ABSTRACT
In Chapter 2, I argued that an unreflective pursuit of normal bodies, activities, and social roles organizes and sustains rehabilitation practices. In this chapter, I consider the ways in which the valorization of normality in rehabilitation is reflected in measures and judgments of quality of life. Intended to capture outcomes beyond the presence or absence of disease, quality of life terminology is now ubiquitous in contemporary health care, and improving quality of life is a pervasively stated goal of rehabilitation programs the world over. Myriad tools have been devised to measure the quality of life of populations, groups, and individuals, and quality of life arguments are advanced in momentous decisions such as withholding or withdrawing “futile” medical treatments. Quality of life research has emerged as a field of inquiry unto itself, with a 680% increase in the proportion of quality of life studies published from 1966 to 2005 (Moons et al. 2006).
