Experience of Illness and Disability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Experience of Illness and Disability - Essay Example This study analyses Michael’s case, where interview reveals a number of social perspectives on his view regarding health. Through drawing from literature concepts and critically analysing the case study, specific aspects that will be covered are the lay health beliefs, illness behaviour, social support and practitioner-client interaction as they gradually progress in Michael’s illness narrative. The guiding thesis for this study is that a sociological viewpoint is pivotal in establishing the experience of illness and thus determining health outcomes. Studying lay health beliefs is critical to the healthcare industry due to a number of reasons; it helps understand practitioner-client relationships; it aids design of effective health education programs; most of healthcare work is carried out by lay people in terms of self-care or friend-family care (Nettleton 2006, pp. 35-36). Lay ideas and concepts about health are socially mediated and vary according to several considerations including time, social location, cultural contexts and socio-economic conditions. There appears to be points of divergences and convergences between expert knowledge and lay beliefs about explanations and definitions of health, health behaviour and the relationship between health maintenance and disease prevention (36). According to Gabe, Bury and Elston (2004, pp. 135-136), individual beliefs about illness, health and healthcare are vital in establishing illness behaviour such as non-compliance and the decision to visit a physician among others. Such belie fs are shaped by broader cultural and social factors that are also context dependent, influencing the actions taken by the individual for instance through the lay referral system where individuals consult family and friends about visiting a doctor (67). Besides, lay beliefs about health influence individual lifestyles and risks that have a bearing on such individuals’ health and

Afghan-war prisoners Essay Example for Free

Afghan-war prisoners Essay Some insurgents failed attempt on an US military convoy was provocation enough for them to gun down 16 civilians, leaving another 25 severely wounded. The groups – dead and alive, contained woman and children. It is an event of March 4, 2007, took place in Iraq, on the Jalalabad highway in eastern Nangarhar province. The day next US army again responded the terrorist attack by 2000-pound aerial bombing in the civilian area, killing five women and three children. This happened at the Kapisa outpost. These are regular features in Iraq; between January 2006 till date, more than thousands of civilians were killed by US attack. Back home, US authorities are no less active under the anti-terrorism movement. Ahmed Alenany, an Egyptian physician, was picked up from the road of New York City and was detained for five months, charged with overstaying, in spite of his valid ground of filing for its extension well before the expiry. His fault was that the police found two pictures of WTO in his car and he held a roadmap when arrested. That was one bubble on the sea. The United States securely took away 650 Afghan-war prisoners to their military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they are reportedly passing their days in small single-person cells. India: On July 2005, four Kashmiri youths went to attend a wedding in Vilgam, Kupwara, and while out in the open at night for smoking away from the disapproving adults, three of them were gunned down by the Indian army all on a sudden. Later army admitted its mistake and wanted to compensate, though there was enough effort to suppress this news. India is also experiencing zero tolerance in counter-terrorism, especially after the militant attack on its parliament on December, 2001. They have even created a special law, POTA , which is capable of detaining anyone under the slightest suspicion on any ground of terrorism, that would later arrest 131 Muslims for the Godhra carnage of Hindus in 2002, who later retaliated with the killings of 2000 Muslims throughout the Gujrat state, were mostly able to slip past this law. China: Charged for crimes of terror and incitement to separatism, the popular religious leader Tenzin Delek Rinpoche was arrested in Sichuan on a night in December 2002 and sentenced to death. He was linked to the series of bombings. Same fate met his co-defendant Lobsang Dhondup, even quicker as he was executed. Now the open secret was that the authorities were up against his activities all the time, as he was a known supporter of the Dalai Lama. Egypt: This country has a track record of arresting hundreds of people either for their proximity to the Muslims, or for possessing suspicious literature. In a known case, 94 such victims, allegedly belonging to an Islamic Group though none heard about its name), were arrested in May, 2001. It was before the September 11 attack and after the attack, they were charged additionally for plotting to kill the government officials! The hapless victims belong to almost all rank and file – Doctors, engineers, professors, to name a few. They were dragged into the military courts whose norms, understandably conform to the trial standards set internationally. Accordingly, 51 were convicted! Georgia: Armed by the US support Georgian authorities have targeted the Chechens at Pankisi Gorge, a place which Russia also labelled as a haven for the terrorists. Here the governmental approach to the human rights violations is indicative of non-caring, as it is echoed by the words of its President Eduard Shevarnadze, who, right after extraditing five Chechens to Russia (October 5, 2002) without holding any court, said, International human rights commitments might become pale in comparison with the importance of the anti-terrorist campaign

