Just a Body in a Wheelchair

This article has no direct link with academics, children, students or those who teach: I severed almost all such connections several years ago. It describes the rewards and challenges of leading a reminiscence group of elderly people, all of whom suffer some level of memory loss and/or severe physical disability; most are wheelchair-bound. It contains examples of their autobiographical talk which I recorded separately from group meetings and transcribed, exclusively for the satisfaction of each individual concerned. Ours is not a society which cherishes its aged members. What becomes of their identity? Who are they now? They are, of course, people – as interesting as those in our classrooms. They too need to know their own worth

Aesthetics · Art · Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Political science · Reminiscence · Wheelchair · Empathy and Medical Education · Psychology · Social Psychology