Question

Imagine that you are working at the front desk at a professional medical office. part of your job is to greet each patient and help them feel welcome. a patient comes in and you smile and offer a greeting, but she does not respond. instead she sits down in the corner and starts talking loudly to herself. it seems like she is listing ingredients in her favorite recipe as she says sugar, flour, eggs, sugar, sugar, eggs... this is unusual behavior in fact as you previously learned, it may even be considered deviant since it is not what most people do when they come into a medical office. you wonder whether she has a lot on her mind, or if she may just be weird or rude. a few minutes later, the patients mother comes in, approaches you at the front desk, and begins to fill out the paperwork for her daughter. she tells you that her daughter has a disability which is why her behaviors are different than the behavior of the other patients. Reflecting on the term medicalization, how did your opinion of the situation change when you found out about the patients disability?

Answer 1

At first you assumed something about the patient, and then you were informed and saw things in a different light, or a new perspective.