1. Disability Disclosure and Discrimination Juliana Korzon Faculty of Health

2. The research  Fit to practice. What is the experience of registered nurses who become disabled during the course of their careers?

3. Methodology and Method »Qualitative, narrative methodology (Somers, 1994) »Abductive approach – social constructionist (Blaikie, 2010) »Semi structured interviews »Narrative analysis

4. Participant profiles Seven participants- all female Two Pacific nurses, one Maori and four Caucasian. All employed (most full time) Nursing educator, specialist practitioner, primary care nursing, nursing advisor, nursing manager, hospital based staff nurse.

5. Participants-impairments included Polyarthritis, Fibromyalgia syndrome, Head injury, Multiple sclerosis, Back injury, Anxiety and panic attacks, Hepatitis C, Depression Post natal psychosis

6. Disability Identification of disability Medical vs Social model (Oliver, 1983)

7. Disclosure Identity Spread Silencing Passing Hidden and/or Invisible Disabilities

8. Discrimination Barriers - attitudinal and physical Facilitators -understanding and advocating Affirmative Model- accepting of difference

9. For clinicians to empathically recognise and clinically respond to disability in their patients, they need to begin by recognising and responding to disability within themselves and within their own ranks, rather than continuing to uphold impossible ideals of health and normalcy. (Garden, 2010, p. 71)

10. Thank you Comments or Questions?

11. References Blaikie, N. (2010). Designing social research: The logic of anticipation (2 nd ed.). Cambridge: Polity Press. Garden, R. (2010). Disability and narrative: new directions for medicine and the medical humanities. Medical Humanities, doi:10.1136/jmh.2010.004143. Oliver, M. (1983). Social work with disabled people. London: Macmillan. Somers, R. (1994).The narrative construction of identity: A relational and network approach. Theory and Society, 23, 605–649.