scholarly journals Positive aspects of disability among college students

2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica L. Sniatecki ◽  
Jennifer Randhare Ashton ◽  
Holly B. Perry ◽  
Linda H. Snell

Purpose The number of students with disabilities pursuing a college education has increased dramatically in recent years (Hall and Belch, 2000; Hitchings et al., 2011; Horn et al., 2006; Retish and Horvath, 2005; Snyder et al., 2016; Stodden et al., 2001), yet, evidence suggests that these students continue to encounter significant challenges and barriers that may have a dramatic effect on their college experience (Madaus and Shaw, 2006; Sniatecki et al., 2015; Stodden et al., 2001). The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach Positive experiences and aspects of being a college student with a disability have not garnered as much consideration and have received little attention in the professional literature to date. The current study sought to address this gap through examination of positive aspects of disability among 12 undergraduate students. Data were gathered via qualitative interviews. Findings Results included five distinct themes related to students’ experiences: personal growth and self-acceptance; empathy/understanding; advocacy and teaching others; unique relationship experiences and opportunities; and drive/determination/perseverance. Research limitations/implications The implications of these themes and future directions for research on positive aspects of disability are also addressed. Originality/value The results of this study provide support for the social model of disability as a lens to view individuals with disabilities as complete people who, with their impairments, can and do go on to lead positive and meaningful lives.

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 634-651
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Macdonald ◽  
Faye Cosgrove

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of officers/civilians with dyslexia serving in the police service in England and Wales. Although there has been a growing body of research which has analysed the experiences of offenders and victims with dyslexia, there have been few studies focusing on the experiences of police officers/civilians with this condition. This study employs the social model of disability to conceptualise the experiences of these police officers/civilians from a disability rights perspective. Design/methodology/approach This applies a quantitative methodology to analyse data on disabling environments experienced by officers/civilians serving in a police service situated in the North of England. The paper collected data from 56 police employees previously diagnosed with dyslexia. Findings The findings reveal that a significant number of officers were reluctant to disclose that they had dyslexia to their police service. The choice to disclose was a key concern for officers/civilians, as this was directly linked to their experiences of stigmatisation, as well as the risk of their competences being questioned at work. The analysis presents evidence that, although officers/civilians have legal protections under the Equality Act 2010 (c15) in the UK, very few had experienced any form of “reasonable adjustment” in the workplace. Originality/value Drawing on the social model of disability, the paper concludes that the police service must improve access to reasonable adjustment, for example, through the use of assistive technologies, to create a more inclusive and supportive working environment for their employees.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 231-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Kinn

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between recovery approaches and the social model of disability developed within the broader disability movement. Design/methodology/approach Personal narrative and reflective account written from the perspective of a senior peer trainer with reference to selected literature. Findings It is important to embrace a social model and rights-based approach within recovery approaches. Originality/value An original viewpoint on the perspective of a peer trainer linking recovery approaches to the social model and rights-based approach developed within the broader disability arena.


Author(s):  
Frederic Fovet

The K-12 sector has sought to develop inclusive provisions for over two decades, but post-secondary education has not shifted as rapidly towards the inclusion of students with disabilities. Inclusion still mostly amounts to retrofitting and the provision of accommodations. This leads to a degree of stigmatization, and rarely leads to a genuine metamorphosis of the higher education classroom, or the transformation of pedagogy. The result is a tangible tension between the expectations of students with disabilities and institutional culture. The chapter examines the power of the current discourse of students with disabilities and their thirst for change. It then seeks to explore how this discourse can be translated into action, and more particularly how the social model of disability can be integrated into higher education. Universal design for learning appears as a promising framework to translate this activism into tangible change. The chapter develops this reflection beyond pedagogy itself and considers how a framework such as UDL can support a radical transformation of leadership.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 617-639
Author(s):  
Amit Gupta ◽  
Pushpendra Priyadarshi

PurposeThere is dearth of research pertaining to how persons with disability (PWDs) view their career and the issues they face in career development; past studies highlight either the organizational initiatives or individual factors in this regard. The present study bridges this gap by studying the PWDs' experiences and perceptions on challenges in their career development.Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory study through interview of professionally qualified PWDs in India, who have a permanent employment.FindingsPWDs experience that affirmative action has a negative fallout as it leads to positive discrimination and hence, adversely affects their confidence and development.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study throws up new themes in the organizational climate that the PWDs face in career development, future studies can understand the aspirations of PWDs toward career and focus on the how the PWDs engage in shaping their career. Researchers can explore strategies that PWDs plan/adopt in creating a sustainable career for themselves. Scholars can also map the issues raised by PWDs with the career outcomes.Social implicationsThe Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2016, of Government of India introduces a social model of disability in India. This paper deploys the social model of disability to enhance our understanding of the disability climate in India from a new lens.Originality/valueThis study introduces new themes that depict the environmental factors and are related to the organizational climate rather than self-focused issues of PWDs. The paper introduces two new subjective criteria, voiced by PWDs, for career development – a well-crafted capability-based career path and role of inspirational platforms. It introduces hitherto undiscovered issues toward career development, faced by PWDs who have a secure employment and a professional career. This is the first exclusive study of PWDs employed in public sector and thus, brings uniqueness in the context.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-63
Author(s):  
Angela Makris ◽  
Mahmooda Khaliq ◽  
Elizabeth Perkins

