Therapeutic Jurisprudence in Miami
On June 5, Professor Winick spoke at the No Barriers’ Science and Technology Symposium held at the Ritz Carleton Hotel in Coconut Grove. The conference was part of the No Barriers Festival 2009, a major disability event, held by No Barriers USA Corporation in conjunction with the University of Miami Medical School and Shake-A-Leg. Professor Winick spoke at a panel on Technologies For The Visually Impaired, and the abstract for his lecture follows:
Overcoming the Psychological and Social Barriers of Disability
Those with disability have difficulty in setting goals and accomplishing them. This is due in part to their disability. But it also is due to a variety of psychological handicaps that they impose upon themselves, and also results from the stigma that society places on disability.
This presentation will address these issues and provide insights for overcoming these obstacles. The presenter, a professor of law and of psychiatry, himself suffers from a serious visual disability, and uses a guide dog and assisted technology. He will discuss the concept of self-handicapping, something that the cognitive psychology literature documents as a series of obstacles we all impose upon ourselves when we fail at something or do poorly at it. This applies to non-disabled people, and even more for those with actual disability. Calling upon his own personal experiences, the presenter will offer suggestions for how to deal with this psychological aspect of disability.
He also will discuss the social stigma imposed on those with disability, and the pernicious labeling and self-attributional effects that stigma imposes. An important agenda item for the disability community is breaking down these barriers imposed by stigma. The presentation will discuss ways of accomplishing this.
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