scholarly journals Urban encounters limited: The importance of built-in boundaries in contacts between people with intellectual or psychiatric disabilities and their neighbours

Urban Studies ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (16) ◽  
pp. 3371-3387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Femmianne Bredewold ◽  
Evelien Tonkens ◽  
Margo Trappenburg

People with intellectual disabilities or psychiatric disorders who live in ordinary neighbourhoods often have little contact with fellow residents without disabilities. Recent research suggests that we should not strive for warm contacts based on familiarity and shared values between utterly different groups in urban areas. Daily life between people with and without disabilities is described as a process in which boundaries are negotiated. This study builds on that observation. It was based in a middle sized town in the Netherlands and consists of a survey among people with intellectual or psychiatric disabilities and neighbourhood residents (not being support staff or relatives of people with disabilities); semi structured interviews and participant observation. We found that fruitful encounters between different groups depend on built-in boundaries in contacts. Positive encounters occur when roles are clear and boundaries do not have to be negotiated because they are given. Both parties benefit from boundaries and fixed roles: people with disabilities do not need social reflexivity or intricate social skills to find their way in the situation; people without disabilities can end the contact without being rude. In line with previous research we also found that positive neighbourhood contacts are usually light and superficial and result in conviviality rather than long term relationships.

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Flynn ◽  
Richard P Hastings ◽  
David Gillespie ◽  
Rachel McNamara ◽  
Elizabeth Randell

Background: The Who’s Challenging Who? (WCW) training is coproduced and delivered by people with intellectual disabilities (IDs), and it aims to improve staff empathy for people with challenging behaviour (CB). This study qualitatively describes trainees’ and trainers’ experiences of the WCW. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with managers ( n = 7), support staff ( n = 6) and the WCW trainers ( n = 4; three had IDs). Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Two cross-cutting themes were drawn from the data: (1) valued roles of the trainers, whereby trainers and trainees benefited from the training being coproduced and delivered by people with IDs, and (2) beyond the training, within which trainees reported that they were engaging in increased reflection about their past and current practice. Conclusions: Being trained by people with IDs and CB appears to be a useful method, which can lead to perspective taking and reflection about supporting people with IDs and CB.


2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Pier S Van der Meulen ◽  
Maaike A Hermsen ◽  
Petri JCM Embregts

Background: Self-determination is an important factor in improving the quality of life of people with moderate intellectual disabilities. A focus on self-determination implies that restraints on the freedom of people with intellectual disabilities should be decreased. In addition, according to the Dutch Care and Coercion bill, regular restraints of freedom, such as restrictions on choice of food or whom to visit, should be discouraged. Such restraints are only allowed if there is the threat of serious harm for the clients or their surroundings. Research question: What do support staff consider as restraints on freedom and how do they justify these restraints? Research design: In this study, data were collected by semi-structured interviews. Participants and research context: Fifteen support staff working with clients with moderate intellectual disabilities were interviewed. All participants work within the same organisation for people with intellectual disabilities in the Eastern part of the Netherlands. Ethical considerations: The study was conducted according to good scientific inquiry guidelines and ethical approval was obtained from a university ethics committee. Findings: Most restraints of freedom were found to be centred around the basic elements in the life of the client, such as eating, drinking and sleeping. In justifying these restraints, support staff said that it was necessary to give clarity in what clients are supposed to do, to structure their life and to keep them from danger. Discussion: In the justification of restraints of freedom two ethical viewpoints, a principle-guided approach and an ethics of care approach, are opposing one other. Here, the self-determination theory can be helpful, while it combines the autonomy of the client, relatedness to others and the client’s competence. Conclusion: Despite the reasonable grounds support staff gave for restraining, it raises the question whether restraints of freedom are always in the interest of the client.


2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Ferrara ◽  
Jan Burns ◽  
Hayley Mills

Despite some changes to the way that people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are viewed in society, negative attitudes prevail. One of the aspirations of the 2012 Paralympic games was to influence the public’s attitudes toward people with disabilities. The aim of this study was to investigate whether stimuli depicting people with ID performing at Paralympic level of competition change attitudes toward ID. A mixed randomized comparison design was employed comparing 2 groups: those who viewed Paralympic-level ID sport footage and information and those who viewed Olympic footage and information. One hundred fourteen students, mean age 25 yr, were administered measures of implicit (subconscious) attitudes toward disability and explicit (belief-based) attitudes toward ID. Implicit attitudes significantly changed in a positive direction for both groups. The findings provide evidence that both Paralympic (ID) and Olympic media coverage may have at least a short-term effect on attitudes toward people with disabilities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Nonaka ◽  
H. Yanagihara

