Applying Disability Theory

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CPARC's mission of assisting its clients in living as "normal" of a life as possible fits very closely with Rosemarie Garland Thomson's take on Mary Douglas's theory of "Dirt". According to Douglas, integartion is the best and only "potentially positive" method of dealing with the anomalous (Douglas qtd by Thomson 37). Through the vocational services and education, CPARC is incorporating its members into society as best it can. This allows those with disbilities to coexist with those without disabilities and lead the best life they can. The best application of this is educational programs CPARC runs in which children with and without mental disabilities go to school together. They play, intereact and learn with each other at the same time. According to volunteers and employees, this program works wonderfully and there is practically no harsh treatment or segregation of those with disabilities that is often found in society.

However, even though CPARC does try to integrate their members into society, some of Douglas' other theories of how people deal with "Dirt" are also applicable here, such as her fourth method of "segregation and elimination" (Douglas qtd by Thomson 36). For example, many of the clients have been ignored by society completely. Even though some of them have jobs, they are given positions that do not require social interaction. They are in the back of the business where customers can not see them to ensure that the customers will not feel uncomfortable. Also, the idea of the "Normative" is applicable during the service experience. Comparing our lives to theirs and even their rooms and clothing to reaffirm how "normal" we are is evidence on how deep cultural assumptions are ingrained into society.