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Disability, self and society
- Author:
- TITCHKOSKY Tanya
- Publisher:
- University of Toronto Press
- Publication year:
- 2003
- Pagination:
- 283p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
This book views disability as a process of identity formation within a culture that has done a great deal to de-emphasize the complexity of disability experience. Unlike many who hold the conventional sociological view of disability as a 'lack' or stigmatized identity, the author approaches disability as an agentive (not passive) embodiment of liminality and as a demonstration of socially valuable in-between-ness. She argues that disability can and should be a 'teacher' to, and about, non-disabled or 'temporarily abled' society. Her reflections on disability rely on the thought of Hannah Arendt as well as her personal experience as an individual with dyslexia living with a blind partner. She uniquely draws on her own and others' situations in order to demonstrate the sociopolitical character of disability.
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.
Courtesy stigma and the ADA: an analysis of third-party discrimination
- Authors:
- O'BRIEN Gerald V., REYNOLDS Christina
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work in Disability and Rehabilitation, 2(4), 2003, pp.65-79.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
A seldom-discussed element of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 provides a degree of employment protection to the relatives and close associates of persons with disabilities, if these relatives or associates have been subject to adverse employment action because of this relationship. This paper describes this “third-party discrimination,” and analyzes important court cases related to it. (Copies of this article are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Centre, Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580).
Disabled people's attitudes toward other impairment groups: a hierarchy of impairments
- Author:
- DEAL Mark
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 18(7), December 2003, pp.897-910.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This article seeks to explore, through the literature, the notion that a hierarchy of impairment exists from the perspectives of both disabled and non-disabled people. The literature suggests that disabled people, like non-disabled people, do not always wish to be associated with other impairment groups for a variety of complex reasons, including competing for scarce allocations of funding/resources, sexual attraction, stigma, etc. The article concludes that further research is required in relation to disabled people's attitudes toward other disabled people, in general, and other impairment groups. Such research would expand our knowledge with respect to the degree to which disabled people view themselves as a homogenous in-group, as a set of separate impairment groups, or viewing impairment as only one facet of identity. These findings would help the disability movement to achieve greater inclusiveness amongst different impairments.
Jargons for deafness as institutional constructions of the deaf body
- Author:
- ROSEN R. S.
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 18(7), December 2003, pp.921-934.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Jargons for deafness are seen here as social institutional constructions of the deaf body. Social institutions develop agendas commensurate with their view of the place of deaf people in society, create jargons to define its deaf clientele base and proffer programmes to construct them. This study examines current jargons developed by constellations of 'healing', 'helping' and 'agencist' social institutions developed in the USA since 1990 in light of their purposes and practices.
Changing student teachers' attitudes towards disability and inclusion
- Author:
- CUSKELLY Monica
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 28(4), December 2003, pp.369-379.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
A total of 274 preservice teacher education students were surveyed at the beginning and end of a one-semester unit on Human Development and Education which combined formal instruction with structured fieldwork experiences. The latter included interviewing community members regarding their knowledge of Down syndrome and opinions on inclusive education, and writing an associated report. At the end of semester, not only had student teachers acquired more accurate knowledge of Down syndrome, together with more positive attitudes towards the inclusive education of children with Down syndrome, but their attitudes towards disability in general had also changed, and they reported greater ease when interacting with people with disabilities. The study illustrated the value of combining information-based instruction with structured fieldwork experiences in changing attitudes towards disability and inclusion. It also demonstrated that raising awareness of one disability may lead to changes in attitudes towards disability in general.
Inclusion against the odds: the continuing education and life of Kirsty Arrondelle
- Author:
- RUSTEMIER Sharon
- Publisher:
- Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education
- Publication year:
- 2003
- Pagination:
- 28p.
- Place of publication:
- Bristol
Describes the remarkable life of a young woman with Down’s Syndrome, whose family defied society’s pressures to segregate her. The report demonstrates the positive effects of mainstream inclusive education for all people, and challenges present-day views of what it means to be a successful citizen in contemporary society. The report documents the social and educational inclusion in her schools, college and now adult years, and links this with the pioneering struggle by her parents to secure mainstream provisions for their daughter.
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.
Ready, willing and disabled
- Authors:
- DAONE Liz, SCOTT Ruth
- Publisher:
- SCOPE
- Publication year:
- 2003
- Pagination:
- 64p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Despite the many government schemes aimed at helping disabled people into employment, disabled people are still five times more likely than non-disabled people to be out of work and claiming benefits. The survey aimed to find out how employers and employees really feel about employing and working with disabled people and to see whether people’s attitudes and opinions are influenced by common stereotypes and generalisations about disabled people and their abilities. The survey asked about the recruitment process, the accessibility of business premises, health and safety regulations, the financial implications of employing a disabled person, people’s knowledge of disability issues, the attitudes of staff and customers towards disabled employees and people’s perceptions of disabled people at work.
The government of disability: economics and power in welfare and work
- Author:
- JOLLY Debbie
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 18(4), June 2003, pp.509-522.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
The term government of disability refers to the ways that the lived experiences of people with accredited impairments are contextualised by economics and power in welfare and work. This paper explores how far a multiple perspective that develops a framework of the government of disability and the ontological ambiguity of impairment can take us towards contemporary understandings of disability, impairment and change in the UK. The term the ontological ambiguity of impairment describes the ways that understandings of impairment have become more ambiguous, contributing to greater insecurities and fragmentation because of key changes in the government of disability. However, the author argues that wider explanations of economic and power relationships are also necessary to develop a critical perspective of the contemporary government of disability, economics, and power in welfare and work.