The Changing Face of Normal, An Exhibition Exploring Concepts of Normality and Difference

The Changing Face of What Is Normal is an Exploratorium exhibition featuring artifacts and experiences designed to prompt reflection on the idea of normality. How do we define it, and how do those definitions change with time and context? How do individuals and societies react when people break the rules of normality? With components focusing on the daily lives of patients in mental health facilities, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (psychiatry's controversial diagnostic guidebook), and the myriad ways people restrain and limit behavior, the exhibition challenges static and universal conceptions of this powerful social construction. This book is also a collection of essays.