little girl was never considered as a child but a burden and disgrace to the family. They family members and neighbours hated the child with much passion. Moreso, the child was maltreated because it was a common believe that if you treat such children well they will still come back if they happen to die and when you give birth to another child. So she was badly treated. The worst came when the father became seriously ill and finally died. All these considered as ill lock was attributed to the child and the hatred increased. At the age of 4 this little girl will be abandoned alone, she played alone and you co uld find her smiling to herself. All we knew was that she was smiling with her people of the spirit world. This little girl became very sick finally died at the age of 4years 3months merely due to ignorance and negligence. Before she died on the several visits to traditional doctors, she had being given a mark on her face. This mark will identify her if she should come back again. The mother was cleansed and purified by a diviner to prevent the child from returning. About a year later the mother became pregnant with her new boyfriend and according to them it was really the disabled child that blocked her womb. The little girl might have died of any of the diseases faced by children suffering from Down syndrome. She might have had one of the following; congenital heart defects, gastroesophageal reflux disease, recurrent ear infections, obstructive sleep apnea, and thyroid dysfunctions which are health problems associated with the disability. With such less medical care this health problem might have generated into a chronic disease which is what killed her. But due to the socio-cultural pe rception of the community in which this child found herself it was not discovered. The above therefore shows how the perception of these parents and the social stigma attached by community in general led to the untimely death of this little girl. This story is common in many parts of Africa especially in some rural areas where some of these children are even killed. Cultural influence has therefore a great impact on every disabled childs development. The Cameroon government and Non Governmental Organisations are trying to educate families and communities of children with this disability. Much still has to be done because sensitisation is mostly done in the urban areas, the people in most rural areas are still left with their traditional perception of this disability and many other disabilities. They still consider disability to be some sort of curse caused by supernatural and other mystical factors. An Ethnographic Study on the Perception of Parents of Children with Down Syndrome in a Contemporary Society In the contemporary world of today, many people try to work very hard so as to meet the high expectations and competition. Disability is seen as an impediment notwithstanding the fact that many disabled people are crossing the disable line, though many still remain in luminal stage. Robert Murphy (1987) confirms this by pointing out that people with disability in general exist in partial isolation from society as undefined, ambiguous people. They are neither here nor there, this is the case with the boy with down syndrome as he still suffers from stigmatisation. Down syndrome is a form of disability that has being diagnosed in many countries all over the world. Measures are there for put in place to help these disable children develop. This part of this article is based on an ethnographic study on a family in Leuven with a child disabled by Down syndrome. The main issue here is finding out the perception of the parents towards toward their disabled child and how it affects their family. When a child is diagnosed of Down syndrome or any other disability the family goes through different stages; there is serious morning and regrets at the beginning, then refusal and guilt follows and finally the if the parents still want the child they then accept the child but some parents do abandoned their disabled children and they are sent to the orphanage. This procedure is also experienced in my case study. This is a family made up of two children, a girl who is the first and a disabled boy called Ben. The mother is a teacher and the father a banker. Ben was born in June 2004 with 2.9kg through normal delivery. At birth the obstertrian had suspected he had this disability because of his facial looks and other associate symptoms and a week later he was diagnosed of Down syndrome. The mother too explained that before then she too had noticed that her son had a facial look which was not very straight like her first daughter had. The doctor explained to them the cause of the disability. And after carrying out a genetic counselling to find out the origin of the translocation, it was discovered that the extra copy of the chromosome 21 was from the mother. The doctor explained to them that this was possible because of the maternal age of child birth. The mother had the second child when she was 42years. At the age of 40 the woman has the chances of 1 in 100 and the chances by the age of 42 inc reases to 1 in 60 which was the case of this family. I asked the parents what their reactions were when Ben was diagnosed of this impediment. The mother responded: I was very shocked and deep within I felt really bad knowing that the fault was from me but what consulted me was that