“Is it Time to Abandon the Medical Construct of Being Normal”

"Are you average? Typical? Ideal? Adequate? The idea of ‘normal’ is a historical construct and it's time we got rid of it"

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Jonathan Sholl, a professor of medical philosophy in Denmark, writes for Aeon: “In any parlance, the specific meaning of ‘normal’ has important consequences, especially if it is given a privileged position in the world. Anything that veers – from having green eyes or hearing voices to living with hydrocephalus – would be abnormal in one sense or another: uncommon, rare, atypical, potentially inadequate, suboptimal or deficient in some way – and in need of being brought back to some norm. Yet, it could be controversial, or just plain odd, to pathologise such variations; especially if they are functional in some way.”

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