Twelfth Night Essays: Learning About Love :: Twelfth Night essays

  Ã‚   In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, it is clearly evident that the fluctuation in attitude in the dual role, situation and tribulations imposed upon the character of Viola/Cesario gives rise to a better understanding of both sexes, and thus, allows Viola to have a better understanding for Orsino. Through the love of Orsino and Olivia, Viola learns the difficulties of love from both standpoints, man and woman's. Near the opening of the play, when Viola is adopting her male identity, she creates another self like two masks and may decide to wear one or the other while swinging between the two identities in emotion and in character. She decides to take on this identity because she has more freedom in society in her Cesario mask, which is evident when she is readily accepted by Orsino, whereas, in her female identity she would not be. Thus, a customary role in society and to the outlooks of others is portrayed. Orsino sees Cesario, as a young squire just starting out in the world, much like himself as a young, spry lad, so he has a tendency to be more willing to unload onto her his troubles and sorrows, seeking a companion with which to share and to teach. Thus, Viola grows in her male disguise to get a better feeling for his inner self, not the self that he shows to the public, or would reveal and share with Viola in her true female self, but rather his secret self, as he believes he shares wi th a peer. So, she grows to love him.    But, Orsino's motivation is actually not love for Viola, but rather he seems to be in love with love itself. His entire world is filled with love but he knows that there might be a turning point for him, like when he says: "If music be the food of love, play on; give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die" (I, i, 1-3). This quote shows that he knows that he is so caught up in "love," that he hopes his appetite for love may simmer when he takes more than he can handle.    Near the end of the play, when all tricks and treacheries are revealed and all masks are lifted, Orsino "falls" in love with Viola. He first forgives her of her duty to him, the master; then says that she shall now be her master's mistress.

Maiden Voyage Essay

The given passage taken from Denton Welch’s Maiden Voyage starts with a clear and concise statement that brings focus on mainly three details, the first being that the writer is a lively and independent foreigner or in other words, an extrovert, the second and third being that the time is morning and there are two more characters, Mr Butler and Mr Roote involved respectively. Mr Butler clearly warns the writer that ‘foreigners are not welcome here’ and he should preferably stay out of the locals’ way. This tells us that the Chinese prefer being isolated and like mixing amongst themselves. This statement is quite ironic because Mr Butler himself seems as if he is of English origin. No outgoing traveller would like hearing this and naturally the writer doesn’t like being confined between the four walls of the room when he could be doing several other outdoor activities. The writer also uses strong emotional language such as ‘hated’, ‘fiercely’ and ‘brooding’ to reinforce this. The symbolism of the ‘moth eaten ball and the old tennis racket’ informs the reader that hardly anyone uses the sports equipment. The incredibly rebellious writer vents outs his anger by striking these old worn out balls fiercely against the stable doors. It is this lack of excitement that leads the stubborn writer to trouble. He decides to take matters to his own hands and foolishly escapes out in the country side. Whilst this escape from drudgery is happening, Mr Butler and Mr Roote are so deeply engrossed in their own conversation that they fail to realize that the writer is running away. To the reader, this clearly suggests that they are content not to look outside their own world and have not moved on from this morning’s conversation whereas the writer on the other hand has. The writer uses mysterious and exotic language to describe the country. The still silence, the hot sand, the ‘stunted bushes’ left the writer overwhelmed maybe because he was used to an entirely different landscape. The grass is tall, tall enough for a person to hide and was also described as ‘rank’ maybe because it had a stench to it and also, the fact that it was as ‘sharp as knives’ made it even more hard as well as dangerous to walk on. ‘The soles of my shoes began to burn’ suggests that temperatures were high, high enough to leave the writer dehydrated and exhausted. The reader is left behind with an image similar to that of that of a dream, a hot dream.