our son was just disabled and not sick. What made me mad with the doctor is that why was this disability not diagnosed during my prenatal checkups, that will have prepared me psychologically Most parents hope to have abled children who will meet their future dreams of becoming independent successful men and women. It is always very shocking when they are told these dreams cannot be met because their lovely kid is disabled. Most tend to blame the doctors at first for one reason or the other. In any case though also shocked, this womans response was a positive one because just knowing that the son was not sick was a good beginning coupled with the fact that she knows she is part of the cause of the sons condition. This goes in line with Danseco, Evangeline R. (1997) who explains in her article that mothers who blamed themselves of their childs disability had less caretaking difficulties and less mood disturbances; they also had more positive scores on scales of emotional and verbal responsiveness, organization of the physical and temporal environment, and maternal involvement with the child. This is the exact situation of this family because the mother looked at the situat ion as something she could handle especially when she later explained that she was obliged to attend the numerous counselling sessions which has greatly helped her relationship with her son. For the mother it was not a permanent situation but temporal though she knew that it was a gradual process which needed a lot of patience as the doctor explained to them. She believed that this is the period when Ben needed much love and concern. The mothers perception of Bens condition was however different from the fathers. It was more than a shock to me, I had wanted a son who will grow to be like me or even better than me. In my heart at that moment I knew that no matter what, the situation was irreversible, because growing up we had a boy in our neighbourhood about my age who had the same problem and never developed much The story about his neighbour could have been true because before the 1980s there were less parental support and the quality of education with Down syndrome children was not the best as it is today. Paul T Roger et al 199 acknowledges this by saying that there have been so many changes in the quality of parents support, the education offered and public acceptance and attitude. According to the father this diagnoses greatly affected his relationship with his son. He knows from his own past experience that not much could be done. He confessed that from that moment the love he had hoped for the son greatly reduced. He was very reluctant to take their son home when he was discharged from the hospital. The elder sister too had her own perception. For her she had wanted a kid brother or sister for a playmate and someone she could confined in. If her brother was diagnosed disable it means he will not be very active to play with her as she had hoped. She felt sad because she knew she will be lonely again with no kid brother to play or confine in. All these were the familys perception immediately the child was diagnosed. These different perceptions affected their relationship with Ben at home. The Relationship At Home As Ben grew old the family interaction also changed. Things were not the same as it used to be with their first daughter. Knowing that there is a person who cannot do anything for himself had to affect the lives of those who were close to him. The mother especially was affected. She said, My whole life changed, I had to do all my best to please my son. This also will make me happy and be appeased with myself. For the mother she continuously blamed herself for the childs condition. Therefore taking care of the child despite all odds was not a problem for her. As a teacher, she continued her teaching practise at home by teaching her son and being very patient with him knowing that he is a very slow learner. She is also involved in much reading on issues concerning Down syndrome. She has also made friends with another woman whose daughter also has the disability. These two women often discuss to find out how their children are improving. The learn development skills from each other which will help their children especially when it worked out for one. Bens mother confirmed that the other lady has given her much hope since her daughter is older and has greatly developed. She always advised her on what to do especially concerning the health and hot temper of the child. As a result of his disability his major health problems are dental problems and feeding difficulties. He has to be taken to the dentist at least once a month. The mother explained that it is her job to do that. The father stays most of the time away from their son unless on very rare occasions when the mother cannot make out time. But when it comes to something concerning their daughter he is very fast in reacting. When I tried to discuss with the woman that maybe is it just for the fact that fathers are attached to their daughters more than their sons, she explained to me that the situation worsen between the father/son relationship only after he was diagnosed. She also added that the husband was very excited when he knew he will have a son and was loving and caring before the diagnosed the child of DS. Though things have improved now considering the condition the wife explained to me she went