Background: One in four Americans have a disability but remain an overlooked minority population at risk for health care disparities. Adults with disabilities can be high users of primary care but often face unmet needs and poor-quality care. Providers lack training, knowledge and have biased practices and behaviors toward people with disabilities (PWD); which ultimately undermines their quality of care. Focus of the Article: The aim is to identify behavior change interventions for decreasing health care disparities for people with disabilities in a healthcare setting, determine whether those interventions used key features of social marketing and identify gaps in research and practice. Research Question: To what extent has the social marketing framework been used to improve health care for PWD by influencing the behavior of health care providers in a primary health care setting? Program Design/Approach: Scoping Review. Importance to the Social Marketing Field: Social marketing has a long and robust history in health education and public health promotion, yet limited work has been done in the disabilities sector. The social marketing framework encompasses the appropriate features to aligned with the core principles of the social model of disability, which espouses that the barriers for PWD lie within society and not within the individual. Incorporating elements of the social model of disability into the social marketing framework could foster a better understanding of the separation of impairment and disability in the healthcare sector and open a new area of research for the field. Results: Four articles were found that target primary care providers. Overall, the studies aimed to increase knowledge, mostly for clinically practices and processes, not clinical behavior change. None were designed to capture if initial knowledge gains led to changes in behavior toward PWD. Recommendations: The lack of published research provides an opportunity to investigate both the applicability and efficacy of social marketing in reducing health care disparities for PWD in a primary care setting. Integrating the social model of disability into the social marketing framework may be an avenue to inform future interventions aimed to increase health equity and inclusiveness through behavior change interventions at a systems level.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Alan Fine ◽  
Hannah Wohl ◽  
Simone Ispa-Landa

Purpose This study aims to explore how graduate students in the social sciences develop reading and note-taking routines. Design/methodology/approach Using a professional socialization framework drawing on grounded theory, this study draws on a snowball sample of 36 graduate students in the social sciences at US universities. Qualitative interviews were conducted to learn about graduate students’ reading and note-taking techniques. Findings This study uncovered how doctoral students experienced the shift from undergraduate to graduate training. Graduate school requires students to adopt new modes of reading and note-taking. However, students lacked explicit mentorship in these skills. Once they realized that the goal was to enter an academic conversation to produce knowledge, they developed new reading and note-taking routines by soliciting and implementing suggestions from advanced doctoral students and faculty mentors. Research limitations/implications The specific requirements of the individual graduate program shape students’ goals for reading and note-taking. Further examination of the relationship between graduate students’ reading and note-taking and institutional requirements is warranted with a larger sample of universities, including non-American institutions. Practical implications Graduate students benefit from explicit mentoring in reading and note-taking skills from doctoral faculty and advanced graduate students. Originality/value This study uncovers the perspectives of graduate students in the social sciences as they transition from undergraduate coursework in a doctoral program of study. This empirical, interview-based research highlights the centrality of reading and note-taking in doctoral studies.


Medicne pravo ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 86-94
Author(s):  
R. B. Hobor

In spite of all the short-comings, the level of protection of rights and capabilities of people with disabilities has become a good indicator of nation’s development, and such a trend is nothing but hopeful. At the same time, one can hardly imagine that this high attitude would be attainable without the influence of left liberal ideologies, that among omnibus achievements granted the shift from medical to social disabilities model.This situation cannot stand but to resemble in a certain state of rights and capabilities exercise, and even the availability of access to the key resources is impossible to bring to the point of marginalization of the mental and physical health problems. As the analyzed material shows, left liberal ideologists,being responsible for shaping the current International Law on Persons with Disabilities, finally succeeded in promoting their principle ideas in the nation case-law. The right to water, lay down on the ship’s practice, as you will look lower, you can use the clever illustration of that relief flow, as the national judiciary can fix the development of the rights and capabilities of individuals from the same basis.The article further develops the idea, that national courts sometimes tend to use realistic approach (as invented by R. Pound, J. Llewellyn, O.W. Holmes) for the sake of implementing the social model of disability. It has been concluded that legal realism is a transmitter for left liberal values in the modern western societies.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document