Gender Socialization and Consumer Culture

An article â€Å"A ‘Real Man's Ring': Gender and the Invention Tradition† by Vicki Howard (2003) published in the Journal of Social History defined the role of gender stereotypes, their development and changes in forming consumer culture through describing the invention and adoption of double ring ceremony in twentieth century America.Howard tells the history of grooms’ wedding bands and double ring ceremony, explaining the bonds between economical, cultural and social aspects of the first sixty years of the twentieth century.The author explained that the double ring ceremony emerged because of the cultural tendency in family life Howard called â€Å"masculine domesticity†, when, in the middle of twentieth century, spending time with wife and kids, performing household chores became â€Å"synonymous with prosperity, capitalism, and national stability†. In fiftieth the new type of family became widespread,   a so called â€Å"companionate marriageà ¢â‚¬ , where both spouses shared responsibility for psychological and emotional well-being of their family, and a double ring ceremony reflected these new type of relationship.Howard adds that World War Two made double rings wedding custom even more popular, as than it had to do with â€Å"wartime sentiments†. Wedding ring symbolized ties a soldier had with his wife, with his family and kids; it was a sign for him that someone was waiting for him at home, a symbol of everything he defended.   And, according to Howard’s writing, while in 1940 two rings wedding hadn’t been a custom,   in yet in late fortieth-early fiftieth it appeared in the wedding ceremonies held by Catholic, Unitarian, Baptist, and Methodist churches, the most influential ones.Getting man used to the thought that grooms wedding ring was a good idea took lots of time and efforts from the sellers. Howard described some of the techniques that were used by U.S jewelry stores, like establishing a separate â€Å"groom room† for men not to feel embarrassed when shopping for wedding rings; the other idea was to hide grooms rings in slide drawers beneath the feminine rings, and showing them only after bride’s rings had been already purchased. Meantime, years passed, and social apprehension of man wedding rings changed due to numerous advertising campaigns, Hollywood productions, marriages of public persons etc.Of course there were other factors that played their role in popularization of double ring ceremony. One of the crucial ones was the â€Å"teenage marriage boom†, which began in fortieth, when the average age of marrying has lowered dramatically.Howard supposed that having a double ring ceremony was important for young couples to differentiate them from their parents. Wearing a ring helped young girl to feel herself protected, not being afraid to become an old maid, while for man wedding ring was the proof of maturity, masculinity, ability to suppor t his wife, and, what was also important, heterosexuality.Howard noted that one more factor to conduce the popularity of double ring ceremony was emergence of middle class in the U.S. People moved to suburbs, where they could allow purchasing a house. As economy grew more, more people earned enough money to provide their families with all the middle-class attributes.This period was characterized by â€Å"physical and psychological separation of public and private†, of work and family, and double ring ceremony became a symbol of the new family, built in that environment. The situation was different for working class. Men often were dissatisfied with the idea to wear a ring, as it symbolized the obligations they took, while for women grooms ring was a sign of claim bride has for her husband.