through, you can still see the lukewarm attitude of the father when you come very close to the family especially when the daughter is around. The third time I visited the family, it was on a bright and warm day and they were having some outdoor activities. I noticed that the father played more with the daughter than the son, and the mother though playing with the two children paid more attention to the son since according to what she said he is a delicate person and I have got to be very careful with him so I always have to keep an eye on him. You see that the perception of Bens disability has divided the family somehow. While the mother considers herself to be the cause of the childs situation and wants to do all she can to please the child and herself, the father has less time for him knowing that his condition can hardly be improved and he is more attached to the daughter whom he believes has a brighter future. The mother of Ben explained to me that the situation between her the husband and the son is even much better now. She said that immediately after the diagnoses, the father could hardly even carry the baby boy. It was so serious that she complained to their doctor and they had to go for counselling on several occasions for the situation to improve upon. She explained that there were moments that Ben will even cry when the father came closer. Ben grew to know and love the mother more. The love the mother and the son shared helped the son to develop much. During his happy moments he quickly learns whatever he is bei ng taught and will hardly forget it especially if its from his mother. The sister also showed him some love though it was restricted because he became very violent at times especially when they are playing games and he wants things to be done his own way. This made her stay away from him. Ben loves watching cartoons, tries to read story books with pictures and most interestingly enjoys exploiting the internet. The Familys Daily Routine and Its Impact on the Disabled Child In the morning everybody tries to get up at 7am. Before the boy tends 3years he used to get up only after 9am. Because of that the mother had to shift most of her lessons to begin from 11am so that she will be sure to go to school early. She had to take him to the child day care every morning after a long fight with him in the morning. While the father takes their daughter to her school at 8pm she stayed behind to clean up the son and persuade him take breakfast. Eating was a problem for him because the mother had to force him to eat every morning. She explains that there were moments that he will cry and become so violent that she also got angry. The few times she had lift him with his father Ben had hardly ate anything because the father was not very patient with him. After work the father or the mother picks the children depending on who is early that day. There are days that they go for sport in the evenings especially in summer. They also go for counselling and special instructi on teaching. The mother always tries to be present during the sessions because they are taught how to improve on their childs language, how to make him independent, improve on his cognitive level and social skills at the level of the family. The father attends it just a few and only when the mother really insist he should come with her. After the age of 3 he was enrolled in a special school for children with such disability so the daily routine in the house had to change. They had to teach him how to get up earlier and he was forcefully pulled out from bed especially during the first few months. The name of his school is where there are other children with such disability. Ben is in a class of 15children and the teacher tries to make the lessons very interactive. In class he has a cordial relationship with his classmate since all of them have almost the same reasoning capacity. The teachers are very patient with them though some of these disabled children maybe very violent. A solid relationship at home and in school will help the child to develop more. Children with this disability who have a very supportive family develop faster than those who do not. Bens mother added that if the father had put in much effort as she has done their son would have been perfect. He needed their full support, patience and tolerance. The mother says that with time she will like her son to attend a general education school. Ben is very interested in computer issues and the mother believes that he can become a great computer scientist and she is doing all her best to encourage him. Bens mother also explained that when Ben goes to the general education school she will hire a teacher from the special education school who can give him three hours a week of extra support classes. He will also continue to attend the rehabilitation centre classes for two hours a week for his speech, physical and occupational therapies like computer, since he seems to be very interested in computer. Most parents with disabled children today prefer their children to attend general education schools. They believe that these children will develop more in such schools since they face challenges with normal children, they will also fight to be like them. Most governments are therefore trying to encourage inclusive education for these children. In Flanders (Belgium), inclusive education for children with significant cognitive