Search results for ‘Subject term:"physical disabilities"’ Sort:
Results 1 - 4 of 4
Disability and the anti-obesity offensive
- Author:
- APHRAMOR Lucy
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 24(7), December 2009, pp.897-909.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This paper expands a discussion, begun 10 years ago by Charlotte Cooper, which explored some of the resonances and differences between struggles for disability and fat rights and argued that fatness is a disability issue. The writer asks why, if disability is understood as the interplay of aspects of impairment and social exclusion premised on medicalised assumptions of pathology or deficiency, is fatness, invariably diagnosed as overweight or obesity and read as the disease obesity, not disabling. She aims here to open up the debate and “stem the tide of damaging orthodoxy” in anti-obesity discourse and practice. Some ways in which fat people are oppressed by the same ideological practices and values that oppress (other) disabled people are explored. Fatness has typically been excluded from consideration by disability scholars but here the alternative theories of fatness are informed by insights from disability studies. In conclusion, the author urges discussion on theoretical perspectives of disability that embrace fatness and sees this as a prerequisite to developing strategies that enhance both disability and fat rights.
Age and disability: explaining the wage differential
- Authors:
- GANNON Brendon, MUNLEY Margaret
- Journal article citation:
- Social Science and Medicine, 69(1), July 2009, pp.47-55.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
This paper estimates the level of explained and unexplained factors that contribute to the wage gap between workers with and without disabilities, providing benchmark estimates for Ireland. It separates out the confounding impact of productivity differences between disabled and non-disabled, by comparing wage differentials across three groups, disabled with limitations, disabled without limitations and non-disabled. Furthermore, data are analysed for the years 1995–2001 and two sub-samples pre and post 1998 allow us to decompose wage differentials before and after the Employment Equality Act 1998. Results are comparable to those of the UK and the unexplained component (upper bound of discrimination) is lower once we control for productivity differences. The lower bound level depends on the contribution of unobserved effects and the validity of the selection component in the decomposition model.
Disability, health and access to training
- Author:
- FUMAGALLI Laura
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Pagination:
- 58p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
Providing adequate training for disabled people is a major objective of recent legislation against discrimination in the labour market for the UK. Using data from the 2004 British workplace employee relations survey, this detailed study analyses the determinants of training for disabled workers both at the individual and at the firm level – in terms of the likelihood of workers being trained by their employers and the length of training received. The findings conclude that disability can reduce the probability of receiving training, but has negligible effect on the duration of training if it is received. The authors propose that the findings pose a challenge for policy makers, who must make it possible for each employee to declare his health status, but on the other hand must set up preventions aimed at discriminating against disabled people.
Interlocking oppressions: the effect of a comorbid physical disability on perceived stigma and discrimination among mental health consumers in Canada
- Authors:
- BAHM Allison, FORCHUK Cheryl
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 17(1), February 2009, pp.63-70.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
People living with mental health problems often face stigma and discrimination; however, there is a lack of research that examines how comorbid conditions affect this perceived stigma. This study sought to determine whether people who have a comorbid physical and psychiatric disability experience more stigma than those with only a psychiatric disability. It also looked at how perceived stigma and discrimination affect physical and mental health. A secondary analysis on data from interviews with 336 former and current clients of the mental health system in a mid-size Canadian city in 2005 was performed. Of these, 203 (60.4%) reported they had a psychiatric disability, 112 (33.0%) reported that they had a physical disability, with 74 reporting both a psychiatric and a physical disability. People with a self-reported psychiatric disability and a self-reported comorbid physical disability faced more overall perceived discrimination/stigma (P = 0.04), than those with a psychiatric disability alone. Perceived discrimination/stigma was positively correlated with psychiatric problem severity, and negatively correlated with self-rated general health, physical condition, emotional well-being and life satisfaction. These results bring to light the aggravating effect of a physical disability on the perceived stigma for those living with a mental illness, and also strengthen the knowledge that stigma and discrimination have a negative impact on health. Healthcare providers should recognise this negative impact and screen for these comorbid conditions. Policy-makers should take measures such as improving access to housing and employment services to help reduce stigma and discrimination against this particularly vulnerable group.