Being Human: The Theories, Practice, and Influence of Valerie Sinason

Dr Valerie Sinason is regarded widely as being the mother of Disability Therapy. Her pioneering work with children and adults with intellectual disabilities opened the consulting room door to those who had previously been thought of as unreachable and untreatable. She has transformed clinical thinking through her unique blend of rich theoretical knowledge, deeply relational methods and her ability to translate the complexity of psychoanalytic thinking into accessible and beautiful language. Being Human charts the impact of her work upon a generation of clinicians. Taking as its springboard Dr Sinason’s seminal 1992 work Mental Handicap and the Human Condition, and the many papers and books that preceded and followed it, Being Human examines how contemporary Disability Therapists have discovered, used and adapted such pioneering concepts as the Handicapped Smile and Secondary Handicap as a Defence Against Trauma in their clinical work. It features luminaries in the disability field and clinicians from those places across the globe where Dr Sinason’s teaching and supervision have transformed services with the multiply disabled and abused.