disabilities has been emerging in a process of gradual change at the individual, systems, and policy levels for the last 15 years (Van Hove, Mortier et al. 2009). CONCLUSION In the two cases above these children though under different cultural setting do face social stigma because of their disability. In the first case there is total denial of the child by the entire community due to their cultural believes which eventually leads to the dead of the child. With the second case, the child is in a better situation though not completely accepted. The mother though under difficult emotional stress accepts the son and the father and the rest of the society around the child accepts the child from a distance. You see that the environment that a DS child finds himself do influence his development. Ben is in a society where there are basic necessities for children with such impediment though he is indirectly rejected while Blandine did not only lack the resources but was openly rejected. But Ben stands at a better position because he has a loving mother who is hoping to give him the best even when the society does not accept him. This shows that attitude the society has about child with Down syndrome has not changed much because people still see these children as a burden and a disgrace to their parents. Their facial look also makes people to look at them in a funny way. Bens mother also explained that she felt really bad when people openly reject her son. For example, when they go to the park some parents will call back their children if they want to play with her son. She explains that it made her feel rejected herself. This is a stigma that she cannot run from she cannot abandon her no matter what the society says. Though in general people are being sentitised world wide about this disability, considering the child as a normal person is still very difficult. Most people still believe that these children with DS and other associate disabilities cannot grow to become independent and contribute to the economic growth of the society. They fail to understand that with the available resources these children can grow to meet their dreams. What they need is acceptance by all and a bit of patience due to their retarded nature to become full members of the society. These children therefore find themselves in a luminal situation. They are in an inbetween situation in which though the society is making efforts to integrate them, they are still suffering from stigmatisation. They are therefore in an ambiguous stage which most of them including their families dream to come out one day. REFERENCES Betancourt, H. Lopez, S.R. (1993). The study of culture, ethnicity, and race in American psychology. American Psychologist, 48, 629-637. Leonard, C.J. (1985). Brief outlines of the parent/family reaction to childhood disability in families from 3 ethnic minority groups. International Journal for the Advancement of Counseling, 8, 197-205. Danseco, Evangeline R. (1997) Parental Beliefs on Childhood Disability: insights on culture, child development and intervention, International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 44: 1, 41 52 Paul T. Rogers, Mary Coleman, Sue Buckley (1992): Medical care in Down syndrome: a preventive medicine approach. 327 Renu Jain, David C. Thomasma, and Rasa Ragas (2002): Down syndrome: Still a Social Stigma. American Journal of Perinatology/Volume 19, Number 2 White N. and Hastings P. 2004 Social and professional support for parents of adolescents with severe intellectual disabilities. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disability 17 181-190 Mortier, Kathleen , Hunt, Pam , Desimpel, Lore andVan Hove, Geert(2009) With parents at the table: creating supports for children with disabilities in general education classrooms, European Journal of Special Needs Education, 24: 4, 337 354 Robert Murphy (1987): The Body Silent in America. New York

Health Inequalities and Human Rights in New Zealand

Health Inequalities and Human Rights in New Zealand Health inequalities preventable by reasonable ways are not fair, and in health are indicators of distributional imbalance. Worldwide people experience different social conditions that result in manageable differences in health, well-being, quality and length of life. The health system can help in establishing a fairer society and ensuring a fairer distribution of health resources. However, this needs a universal commitment of all people within the health system, including those responsible for policy, resource distribution, service provision and evaluation, hence; attempts to address health and social equity are evident in legislations formulated and implemented by the government. Like other countries, New Zealand legislations safeguard the right to health of its people. Of these legislations, the most significant is New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000, which establishes a framework for the delivery of personal and public health and disability support services. PHDA sets strategic objective and goals for health and disability services to improve health and disability outcomes for New Zealanders, to minimise inequities by improving the health ofMaoriand other population groups, to facilitate community participation in personal health, public health, and disability support services and to facilitate access, and the distribution of information for the delivery of health and disability services. Health Act 1956 embodies provisions for environmental health, infectious diseases, health emergencies, and the national cervical screening programme. It gives the Ministry of Health the function of improving, promoting and protecting public health.