Search results for ‘Author:"donelly michelle"’ Sort:
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The social experiences of children with disability and the influence of environment: a framework for intervention
- Authors:
- BAKER Kristan, DONELLY Michelle
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 16(1), January 2001, pp.71-85.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This paper explores the influence of environment on the quality of social experiences of children with disability in Sydney, Australia. The social experiences of four children with fragile X syndrome were described using ethnographic methods that included participant observation at 'special' and regular schools and in-depth interviews with parents, teachers and occupational therapists. An environmental perspective is presented here to complement existing individualist perspectives that address the social problems faced by children with disability. The environmental perspective involves (i) perceptions of disability, (ii) the child's family (relations, advocacy, encouragement, education, identity creation, dependence and separation), and (iii) the child's school (physical environment, other children, principal, teachers, therapists, policy and ethos). The paper serves as a basic framework to be adapted in further research and practice into the environmental influence of children's social experiences.
Embodiment as an instrument for empathy in social work
- Authors:
- RHYN Brianne van, BARWICK Alex, DONELLY Michelle
- Journal article citation:
- Australian Social Work, 74(2), 2021, pp.146-158.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
It is within and through the body that we experience the physical, social, and emotional dimensions of life. This view draws on the existential phenomenological principal of embodiment, as described by French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Empathy is considered essential in the social work professional encounter. Prevailing conceptualisations of empathy in social work rely on simulation theory, where the social worker is expected to emulate the internal emotional and mental state of the client. Phenomenologists question the ontological plausibility of this conceptualisation. Their principal critiques are of mirroring, perspective-taking, and the associated emotional and intellectual labour. Expanding on phenomenological research, we suggest an alternate conceptualisation of empathy that integrates embodiment in social work theory, education, and practice. An embodied approach entails an interpretivist lens of subjectivity, direct perception of another’s emotional state, sensitively and bodily attending to narrative, and adopting a compassionate stance of both “understanding and not understanding”. (Edited publisher abstract)
'They're taking the place of my hands': perspectives of people using personal care
- Authors:
- MEYER Michelle, DONELLY Michelle, WEERAKOON Patricia
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 22(6), October 2007, pp.595-608.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This study investigated the experience of personal support provided by paid service providers. People who were using formal personal care services (participants) were engaged in in-depth interviews about their experiences. The results of a thematic analysis of transcript data are reported. Findings indicate that the participants wanted their personal autonomy facilitated when they received assistance. This was achieved when the carer replaced the participant's 'hands' and followed the choices and preferences of the participant when providing assistance. A number of barriers prevented participants from achieving self-determination. This included the carer's attitudes and aversions to tasks, formal training and rules and regulations set down by the personal care service providers.