How to Focus When Youre Writing

How to Focus When Youre Writing How to Focus When Youre Writing How to Focus When Youre Writing By Ali Hale Do you ever find yourself distracted when you’re writing? I don’t think I’ve ever met a writer who could honestly answer â€Å"no† to that question! Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, checking the news headlines, browsing a few webcomics, answering emails, ordering that book from Amazon you’d forgotten about there are so many distractions just a click away. The good news is, there’s plenty you can do to help yourself to focus as you write. I’ve split my suggestions into three different categories, so you can tackle whichever area you feel is holding you back the most (or whichever is easiest for you to change right now). They are: How to make your writing environment work for you What to do before you write What to do while you’re writing I’ve also included a bonus tip on something you can do after you write, to help you gradually focus better over time. How to Make Your Writing Environment Work For You #1: Get Away from Home If you normally write at home, try writing in a local coffee shop (or library, etc) instead. This cuts out a ton of potential distractions and a change of scene can make it much easier to be creative. Some of my best, most focused, writing happens when I get away for an afternoon, evening and morning at a local hotel. There’s no laundry pile, no dishes, no kids, no TV, and the wifi there doesn’t work on my ailing laptop. I can write for hours! Even if you can’t get away for very long, just an hour in a coffee shop might be enough to help you get past a creative block that you’ve been struggling with. #2: Get Rid of Intrusive Noise When I’m in the writing zone, I tune out pretty much everything (including my long-suffering husband). But getting into that zone in the first place can be tricky if there’s a lot of distracting noise going on. In our house, â€Å"noise† is normally the kids playing / fighting / singing at the top of their lungs. Maybe that sounds all too familiar to you – or maybe the noise you’re trying to block out is construction work going on nearby, or your roommate watching yet another repeat of Friends. Whatever the noise, a pair of headphones will help (I like in-ear ones, because they’re cheap and act a bit like earplugs to muffle external noise). It’s entirely up to you what you listen to: some writers like to focus with ambient sound from a site like Noisli.com; others like movie soundtracks; still others pick a particular artist, album or even song that fits with the mood of their work-in-progress. Do whatever works for you. #3: Sit at a Desk or Table If you normally write while sitting on the sofa, or even while lying in bed, try sitting at a table or desk instead – even if that means clearing some space or rearranging a room. You might find it makes a huge difference to your concentration levels. As well as feeling more like a â€Å"work† space, a seat at a table or desk is likely to be better for your posture than hunching over with your laptop on your lap, or lying in bed with your laptop propped up on your knees. (If you do decide to stick with your sofa or bed, though, you might want to   look into something like a laptop bed tray to make it easier to write there.) What To Do Before You Write #4: Make a Plan Whatever you’re about to write, you need a plan. That might be a few words scribbled on a sticky note, or it might be a detailed document outlining your whole book. But whatever your plan looks like, it’s a vital tool for keeping you on track and focused. If you begin writing without a plan, it’s all too easy to lose focus. You don’t know where you’re going next – and as soon as you come to the natural end of one train of thought, you’ll probably find yourself getting distracted by something that has nothing to do with your writing at all. #5: Set a Goal for Your Writing Session What do you want to achieve during your writing session? If you’re writing, say, a blog post, you might simply want to work through your plan – but if you’re working on part of a longer project, you may need to come up with a specific goal. For instance, if you’re writing a novel, your goal might be â€Å"write the first 1,000 words of chapter 10† or â€Å"write the scene with Jo confronting Dwayne†. If you find that setting goals can be daunting or off-putting rather than helpful, you might want to set a â€Å"minimum† goal and a â€Å"stretch† goal – that might be â€Å"write 200 words† as the minimum and â€Å"write 1,000 words† as your stretch goal. Even if you only achieve the minimum, you can still give yourself a pat on the back. #6: Decide How Long You’ll Focus For You don’t necessarily need to work with 100% focus for the whole of your writing session. You might decide to focus for 25 minutes, then take a 5 minute break. (Those particular time intervals are part of the Pomodoro technique, which you might find helpful.) Set a timer to keep you on track as you write. While the timer is running, your job is to only write – you can’t check emails, go on Facebook, and so on. It might feel surprisingly hard at first to stay focused in this way, but you’ll soon find it becomes more natural. If you’re fighting a long-entrenched distractibility habit, you might want to use an app like Freedom.to to help you – you can block specific websites, or even the whole internet, for a period of time. What to Do While You Write #7: Keep a â€Å"Distractions† Notebook to Hand One simple tool that I find very helpful is a notebook, diary or even scrap of paper where I can jot down distractions. These are often things I need to remember to do (â€Å"Order Le Guin book† is on my list right now, because as I was drafting this post, I remembered that the science fiction book group I attend is meeting in a couple of weeks) You can use a distractions list not only for â€Å"to do† items, though, but also for impulses that crop up. Stuff like â€Å"see what’s new on xkcd† or â€Å"look up next season of Lucifer† can go on your list, too! Once you get to a break, you can delve into some of those distractions, guilt-free. #8: Don’t Stop to Look Things Up How often are you writing a blog post (or a scene of your novel, or a chapter of your book) – only to realise that you need to look up a name or a fact or a link? And how often do you stop, look it up and end up spending the next half an hour in an internet rabbit-hole? I do this more often than I’d care to admit! But as much as possible, I try to not look things up when I’m writing. Instead, I put a [note to self] in square brackets in my draft, so I can come back and insert the name/fact/link/etc later on. Here’s an example from the draft of this very post: #9: Don’t Edit While You’re Writing I know you’ve been told this one already, but it’s a piece of advice that always bears repeating: don’t edit while you’re writing. Is it okay to occasionally backspace and fix a typo, or restart a sentence that somehow came out wrong? Sure. (Though some â€Å"don’t-edit† purists might disagree with me!) However, if you draft a paragraph, change three sentences, draft another paragraph, cut everything you’ve written so far and start again you’re not going to get far. If you change your mind about something as you’re writing, just pop the section you’re unsure about into italics. Make a quick note about what you’re thinking about changing (e.g. â€Å"remove John from this scene†) and then proceed as if you’d already made that change. That way, you don’t lose momentum – and you don’t waste time editing something that you might later decide to change yet again. What to Do After You Write #10: Record How Your Writing Session Went If you’ve never tried keeping a writing journal before, give it a go. You could have a document on your computer where you jot down how you got on, you could make an entry in your diary, you could use a notebook whatever works for you. Each time you finish a writing session, take a minute or two to note what went well and what didn’t quite work out. For instance, â€Å"started well but got distracted half-way by answering an email from Jenny† or â€Å"took ages to get going but really got into the flow after a few paragraphs†. If you keep up your journal for a few weeks, you’ll find that you can spot patterns – and that you become more aware of what does (and doesn’t) work for you. All writers can focus, and often, being distractible is simply a bad habit. How could you make your next writing session a great one? Pick one idea – or more! – from the list above, and let us know in the comments how you get on. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Homograph ExamplesWhat to Do When Words Appear Twice in a RowPreposition Review #1: Chance of vs. Chance for