[1] Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 ensures that health practitioners are fit and competent to practice their profession to ensure the public’s safety. As stated by the Ministry of Health, â€Å"The right to health is further protected by the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (BoRA) (which applies to discrimination in the public sector); and the Human Rights Act 1993 (HRA) (which applies to the private sector); the Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994 (HDC) (which provides a complaints system to deal with issues of informed consent, the rights of consumers and the duties and obligations of health care providers identified in aCode of Health and Disability Services Consumers Rights); and the Privacy Act 1993 (which, together with the Health Information Privacy Code 1994, protects individuals privacy).†[2] New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 It is commonly called as â€Å"The Bill of Rights†. It protects people from violations of their civil and political rights by the government, other public bodies and officials. Moreover, it reflects New Zealand’s commitment to the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on which the rights and freedom it covers are based. The Act protects a wide range of rights grouped into the following categories: Life and security rights Democratic and civil right Non-discrimination and minority rights Search, arrest and detention rights Criminal procedure rights Justice rights Non-discrimination rights refers to the freedom from discrimination on any of the prohibited grounds of discrimination included in the Human Rights Act 1993 Human Rights Act 1993 The Act aims to protect an individual’s human rights and seeks to do this in line with various United Nations conventions and covenants on human rights. It states that it is unlawful to discriminate against an individual because of personal characteristics. The act also provides a number of exemptions that allow discrimination when it would otherwise be unlawful under the Act. The rules in the Human Rights Act apply to discrimination by private organizations and individuals. On the other hand, New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 covers the discrimination by the government and other public bodies. Consumers of any health or disability services are protected by rights contained in the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights. Codes of Rights are as follows: Right 1: Respect- the right to be treated with respect (privacy, needs, values and beliefs. Right 2: Fair treatment – the right to be free from discrimination, coercion, harassment and sexual, financial or other exploitation at all times. Right 3: Dignity and Independence- the right to services rendered in such a way that respects their dignity and promotes independence. Right 4: Service of proper standard- consumers have the right to have services with reasonable care and skill, meet legal professional, ethical and other relevant standards, in correspondence to their needs and ensure minimization of potential harm and maximizes quality of life Right 5: Effective communication- the right to be given information on their health in a way the consumer comprehends, if needed, he must be provided with an interpreter Right 6: To be fully informed- to be fully aware of their situation or condition, to be given with sufficient information to make an informed choice Right 7: Informed choices and informed consent- consumers can only be given services if they have made an informed choice and informed consent unless there are reasonable grounds to believe they are not competent, also includes the right to withdraw at any time Right 8: Right to support- consumers have the right to have a support person or people with them when they are receiving services provided it is safe and will not unreasonably affect another consumer’s rights Right 9: Teaching and research- consumers are to be informed and have the right to refuse when subjected to research or studies Right 10: Right to complain- consumers have the right to complain, may it be about the healthcare provider or organization. Health Information Privacy Code 1994 The code sets down specific policies that health professionals must follow when collecting information from consumers and when they can release information to other people. It also specifically enables consumers to have access to their own health information. Health professionals must collect health information directly from the consumer, not from other people, unless the consumer is deemed not to be competent to provide information. Furthermore, information must be gathered in a manner that is fair and does not unreasonably intrude to their personal affairs. Generally, heath professionals cannot divulge a consumer’s health information to others unless doing so puts the consumer or another person’s safety and wellbeing at imminent danger.[3] REFERENCES: (2013).Community Law Manual: A practical guide to everyday New Zealand law. Community Law Wellington and Hutt Valley New Zealand Ministry of Health. Retrieved 15 June 2014 http://www.health.govt.nz/new-zealand-health-system/overview-health-system/statutory-framework Human Rights Commission. Retrieved 15 June 2014 http://www.hrc.co.nz/report/chapters/chapter14/health01.html [1] New Zealand Ministry of Health. Retrieved 15 June 2014 http://www.health.govt.nz/new-zealand-health-system/overview-health-system/statutory-framework [2] Human Rights Commission. Retrieved 15 June 2014 http://www.hrc.co.nz/report/chapters/chapter14/health01.html [3] (2013).Community Law Manual: A practical guide to everyday New Zealand law. Community Law Wellington and Hutt Valley

