Asistencia y cuidados cotidianos de los niños discapacitados mentales. Diagnósticos profanos y grupos domésticos

Abstract

This article is based on a long-lasting ethnographic enquiry on families taking care of a mentally disabled child. It proposes to unfold the stakes and mechanisms of the daily care for these children, which is based not only on the institutions chosen for their education, but also on a daily practical organization. This organization is here grasped through the determination of the community which takes care of the child, named “maisonnée” ( household), and of the different viewpoints on the child, named uninitiated diagnoses. The complex articulation between these two sorts of production –material and cognitive– is illustrated here by a monography of one exemplary family. The combination between family history, uninitiated diagnoses and “maisonnée” dynamics allows to account for the specific type of care which is observed at the time of the field work. This article aims to examine the articulation between these different elements.