Search results for ‘Subject term:"physical disabilities"’ Sort:
Results 1 - 10 of 11
The systems theory concept of disability: one is not born a disabled person, one is observed to be one
- Author:
- MICHAILAKIS Dimitris
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 18(2), March 2003, pp.209-229.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
The article aims at the theoretical development of the concept of disability, with particular reference to its integration with social systems theory. The concept of disability is discussed by suggesting that the predominant models within disability research cannot communicate with each other because they represent different observation points, all of them describing disability from within a specific system. It is the thesis of this article that the distinction between individual and society, which constitute the basis of the well-known scheme of observed differences between impairment, disability and 'handicap', is a distinction based on naive realism and obscures the problems within disability research. In line with a long tradition within sociology, social system theory rejects the belief that our concepts are representations of reality: the categories and concepts we use are distinctions that are system specific. It is through those distinctions that the phenomenon is observed. This implies that observations are not absolute but relative to the observer's perspective.
Individualised support and funding: building blocks for capacity building and inclusion
- Authors:
- LORD John, HUTCHISON Peggy
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 18(1), January 2003, pp.71-86.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
The paradigm in disability supports is shifting away from institutional services and professional control towards self-determination and community involvement of people with disabilities. The assumption that the best way to provide disability supports is for government to give money to agencies or services, rather than directly to people with disabilities and their support networks, is being challenged. This article reports on findings and themes from a Canadian study that investigated individualised funding projects from different parts of the world. Ten of fifteen of the most 'promising initiatives' were selected for more detailed study and analysis. Projects analysed were from Canada, the US, and Australia. Themes emerging from the study included the fact that values and principles mattered, a policy framework provided coherence and equity, infrastructure supports for individuals were separate from service system, the facilitator-broker role differed from case management, allocation of individualised funds was designed to be equitable and account able to the funder and person, and a 'learn as you go' philosophy maximised positive outcomes.
Peer and adult relationships of adolescents with disabilities
- Author:
- SKAR R. N. Lisa
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Adolescence, 26(6), December 2003, pp.635-649.
- Publisher:
- Academic Press
The purpose of this study was to enhance knowledge of what it is like to grow up with a disability, specifically, with focus on how adolescents with restricted mobility perceive social roles and relationships to peers and adults. The group investigated consisted of 12 adolescents with restricted mobility from northern Sweden, aged from 15 to 19 years. The adolescents were individually interviewed. The analysis resulted in a core category (Who am I), which describes how the adolescents perceive themselves. The core category was related to three subcategories: Relationships to friends--describes the adolescents' experiences of peer relationships, Relationships to adults--describes adolescents' relationships to adults, Thoughts about relationships in the future--comprises wishes for future relationships. The results indicated that the 12 disabled adolescents saw themselves as regular members of the adolescent peer group but that the members of the adolescent group saw them as being different. The relationships to friends of the same age were either markedly defective or did not exist at all, while relationships to adults were often characterized as ambivalent or asymmetric, i.e. the adults were simultaneously helpful and supportive while over protective and dominant. The study revealed that despite the many hindrances, the adolescents had a comparatively positive view of their future.
The paradox of disability culture: the need to combine versus the imperative to let go
- Author:
- GAVIN Rose
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 18(5), August 2003, pp.675-690.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This article seeks to demonstrate that, to function as a truly emancipatory phenomenon, disability culture must be relieved of the paradox that keeps it trapped in modernist assumptions that serve to reinforce its marginalised status. The paradox of disability culture may be stated as follows. How can disabled people claim unity without falling into the same exclusionary practices that have served to create their divisive identifications in the first place? Conversely, how can they relinquish the practices of identification that are based on binary oppositions without losing the ability to claim identities at all? The author argues that, by extricating it from its origins in essentialist assumptions, disability culture can be reinvigorated as a truly emancipatory device, which is capable of devising positive identities which, rather than celebrating the 'disabled identity', rely on its dissolution.