The Fall Of The House Of Usher: Imagery And Parallelism :: essays research papers

The Fall of the House of Usher: Imagery and Parallelism In his short story "The Fall of the House of Usher", Edgar Allen Poe presents his reader with an intricately suspenseful plot filled with a foreboding sense of destruction. Poe uses several literary devices, among the most prevalent, however are his morbid imagery and eerie parallelism. Hidden in the malady of the main character are several different themes, which are all slightly connected yet inherently different. Poe begins the story by placing the narrator in front of the decrepit, decaying mansion of Roderick Usher. Usher summoned his childhood friend, the narrator, to his home by sending a letter detailing only a minor illness. After the narrator arrives and sees the condition of the house he becomes increasingly superstitious. When the narrator first sees his host he describes his morbid appearance and it arouses his superstition even more. Over a period of time the narrator begins to understand his friends' infliction, insanity. He tries in vane to comfort his friend and provide solace, however to no avail. When Roderick's only remaining kin, his sister Madeline dies, Rodericks insanity seems to have gone to a heightened level. Shortly after his sister's death, Roderick's friend is reading him a story. As things happen in the story, simultaneously the same description of the noises come from within the house. As Usher tries to persuade the narrator that it is his sister coming for him, and his friend believing Roderick has gone stark raving mad, Madeline comes bursting in through the door and kills her brother. The narrator flees from the house, and no sooner does he get away than he turns around and sees a fissure in the houses masonry envelop the house and then watch the ground swallow up the remains. In "The Fall of the House of Usher" Poe introduces the reader to three characters; Lady Madeline, Roderick Usher, and the narrator, whose name is never given. Lady Madelin, the twin sister of Roderick Usher, does not speak one word throughout the story. In fact she is absent from most of the story, and she and the narrator do not stay together in the same room. After the narrators arrival she takes to her bed and falls into a catatonic state. He helps to bury her and put her away in a vault, but when she reappears he flees. Before she was buried she roamed around the house quietly not noticing anything, completely overcome by her mental disorder. Roderick Usher appears to be an educated man. He comes from a wealthy family and owns a huge library.

Robinhood :: essays research papers

The themes of â€Å"Robin Hood† are many and complex. Robin hood has the theme of chivalry through out its pages. Every word empowers the average person to stand up to a evil government that oppresses its people. The themes are rich and interesting, that’s what makes robin hood a good story. They deal with feelings and emotions that do really happen to average people. The themes have importance to us all and can be truly entertaining when done in a clever way. Robin Hood showed many of these signs of chivalry, the way most of us show these signs of are morals, through actions. Stealing from the rich giving to the poor was one of the many ways robin hood showed his good nature. Another way was to court Made Marian, which on its own is a very cheval act. One of the mane rules of chivalry state that you must treat the farer sex with good taste he did this with Made Marian. His good nature and act of honor made Robin Hood a cheval man. Robin Hood was a chivalry kind of guy, helping people fight evil and ridding the countryside of a terrible king. Probably the best reason of his chivalry was his act of standing up to the evil king. He saw that there was a unjust situations and he had to take a role in taking that government down. He organized a legion of men to do this act of chivalry. He took chances to get deeds accomplished and he gloriously accomplished those things. The king, even though robin should have been honoring him, was evil and that’s why robin had to do what he did. Another one of the Robin Hood themes is one of empowerment. It is with this theme that the lower classes get recognized as a strong entity in today’s society. This theme has the strongest meaning to the

Movie †Psycho Essay

