Neurodivergent Youthhoods: Adolescent Rites Of Passage, Disability And The Teeenage Epilepsy Clinic

Adolescent rites of passage are ubiquitous sociocultural processes that feature across all manner of social activity. As transitional healthcare becomes an increasing fixture within paediatric and adolescent healthcare, this book captures how normative, biomedical and psychologised understandings of youth development permeate social life. Through an in-depth institutional ethnography of a UK teenage epilepsy clinic, Shelda-Jane Smith shows how the prevailing social expectation of transforming from a dependent child into an independent, self-sufficient adult becomes the organising principle of clinical care. Interrogating the everyday work of the clinic and the experiences of parental and professional caregivers, Smith explores how the move from paediatric to adult healthcare gets renegotiated in the context of severe and profound learning disabilities, questioning what happens to transitional processes when young people do not conform to the social standards and expectations of youthhood that are placed upon them. From exploring the fervent application of neuro-psychological developmental models to interrogating expectations of individual independence, Smith draws from the disciplines of Science and Technology Studies, Critical Psychology and Disability Studies and Medical Anthropology to provide an invaluable lens for unpacking the underlying assumptions and tensions of care provision when young people do not emerge into adulthood in socially expected ways. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series 3 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 List of figures 9 Preface: starting points and orientation 10 Acknowledgements 17 Field note and interview conventions 18 Anonymised list of participants 19 List of abbreviations 23 1 Introduction 24 2 Bridging cultures of care 39 3 (Neuro)scientisation 59 4 Cultural scripts 79 5 The parentectomy: pre-liminal rites 98 6 Betwixt and between: liminal rites 117 7 The paraclinical workforce: post-liminal rites 138 8 Dignity in care 150 Index 161 youth;,neoliberalism;,young,people;,chronic,illness;,adolescent,health;,healthcare;,disability;,social,care;,neurodiversity youth,neoliberalism,young people,chronic illness,adolescent health,healthcare,disability,social care,neurodiversity