Reflections on living with illness, impairment and death
- Author:
- MURRAY Pippa
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 18(4), June 2003, pp.532-536.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This short article calls for new understanding of the experiences of living with illness, impairment and death. It shows clearly, and often painfully, the tensions and contradictions between theory and experience, offering unique insights that hold great potential to help shift the landscape of familiar preoccupations with life, impairment and death.
Beyond the medical model: a reconsideration of 'feeblemindedness', citizenship, and eugenic restrictions
- Author:
- CAREY Allison C.
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 18(4), June 2003, pp.411-430.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
The rise of eugenic restrictions in early twentieth century America reshaped the relationship between intellectual disability, citizenship, and the exercise of rights. To explain the rise of rights restrictions, scholarship has largely turned to the medicalisation of 'feeblemindedness', while overlooking mainstream concepts within citizenship studies. By drawing upon an institutional and relational approach to citizenship, the author argues that factors including the dominant legal narratives and infrastructure, as well as the broader relational context can be used to enhance our understanding of the development of eugenic restrictions. More broadly, an institutional and relational approach to citizenship can provide a theoretical framework by which to meaningfully include people with intellectual disabilities within citizenship studies, while recognising their unique historical experiences.
Diversity in disability: exploring the interactions between disability, ethnicity, age, gender and sexuaity
- Authors:
- MOLLOY Donna, KNIGHT Tim, WOODFIELD Kandy
- Publisher:
- Corporate Document Services; Great Britain. Department for Work and Pensions
- Publication year:
- 2003
- Pagination:
- 212p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Leeds
This report explores diversity in disability. It examines the complex relationships between disability and other aspects of identity, chiefly: ethnicity, gender, age and sexuality. Based on qualitative research with disabled people itprovides evidence about the interaction of different characteristics on disabled peoples’ everyday lives and perceptions of self-identity. It explores the salience of concepts such as ‘compounded’ or ‘multiple’ disadvantage to the everyday lives of disabled people from diverse social groups and discusses if, how and why different aspects of diversity affect people’s everyday experiences.
Developing social firms in the UK: a contribution to identifying good practice
- Authors:
- SECKER Jenny, DASS Sandya, GROVE Bob
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 18(5), August 2003, pp.659-674.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Social firms and related enterprises are developing rapidly in the UK as a means of providing employment for disabled people. This study examined the kind of enterprise that will best meet the aspirations of disabled people. A telephone survey identified the range of enterprises describing themselves as social firms, and examined their development and operation. Alongside the survey, focus groups with disabled people and interviews with carers explored perspectives on the values that should underpin social firms. The results suggest that indicators of good practice include: user/worker participation in the firm's development and operation; the availability of expert advice to enable informed choice about payment, with payment at the minimum wage rates or higher for those who choose this; opportunities for workers to develop to their full potential; a workforce comprising disabled and non-disabled workers; the involvement of carers and local socio-economic agencies in developing the social firm.
Health blossoms in the garden
- Author:
- HOPKINS Graham
- Journal article citation:
- Community Care, 24.07.03, 2003, pp.42-43.
- Publisher:
- Reed Business Information
Gardening and horticulture can enable people to increase their self-esteem and confidence, learn or relearn skills, and keep or improve their quality of life. Working gardens, such as the ones run by the horticultural therapy charity Thrive, provide a sensory environment in which it is not only plants that grow but service users, too. This article describes the activities of one participant who has HIV and a physical disability.
From adolescence to young adulthood: the partnership challenge for learning disability services in England
- Author:
- HUDSON Bob
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 18(3), May 2003, pp.259-276.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
The transition from adolescence to young adulthood is acknowledged to be difficult for all young people, but the problems facing those with a learning disability will tend to be greater. This article identifies these additional difficulties, and considers the extent to which new policy requirements and expectations in England can address them. At the heart of this new approach is the need for partnership working between a complex range of agencies and professionals. What is at stake is not only a better system of support for some vulnerable young people, but also--in microcosm--the viability of partnership working as a policy tool for addressing complex issues.