Free Essays on Oscar Schindler

Oscar Schindler: One man, many actions Of all the examples of injustice against humanity in history, the Jewish Holocaust has to be one of the most prominent. Sure the slave trade and slavery was extremely unfortunate for African Americans, as was the Nanjing Massacre for Chinese, but neither were nearly exterminated as were the Jews. In the period of 1933 to 1945, the Nazis waged a vicious war against Jews. This war came to a head with the â€Å"Final Solution † in 1938. One of the end results of the Final Solution was the horrible concentration and death camps of Germany, Poland, and other parts of Nazi controlled Europe. One can trace the beginnings of the Holocaust as far back as 1933, when Adolf Hitler, came to power. Hitler’s anti-Jew campaign began soon afterward, with the â€Å"Nuremberg Laws †. These laws forced segregation between Jews and the rest of the public. It was only a dim indication of what the future held for European Jews. Anti-Jewish aggression continued for years after the passing of these laws. One of these was the Aryanization of Jewish properties and businesses. Jews were progressively forced out of the economy of Germany, their assets turned over to the government and the German public. Other forms of degradation were pogroms . The first and most infamous of these pogroms was Krystallnacht, or â€Å"The Night of Broken Glass†. This pogrom was prompted by the assassination of German diplomat by a Jew. Two days later an act of retaliation was organized to attack Jews in Germany. On the night of November 9th and 10th, over 7,000 Jewish businesses were destroyed, 175 synagogues demolished, nearly a 100 Jews killed, and thousands more injured, all for the assassination of one official by a Jew (â€Å"Holocaust, the.† Microsoft Encarta ’96). In many ways this was the Tunstall 2 first act of violence to Jews made by the Nazis. However, their intentions were now clear. The Nazi’s plans... Free Essays on Oscar Schindler Free Essays on Oscar Schindler Oscar Schindler: One man, many actions Of all the examples of injustice against humanity in history, the Jewish Holocaust has to be one of the most prominent. Sure the slave trade and slavery was extremely unfortunate for African Americans, as was the Nanjing Massacre for Chinese, but neither were nearly exterminated as were the Jews. In the period of 1933 to 1945, the Nazis waged a vicious war against Jews. This war came to a head with the â€Å"Final Solution † in 1938. One of the end results of the Final Solution was the horrible concentration and death camps of Germany, Poland, and other parts of Nazi controlled Europe. One can trace the beginnings of the Holocaust as far back as 1933, when Adolf Hitler, came to power. Hitler’s anti-Jew campaign began soon afterward, with the â€Å"Nuremberg Laws †. These laws forced segregation between Jews and the rest of the public. It was only a dim indication of what the future held for European Jews. Anti-Jewish aggression continued for years after the passing of these laws. One of these was the Aryanization of Jewish properties and businesses. Jews were progressively forced out of the economy of Germany, their assets turned over to the government and the German public. Other forms of degradation were pogroms . The first and most infamous of these pogroms was Krystallnacht, or â€Å"The Night of Broken Glass†. This pogrom was prompted by the assassination of German diplomat by a Jew. Two days later an act of retaliation was organized to attack Jews in Germany. On the night of November 9th and 10th, over 7,000 Jewish businesses were destroyed, 175 synagogues demolished, nearly a 100 Jews killed, and thousands more injured, all for the assassination of one official by a Jew (â€Å"Holocaust, the.† Microsoft Encarta ’96). In many ways this was the Tunstall 2 first act of violence to Jews made by the Nazis. However, their intentions were now clear. The Nazi’s plans...