Linda Frey

Prevention of secondary health conditions in adults with developmental disabilities: a review of the literature

PURPOSE To compile empirical findings regarding prevention strategies for secondary conditions experienced by adults with developmental disabilities. METHOD The PsycLit and PubMed databases were searched for articles addressing the 20 most pervasive secondary conditions and the prevention of secondary conditions in general. RESULTS Of more than 2000 articles examined, 25 met criteria for inclusion. None could be categorized as a primary approach to prevention, 19 involved secondary and six involved tertiary approaches. The majority included between one and ten participants. Nine studies involved the administration of treatment, three providing certain experiences, two chart review, and 11 a training approach. Injuries due to self-abuse, communication problems, dental hygiene problems, and problems with memory, persistence and mobility were addressed. CONCLUSION Little is known regarding the prevention of secondary conditions within this population. The authors stress the necessity to focus research efforts on greater understanding of the linkage between disability, rehabilitation and public health models.Purpose: To compile empirical findings regarding prevention strategies for secondary conditions experienced by adults with developmental disabilities. Method: The PsycLit and PubMed databases were searched for articles addressing the 20 most pervasive secondary conditions and the prevention of secondary conditions in general. Results: Of more than 2000 articles examined, 25 met criteria for inclusion. None could be categorized as a primary approach to prevention, 19 involved secondary and six involved tertiary approaches. The majority included between one and ten participants. Nine studies involved the administration of treatment, three providing certain experiences, two chart review, and 11 a training approach. Injuries due to self-abuse, communication problems, dental hygiene problems, and problems with memory, persistence and mobility were addressed. Conclusion: Little is known regarding the prevention of secondary conditions within this population. The authors stress the necessity to focus research efforts on greater understanding of the linkage between disability, rehabilitation and public health models.

A Question of Empire: Leopold I and the War of Spanish Succession, 1701–1705

The War of Spanish Succession (1701–1714), one of the major international conflicts of the eighteenth century, sought to resolve the greatest diplomatic issue of the day: the partition of the Spanish empire. This essay focuses on the Austrian emperor Leopold Is diplomatic efforts in the courts of the Maritime Powers to obtain the Spanish inheritance during the first years of that conflict. The early years of the war (between 1701 and 1705) were a formative period in the development of Habsburg foreign policy. The problems that plagued the Maritime Powers after Leopolds death in 1705, such as the disputes over the deployment of troops, the differences of opinion over precisely how the Spanish empire should be divided and the policy to be followed in dealing with the Hungarian rebels and the elector of Bavaria, and the questions that arose over the alliances with Portugal and Savoy were all either existing or anticipated during the latter years of his reign.

International officials and the standard of diplomatic privilege

Historically international privileges and immunities, namely those bestowed on international functionaries, have influenced and become entwined with their diplomatic counterparts. Developments in diplomatic privileges and immunities have affected the immunities accorded international persons because ‘diplomatic’ privilege is still used to define the privileges granted to some international officials. The abuses of and problems raised by international privileges and immunities have been examined by the International Law Commission, which moved to expand them, and the Council of Europe, which moved to contract them. The UN Conference on Representation of States in their Relations with International Organizations, convoked in 1975, ultimately failed to draft a convention acceptable to hosts because the issue had become entangled in so many different agendas.

Instruments of the Revolution: Language and Dress

The revolutionaries transformed both language and dress, for they both reflected identity. Language was to be refashioned in the revolutionary image and that entailed the adoption of a new dictionary and even a new grammar, including the use of tu instead of vous. Changes in style could trap the unwary, for language shifted with the revolutionary tides. Moreover, revolutionary dictates often did not mesh with the sensibilities of foreign governments; those sent to France often found the way littered with linguistic land mines. Like language, dress was part of the emphasis placed on transparency and an outward manifestation of civic virtue. Flouting certain sartorial conventions and wearing, for example, the tricolor implied a rejection of the international order and an affirmation of the revolutionary faith.