Psycho (1960) is a powerful complex psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This horror movie is based on the novel written by Robert Bloch. Story-wise, though, I do not consider this movie to be an extraordinary but its brilliant excursion and its ingenious construction and above all its wonderful musical scores invented and innovated by Bernard Herrmann has made this movie all time great. Bernard Herrmann was born in New York in 1911. He studied music at Julliard School of Music and joined CBS radio in 1934. He quickly joined young Orson Welles to score his radio plays, including the notorious Wars of the World and within a very short span of time he established himself as a recognized film music scorer. Although remarkably versatile, Herrmann proved particularly adept at scoring dark psychological melodramas, such as Hangover Squire (1945) and On Dangerous Ground (1951), and it was perhaps inevitable that he would be teamed eventually with master of suspense and artist of â€Å"Psycho† Alfred Hitchcock. Their subsequent partnership resulted in a composer-director relationship unmatched in film history of creativity, flair and cinematic symbiosis. We find fantasy, romance, nostalgia, tenderness; all there in Herrmann but the unique scores of â€Å"Psycho†evidently suggest Herrmann’s departure from traditional compositional techniques. The most noticeable departure from film music custom is hat. Herrmann elected a daring and controversial orchestral combination: strings alone. Now such a combination imposes severe limitations on the range of available tone colors. This means a commensurate increase of composing problems, since generally important for composers to be able to call on the many resources of the symphonic ensemble- woodwinds, brass and percussion as well as strings- for variety and contrast in the treatment of musical material. But Herrmann’s selection of string alone deprived him of many tried-and-true musical formulas and effects normally employed in the scoring of horror and suspense films. Going by the established music theories, we find that music theory describes how sounds, which travel in waves, are notated, and how what is sounded, or played, is perceived by the listeners. Every object has a resonant frequency, which is determined by the object composition. Musical sounds are composed of pitch, duration and timbre. Pitch is determined by the sound’s frequency of vibration, whereas Rhythm is the arrangement of sound in time and Meter animates time in regular pulse groupings called measures. Melody is the unfolding in musical time of a principal single line of pitches. This line can be sounded alone, unaccompanied, known as monophony. It can also be accompanied by chords, known as homophony. Melody is often the most identifiable element in western music. Instrumentation is the study and practice of writing music for musical instruments. Writing for a specific instrument requires the ability to take into account the special properties of that instrument. Where as Diegetic Music, which is also called â€Å"source music† is produced by people or devices that are part of the story space of the film. Diegetic sounds are those pieces of sound that the characters in the movie should be able to hear, whether the sound source is visible or nor.   Coming back to â€Å"Psycho†, along with the strings, Herrmann has wonderfully used Diegetic Music also here. One does not have to be musician to notice a marked absence of tunes or melodies in the sense in which these terms are generally used. It is safe to say that in Psycho Herrmann was simply following his own customary practice in this respect but the result in this case is a special, disturbing quality, one which contributes greatly to the scores overall effectiveness. In an interview given in 1971, Herrmann explained that he had used only strings for Psycho because he felt that he could complement the black-and-white photography of the film by creating a black-and white sound. In most people mind the strings are associated first and foremost with romance. Nine times out of ten when a love a scene takes place on the screen the violins will soar in a big tune, the cellos throb in a passionate counter melody. But in Psycho, the level of score created by Herrmann with strings is mainly due to the fact that Strings span the longest effective gamut of notes; have an effective range of dynamics unmatched by the other group; and within the boundaries of their basic single tone colors they can command a great number and variety of special effects. And when the expressive range of string orchestra is compared to that of black-and-white photography, Herrmann analogy becomes perfectly clear. After watching the movie first scene that comes to my mind and the images that conjured are those of Janet Leigh being hacked to death in the shower and now I realize why even people who have not seen the movie are aware of it but Bernard Herrmann’s strident, discordant music, the â€Å"bird-shriek† and â€Å"distorted screaming bird-cries† appears to be one of the most horrifying cues ever composed, Herrmann brilliantly proved here that the view of the camera is very important aspect of film making but to enforce that view and to provide fluidity ,music is even more important. In conclusion this can be safely said that No film sound track library would be complete without â€Å"Psycho†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  References    Movie : –   Psycho U.S. Release date : – June 1960 Running Length  Ã‚   : – 1:48 MPAA Classification : –   R (Violence) Cast : – Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam, Janet Leigh Director and Producer   :- Alfred Hitchcock Screenplay : Joseph Stefano based on the novel by Robert Bloch Cinematography : John L Russell Music : Bernard Herrmann U.S. Distributer : Paramount Pictures.