For people who hunt and eat hebo (Vespula spp., wasps) it is more about culture than it is about food production or environmental sustainability in mountainous central Japan. Individuals who currently semi-cultivate hebo do not intend to industrialize hebo semi-cultivation. Semi-cultivation of hebo is a seasonal activity and it is a hobby for them. This paper focuses on the declining number of wasp hunters. The number declined because younger generations did not take up the hobby or moved to urban areas in search of jobs. Hebo hunters thus consisted of seniors only. The number further declined as those who reached old age were no longer able to practice hebo hunting. Very recently, initiated a promising new development at Ena Agricultural High School. The support to the Hebo Club initiative was quickly expanded and now covers the members belonging to the Japan Vespula Association, and academics involved in edible insect research. We present an overview of the efforts of hebo hunters to maintain and promote the use of Vespula spp. as food and we describe the Hebo Club, a promising recent initiative spearheaded by the students of Ena Agricultural High School. The information was collected between fiscal 2015 and 2017 (namely from September 2015 to March 2018) by participant observation and semi-structured interviews with hebo hunters collaborating with the Hebo Club activities. The Hebo Club uses a hands-on approach: students gain knowledge on edible wasps and their semi-cultivation by actively engaging in the semi-cultivation of the wasps. The club thus teaches the students about resource use by engaging in resource use. The students are taught by experienced wasp hunters how to find, collect, house, and raise hebo. The Hebo Club’s colonies are housed in a shed in the school research forest. By cooperating with the members belonging to various Hebo Associations of south-eastern Gifu and northern Aichi, the students experience the variation in employed techniques and equipment, and make observations of hebo biology and ecology in different environments. Other than the hebo season, the club practice develops their idea for local development and applying it to tourism according to the evaluation of their activities. The successful beginning of the Hebo Club, a well-organized cultural initiative spearheaded by youngsters who are backed by seniors, is indicative of how people caring about hebo culture in central mountainous Japan maintains and preserves its culture and identity.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahlam Ammar Sharif ◽  
Andrew Karvonen

PurposeArchitectural theorists have a long tradition of acknowledging the centrality of building users to architectural production. This article contributes to the discourse on architecture, actor–network theory (ANT), and users by proposing a typology of user translations ranging from supporting to tinkering to adjusting to resisting.Design/methodology/approachThe research utilises an ANT-inspired ethnography of sustainable lighting scripts at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST). It comprises semi-structured interviews with MIST designers and students, and site visits and participant observation to understand how the users interpret the scripts and how they interact and change them on a daily basis.FindingsThere is a shared understanding that users do not simply receive architectural designs but interpret and change them to suit their preferences. The findings reveal the multiple ways that users interpret and respond to the assumptions of designers and in the process, recast the relations between themselves and their material surroundings.Originality/valueThe research contributes to acknowledging the centrality of users to architectural design processes and the interpretation of design scripts, addressing the limitation in current literature in demonstrating the diversity of ways that users react to such scripts. The research suggests that user actions have significant implications on long-term building performance. It accordingly points to the need for devising multiple means of user involvement in the design process and allowing greater flexibility in design scripts to improve the alignment with user preferences.


2021 ◽  
Vol 571 (10) ◽  
pp. 23-28
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Zakrzewska-Manterys

Disability is a wide concept, encompassing different types of disability, different capabilities of people with disabilities and different social support needs. People with intellectual disabilities belong to a specific group. They do not fit into the mainstream of support and activation measures for disabled people. Although they are a small group (about 1%), they require care which is not provided within the current social policy towards people with disabilities. The article provides examples of public activities unfavourable and favourable for the well-being of people with intellectual disabilities. This could be a starting point for a preparation of a policy project of accurate public support for this group of people


2021 ◽  
pp. 002087282110604
Author(s):  
Monika Parchomiuk

People with intellectual disabilities benefit from many forms of institutional support, which include residential, rehabilitation, and educational services. Changes caused by the pandemic, especially the introduction of new rules relating to various aspects of life, raised several challenges and problems in the functioning of these institutions and for the people with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research concerned facilities providing services for people with intellectual disabilities in Poland during the pandemic. The research goal was to determine what changes took place in the rehabilitation and care institutions during the pandemic in terms of their organization and the functioning of their clients and personnel. An online questionnaire was used. The respondents were institution employees. Data showed a number of preventive, educational, and supportive activities carried out by the institutions. Adverse changes in the psychosocial functioning of people with intellectual disabilities and other problems during the pandemic were reported.


Author(s):  
Lisa Freitag

Long wait lists for services and a dearth of people willing to work as caregivers ensure that many people, particularly with intellectual disabilities, continue to live with their aging parents. Informed by a personal narrative of a successful future for a person with intellectual disabilities, this chapter proposes three components that are essential for success. Adults with disabilities can benefit from establishing a life outside their parents’ home. They also need place to work and inclusion in the community. The communities created by L’Arche and the Brothers of Charity, where caregivers live and work together with people with intellectual disabilities, provide one model for care. The extent of current need makes it impossible to provide this for everyone, but some of the lessons learned from “living with” people with disabilities can perhaps be carried over into existing group homes or even institutional care settings.


2019 ◽  
Vol 78 (8) ◽  
pp. 885-900 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward McCann ◽  
Lynne Marsh ◽  
Michael Brown

Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to examine the research evidence concerning the views and experiences of people with intellectual disabilities regarding their participation in and the effectiveness of relationship and sex education programmes. Methods: A systematic search of relevant electronic databases was conducted using defined inclusion criteria. All papers reviewed were from October 1998 to October 2018. PRISMA guidelines were followed in the design and reporting of the systematic review. Results: A total of eight studies published in English were included in the review. Data were analysed and the key themes identified were (1) designing and developing relationship and sex education programmes, (2) participating in relationship and sex education programmes and (3) perceived benefits of relationship and sex education programme participation. Conclusion: This review identified that people with intellectual disabilities are accessing relationship and sex education programmes and appear to find them helpful. Further research is required to investigate the extent to which programmes impact on long-term behaviours that enable the development of sustainable relationships and reduce the unintended consequences of sexual activities. Implications for policy, practice and future research developments are discussed.


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