scholarly journals The Effect of Transport Accessibility on the Social Inclusion of Wheelchair Users: A Mixed Method Analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 24-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel Velho ◽  
Catherine Holloway ◽  
Andrew Symonds ◽  
Brian Balmer
Keyword(s):  
Public Transport ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Shoulder Injury ◽  
Main Claim ◽  
Wheelchair Users ◽  
The Social ◽  
Physical Barriers

In recent years the accessibility of London buses has improved with the introduction of ramps and wheelchair priority areas. These advances are meant to remove physical barriers to entering the bus, but new conflicts have arisen particularly over the physical space aboard. We aimed to research the barriers faced by wheelchair users in public transport using a mixed methods approach to establish the breadth of issues faced by wheelchair users. To this end we quantified the push-force used alight a bus and a study to understand the coping mechanisms used by people to propel up a ramp. This quantitative approach found push forces which resulted in a load of 2 to 3 times body weight being transferred through people’s shoulders, forces which can be directly linked to shoulder injury. This could disable the user further, preventing them from being able to push their wheelchair. Alongside the quantitative study, we conducted qualitative research comprising of a number of in-depth interviews with wheelchair users about the barriers they face in public transport. Our main claim, highlighted through this interdisciplinary collaboration, is that proposed ‘solutions’ to accessibility, such as ramps, often generate problems of their own. These barriers can affect the life of wheelchair users, impacting on their confidence and causing social isolation. These can be long-term in nature or immediate.

Hospitable universities and integration of refugees: First responses from Austria and Poland

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Kontowski ◽  
Madelaine Leitsberger
Keyword(s):  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Human Right ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
European Universities ◽  
Public Role ◽  
The Social ◽  
Academic Year

European universities responded in different ways to the ‘refugee crisis’ of 2015. Some subscribed to the agenda of higher education (HE) as a universal human right, while others stressed different long-term benefits of offering access to it. Yet, the unprecedented sense of moral urgency that guided immediate declarations of support and subsequent actions has largely remained unaddressed. With the crisis becoming a new reality for many countries, HE has a role to play in the social inclusion of refugees, even in countries that were not attractive destinations for refugees in the past. In this article, we provide an overview of the reasons why HE institutions supported refugees, and present the results of an empirical study of Poland and Austria during the 2015–2016 academic year. We then evaluate those first responses utilizing parts of Ager and Strang’s framework of integration, and discuss issues of institutional readiness, capabilities and the public role of HE stemming from this comparison. Our findings suggest that reasons such as acknowledgement of basic rights, or utilizing social capital are insufficient to explain and understand strong integrative support measures. We propose that refugee support by HE institutions is both better understood and promoted through the language of hospitality.

Conceptualizing the body and the logics of performing

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-371
Author(s):  
Deryk Stec
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Art Music ◽  
The Body ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Excessive Heat ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Performance Teams

Purpose This paper aims to examine how residues of ancient images have influenced one’s perspectives on management. Increased attention has been given to the absence of bodies within discussions of organisations; however, far less attention has been given to the interplay between organisations and images of one’s body. Design/methodology/approach By comparing the perceived benefits of studying sport (e.g. passion, embodiment and action) with the tensions that existed between athletic performances and an ancient image of the body, this paper draws attention to residuals that exist within discussions of organisations. Findings In a context where an image of the body encouraged moderation, the appropriate levels of heat, and the development of an immaterial and eternal soul, athletic performances, which were physical, extreme, focused on the body and generated excessive heat, were often problematic. These problems are then examined within the literature discussing current issues in management. Research limitations/implications Sport has the potential to facilitate one’s understanding of issues that management, consistent with ancient images of the body, has traditionally neglected (i.e. extremes, passion) and the possibilities of using embodied cognition to enhance our understandings of performance, teams and leading are discussed. Social implications As scientists become increasingly concerned about the long-term consequences of the reduced opportunities for cultural programs (sport, art, music, etc.), revisiting one’s assumptions is increasingly important, especially as athletics and philosophy once shared the same physical space. Originality/value By describing how residues from historical images of the body have influenced the thinking about organizing, this paper highlights the connection between the social and the biological and demonstrates how vestiges from the past influence contemporary discussions.

scholarly journals A Migration Project in Retrospect: The Case of the Ageing Zero Generation in Emirdağ

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 260-269
Author(s):  
Christiane Timmerman ◽  
Meia Walravens ◽  
Joris Michielsen ◽  
Nevriye Acar ◽  
Lore Van Praag
Keyword(s):  
Elderly People ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Family Culture ◽  
The Social ◽  
Zero Generation ◽  
Family Elders ◽  
Depth Interviews

In the twentieth century, Emirdağ (Turkey) witnessed extensive emigration and is now home to the ‘zero generation’: a group of elderly people who stayed behind when their children moved abroad. We investigate how these elderly people, with at least one child who left the country, evaluate their situation as they have grown older. Using fieldwork observations and in-depth interviews, we found that this group mainly associated the migration of their offspring with loneliness and exclusion from society, due to separation from their children and changes in the traditional family culture. The respondents clearly note a shift in the social position of family elders in Turkish culture, from highly respected to being ignored and looked down upon. While this change in status might be experienced by all elderly inhabitants of the region, feelings of distress were reinforced by an emerging discourse which suggests the migration project is a failed enterprise. The constraints their children experience in the immigrant country have led the zero generation to rely less on them and become more dependent on their own resources. Future research on ageing, migration and transnational care should focus on the different ways in which migration systems evolve, and the long-term effects on social inclusion of all generations.