Genre Theory Essay

Genres what are they, and why are they so important in the film industry? Genres a kind of label or category something people can base what place expectations or gain a general idea of what the film is about, and will be like. However most genres will likely have a sub genre According to Goodyknootz, B. , & Jacobs, C. P. (2014) Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed. ) CH4. â€Å"Many genres also have a variety of related Subgenres with more narrowly defined formulas and expectations. † Having these smaller classifications set giving a mix of category, and expectations allows for a lot more unique variety. Some films can often mix 4 genres into a  single film allowing the creator the free use of his imagination, however even these films ultimately will fall into a major genre category. Unfortunately genres can also cause some people to often judge a film based on it’s genre, if they’ve seen a certain film that was a Western for instance that they did not particularity enjoy they will assume all films under this genre are not worth their time. As stated in Goodyknootz, B. , & Jacobs, C. P. (2014) Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed. ) CH4. â€Å"It is not a preordained measure of quality, despite the way some film theorists and critics might dismiss a â€Å"genre†Ã‚  movie formulaic for serious dramatic analysis† despite this genres are very important, they label the films making it easier for viewers to find the sort of movie they are wanting the see at any giving time. These labels help people make decisions when picking a film to watch, either causing them to want or not want to view certain films based on its genre characterizations. When looking at specific genres they often have their reoccurring characteristics that immediately allow that film to fall into a specific genre, for example Westerns According to Goodyknootz, B. , & Jacobs, C. P. (2014) Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed. ) CH4. â€Å"At its GENRE THEORY 3 simplest, a Western is a man and his horse, taking on the struggles of nature and his fellow man†. Most Westerns are set in a mainframe of 1800’s-1900’s giving them the wild untamed American frontier feel, and the main characters are often outlaws or underdogs, taking out the wild west. The most recent Western film I personally have seen was 3:10 to Yuma, this movie was about a small rancher and, Civil War veteran Dan Evans who was wounded losing his leg, now after the wars end is struggling to support his wife and children. When a wanted gang leader Ben Wade is captured in his area after robbing a stagecoach, he volunteers to escort the prisoner to the train station to make the 3:10 to Yuma for $200. As Dan Evans and the law men head to the train station his group is pursued by the Outlaw Ben Wades gang of dangerous outlaws. Being set shortly after the civil war 3:10 to Yuma this puts the story in a time frame where most of the west was still very unsettled, and untamed. This film also has many 1800’s style fire fights involving revolvers and single shot rifles, pitting the gunslinger gang of murderous outlaws  against the lawmen who fight to maintain order on the frontier, and Dan Wade who fights for his family. 3:10 to Yuma is not only a Western film but the main elements that made this film so good, and the reason I personally enjoyed it was to Drama driven story of how the Outlaw Ben Wade slowly becomes friends with Civil War vet Dan Evans. As the film progresses Ben starts to understand, and sympathize with Dan Evans situation of he lost his leg and how he feels useless in supporting his family as a cripple. Near the end of the film Ben Wade begins to help Dan  Evans with getting him to the train so Dan Evans can collect the $200 bounty promised by the GENRE THEORY 4 law men. When Dan Evans finally get Ben Wade to the train his is fatally shot by the pro-suing gang but not before his son see’s him getting Ben to the train allowing him to die a hero to his son. In the end to me genres and basic storyline are a very necessary thing for movies it allows you to have a basic understand of what you’re about to watch without ruining the plot before you have to chance to dive into the story, and get the enjoyment of a fresh story for yourself.