Alter-European Journal of Disability Research最新文献

In this article, we begin by questioning the notion of special educational needs, which is used today in Switzerland, by going back over its historical foundations and developing the main issues and problems it raises. We then present the results of a comprehensive research aimed at uncovering the factors at work in the process of designating certain students for an enhanced special education support measure during their compulsory schooling. On the basis of a content analysis of the reports for an enhanced special education support measure produced during the 2016–2017 school year in a Swiss canton, as well as comprehensive interviews conducted with permanent teachers, we highlight various factors that can lead to the designation of a student for an enhanced special education support measure. We show how there is a degree of randomness in being designated for a special education support measure and critically discuss the role of the school institution and its actors in this process.

The Convention on the rights of people with disabilities (UN, 2006) stated that participation in social life is a fundamental human right emphasizing the importance to rethink the concept of accessibility in cultural spaces. Cultural heritage sites, as well as museums and galleries, express an increasing interest in adopting strategies to improve accessibility and participation for all. We used an Inclusive Research paradigm, actively involving a group of individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) with the goal to investigate participants’ perceptions and ideas of obstacles/facilitators to knowledge accessibility. A particular focus has been given to readability and comprehensibility of the existing textual resources in a cultural heritage site. The inclusion of people with ID as informants during the entire research process allowed not only to assess their point of view, but also to realize a questionnaire using the easy-to-read criteria. The main variables assessed through the questionnaire are: (a) Perception and Physical Interaction with content resources, (b) Language and symbols, (c) Content comprehension, (d) Engagement with knowledge. We argue that the proposed questionnaire may be useful to inform the process of creating and transforming learning environments adopting an audience-centered dialogue. Enhancing the contribution of special pedagogy in this innovative research field means improving our understanding of people's needs and the complexity of potential outcomes, from an inclusive perspective.

This article presents the epistemological issues related to the implementation and exploitation of data produced within the framework of a transdisciplinary project on young sickle cell patients in Guadeloupe. The use of the theoretical model of the Human Development Model – Disability Creation Process aims to apprehend the reciprocal interactions between the biomedical effects of the pathology and lifestyle habits, breaking with medical readings of the disability. Based on an inclusive approach, this model reintroduces individual factors in interaction with the physical and social environment, in the study of the performance of everyday activities and social roles. The resulting reflection on transdisciplinarity concerns both the operationalization of the survey protocol and the modalities of processing research data. How to avoid the dispersion or simple coexistence of the latter? By contributing to their integration, the HDM-DPC offers a framework likely to promote applications and benefits for patients. The transdisciplinary approach aims societal benefits, in particularly improved inclusion in all spheres of their social life and aims to examine the epistemological foundations of a transdisciplinary study of sickle cell disease, favoring a socio-anthropological approach.

As a tool for social participation and inclusion, the wheelchair constitutes an interesting entry point to study the everyday experience of people with physical disabilities. This paper offers to discuss how people learn to use the wheelchairs, how they move with them, and how the chair influences their inclusion. Based on an eighteen-month ethnography in a Coloured township in Cape Town (South Africa), such a reading of the wheelchair calls for a relational and intersectional approach of citizenship. Defined broadly as one's relationship to their body, their environment, their relatives, and the State, citizenship is experienced through a web of social, institutional, and material relationships. This approach ultimately raises issues of inclusion, belonging, and stigmatisation. After presenting the context of the research, I discuss the notions of active citizenship, modern citizenship and the right to the city. The conclusion comes back to the ideas of relational and intersectional citizenship as a way forward for research in disability studies and in South Africa.

This scoping review aims to explore the citizenship of people with intellectual disabilities and its expression in inclusive research. The deductive lens used is the general principles embedded in Article 3 of the UN's Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The review was conducted using the framework proposed by Arksey and O’Malley. Seven databases were searched for peer-reviewed journal articles dating from 2005 to 2019. Our key findings are: the term citizenship is seldom mentioned or explicitly discussed in the articles; the articles highlight a broad range of dimensions closely related to the exercise of citizenship. Citizenship in the articles is connected to participation, autonomy, decision-making, self-direction and inclusion in society. Articles also uncover violations of the rights and barriers to participation in the society; more attention needs to be paid to conceptualization and exploration of the citizenship of people with intellectual disabilities.

Implications for further research

The citizenship of people with intellectual disabilities needs to get more attention regarding both the understanding of the concept of citizenship and its exercise, so that people with intellectual disabilities get a real chance to become equal partners in society and research.

Two significantly different countries such as Norway and India have adopted similar social regulation policies aimed at the employment of disabled people since the 1990s. Countries can adopt social regulation policies, such as anti-discrimination provisions, owing to multiple factors. This article uncovers two common factors leading to policy convergence within social regulation reforms aimed at the employment of disabled people in Norway and India. An exploratory qualitative case study was conducted, wherein 25 policy experts (11 from Norway and 14 from India) were interviewed. Findings from expert interviews indicate that the observed policy convergence are connected to two trends that can be detected both in Norway and India. The first concerns the influence of international treaties; the second concerns grassroots mobilization of disabled people and their organizations. Findings point towards increasing internationalization of social regulation policies and these policy developments transcend the global North and global South divide.