Abstract
This article examines various ways people of the past and present have dealt with the unfair practices associated with the use of norms and standards. Nineteenth-century responses of writers to the unfair aspects of standards are revealed by first examining the standards and then analyzing the discourse of two 19th-century women writers and social activists who took issue with them. The subversive tactics used by these activists included reframing the discourse, adding new voices to traditional texts, appealing to higher authorities, and exaggerating or ignoring the standards so as to flaunt them. Turning to the present, these same tactics are found in the discourse of those who are currently promoting the social model practices. These discourse tactics can be used by today's clinicians who are looking for ways to contend with biases resulting from the imposition of narrow standards and norms.