The Political Economy of Devolution

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Keating
Keyword(s):  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Institutional Capacity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Investment Capital

Small, devolved nations and regions lack major macro-economic powers. Yet in the context of spatial rescaling they have become important levels for managing economic growth and social cohesion. They may be exposed to a ‘race to the bottom’ by the need to attract investment capital. Yet, by adopting social investment strategies they can rec.oncling growth with social inclusion. The key factor is the institutional capacity to plan for the long term, to set priorities and to sustain cooperation among the social partners.

Creating a more dynamic European social dialogue by strengthening the sectoral dimension

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Kollewe ◽  
Reinhard Kuhlmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Shape Change ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Social Dialogue ◽  
Bargaining Solutions ◽  
Binding Force ◽  
The Social ◽  
Work Programme ◽  
Economic Union

The challenge facing European integration is to link up economic union with political and social union. A degree of ambivalence surrounds the European social dialogue: pronounced dead in some quarters, it has meanwhile been institutionalised at the highest level at the Tripartite Social Summit in spring 2003 and recently given rise to the ETUC and UNICE work programme. In this article the authors describe the shortcomings of the sectoral social dialogue in terms of inadequate national and European networks and the lack of binding force of its results. Social dialogue must aim to shape change and, by developing a stronger sectoral dimension, seek to take up more industrial policy topics with a view to reconciling competitiveness and social inclusion. An additional long-term orientation for the social dialogue, geared to triggering new developments by means of participation, can put in place the conditions for effective bargaining solutions.

Economic Development in 2006 and the Future of the Russian Economy: The Non-Resource-Based Sector Potential (The Economic Report of All-Russia Business Union “Delovaya Rossiya”)

2007 ◽  
pp. 27-45
Author(s):  
B. Titov ◽  
I. Pilipenko ◽  
A. Danilov-Danilyan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Economic Report ◽  
Russian Economy ◽  
The Social ◽  
National Economic ◽  
Investment Capital ◽  
Export Industries ◽  
Sustainable Economic Growth

The report considers how the state economic policy contributes to the national economic development in the midterm perspective. It analyzes main current economic problems of the Russian economy, i.e. low effectiveness of the social system, high dependence on export industries and natural resources, high monopolization and underdeveloped free market, as well as barriers that hinder non-recourse-based business development including high tax burden, skilled labor deficit and lack of investment capital. We propose a social-oriented market economy as the Russian economic model to achieve a sustainable economic growth in the long-term perspective. This model is based on people’s prosperity and therefore expanding domestic demand that stimulates the growth of domestic non-resource-based sector which in turn can accelerate annual GDP growth rates to 10-12%. To realize this model "Delovaya Rossiya" proposes a program that consists of a number of directions and key groups of measures covering priority national projects, tax, fiscal, monetary, innovative-industrial, trade and social policies.

The Complex Support and Assistance to Children with Disability and their Families in the Czech Republic and the Presentation of Case Final Reports on Early Care of Client as an Example of Good Practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-84
Author(s):  
Zdenka Šándorová
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Practical Case ◽  
Early Care ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Children With Disability ◽  
Global Comparison ◽  
The Social

Abstract The theme of the paper is very topical in global and European context. It brings theoretical information on the concept of asocial model of early care in the Czech Republic and practical case studies and final reports related to the early care provision which demonstrate tangible activities within the system of the complex support and assistance to children with disability and their families. The author applies the theoretical-practical approach as she is of the opinion that „the practice without theory is as a blind person on the road and the theory without practice is as a cart without an axle”. The aim of the paper is to extend theoretical information on the topic in the Czech Republic by individual examples of final reports related to the provision of social prevention of the early care in the Czech Republic. The overall aim of the paper is to justify topicality and eligibility of early care in its broad reference framework, including its practical impact. The theoretical basis of the paper is elaborated with respect to the analysis and comparison of Czech and foreign literature, legislation, methodology document and other relevant written resources. The practical level is elaborated with respect to 3 cases and final reports of the provider of an early care of the social prevention. The early care in the Czech Republic represents a professional, modern and recognized system in European and global comparison and is legally anchored in the Act 108/2006 Coll. on social services. It aims on the minimization of child´s disability impact upon child´s development, especially the social inclusion of a child and a family and their capability to cope with limitating disability in natural environ, i.e. by the preservation of standard way of life. It represents a multi-dimensional model, overcoming limitation of sectoral division of the early care and facilitating complex assistance from a series of subject fields at the same time. Services for families with an endangered child in early age are the background for social, educational and pedagogical inclusion of a child and the re-socialisation and re-inclusion of a family. Early care is considered preventive, from the point of the prevention of the second disability (i.e. is effective), in the prevention of institutionalized and asylum care (i.e. is economical), in the prevention of segregation (i.e. is ethical).

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