Organisationen kring barn med Cerebral Pares i ett föränderligt Värmland : Föreningen RBU Värmlands del i handikapprörelsen 1952-1962

Sammanfattning: This essay examines the disability movement in Värmland from 1956 to 1962, through a case study of the association RBU Värmland. Focusing on the starting point of the association, it explores whether their initial purpose and ambitions were fulfilled. RBU Värmland's main purpose was to promote the improved care and treatment of children with Cerebral Palsy, as well as to provide information and support to their parents. The association meant to work with these particular issues because of the disadvantages that these children and their families faced in the society of this time. For example, the healthcare in Sweden did not have the resources to provide satisfactory treatment for the children, and parents had to struggle to take care of them. During the association’s first ten years, it succeeded in improving both these aspects of the lives of children with Cerebral Palsy and their families. They carried out treatment periods where these children received much needed care, while their parents acquired knowledge and support through courses, amongst other things. In the essay, the interpretation of these actions draws on both Michel Foucault's perspective on power, as well as feminist theory. In light of Foucault’s ideas, the association is interpreted as a tool of power, where everyone involved were exercising power on various occasions. Sometimes the motif was to help the children in different ways, and sometimes the purpose was a different one, but either way power was exercised and redistributed.