Conclusion: Return to the Old

The revolutionaries had challenged both the assumptions and practices of the old order; they contested the traditional norms of etiquette, dress, and language. Confrontational diplomacy proved an oxymoron. As the gales of revolution swept through France, the new diplomacy increasingly resembled the old as the revolutionaries found themselves making compromises. After Thermidor the revolutionaries found themselves violating previously declared principles. The Directory had an even more pragmatic emphasis. The same geostrategic concerns dominated policy. Realpolitik prevailed. Revolutionaries increasingly adopted practices they had earlier derided; they adopted a more elaborate ceremony and etiquette, they resorted to bribery and espionage, and they insisted on precedence. Although the revolutionaries continued to espouse revolutionary principles, the dream of transforming the international system remained just that.

Mise en Scène: The Indictment

The revolutionaries attacked the premises and functioning of the international order under the old regime where war was the norm and peace the exception and states recognized no bonds but self-interest. They also critiqued the demonstrable foreign policy failures of Louis XV and Louis XVI which reduced France to a nullity and underscored its impotence. The revolutionaries could draw upon a long tradition of criticism of the diplomatic system. Statesmen, philosophers, and clerics in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, including Leibniz, Mably, and Fenelon, critiqued both the system and the king, as did many of the philosophes, notably Montesquieu, Rousseau, Diderot, and Holbach. Even worse from the perspective of many was to engage in war and repeatedly fail as the kings did.

The Revolutionary Theater of Power: Precedence and Etiquette

The revolution repudiated the ceremonial associated with the old regime and permeated by the aristocratic code. In particular the revolutionaries attacked both precedence and etiquette. They derided what Rousseau deemed the “perfidious veil of politeness.” Perfect politeness could be nothing but a “sign of corruption.” Practical considerations and ideological constraints led the revolutionaries to erect a new theater of power. The struggle between the old and the new was enacted on this symbolic battleground. Predictably, many revolutionary diplomats deliberately and impudently broke the formerly accepted rules of diplomatic conduct. The revolutionaries saw the new ceremony as legitimating the revolution and underlining its power. The reshaping of diplomatic procedures in the revolutionary mold, however, underscored and widened the gulf between France and the rest of Europe.

The Enemy Within: The Attack on Diplomats

The French revolutionaries attacked not only the foreign minister but also diplomacy and its practitioners. The post of foreign minister was increasingly suspect and perilous as was that of diplomat. In the view of many, diplomats were glib, ambitious intriguers, who reveled in outward show, no better than protected spies. Diplomats found themselves in a precarious position because of the vicious factionalism at home and endemic hostility abroad. They faced official and unofficial scrutiny. Shifting definitions of loyalty, combined with the rise and fall of factions, meant the evisceration of the diplomatic corps which impacted relations with other states. This evisceration would have been even more critical but for the increasing isolation of France within the European international order.

“Quite in the Clouds”: French Emissaries Abroad

Inherent in revolutionary diplomacy was a tacit but more often an overt subversion of the established order. A number of instances illustrate the hydra-like problems that arose when a diplomat schooled in the customs of the old regime confronted a representative who followed the dictates of the revolutionary agenda. Mutual antipathy often undermined the possibility of negotiation as did revulsion at the fate of the king and the violence of the Terror. The public face of republican France projected onto the diplomatic parquet was hardly an amenable one. Not surprisingly, many governments refused to receive French representatives whom they viewed as “emissaries of sedition.” Even in fellow republics their schemes to promote an international republicanism alienated the host government. Witness Genet in the United States.

“Empire of Images”: The Deployment of Symbols

Casting aside the constraints of traditional diplomacy, revolutionary diplomats vaunted the new order and flaunted its symbols, draping their embassies in tricolor flags and painting escutcheons depicting the image of liberty. Their behavior ranged from the innocuous to the seditious as seen in the actions of Bassville in Rome and Bernadotte in Vienna, among others. French representatives wore liberty bonnets, planted liberty trees, and festooned embassies with tricolor flags. These actions also reflected their commitment to a more open system as seen in the publication of dispatches which opened another front in the contest of revolutionary France with the rest of Europe. These revolutionaries also raised the question of whether a republic was compatible with secret diplomacy, secret funds, and secret agents.