84 research outputs found
My Existence is Resistance : exploring spaces and forms of disability activism in the United Kingdom during a time of austerity
No full textWith the onset of austerity, disabled people in the United Kingdom have faced a sustained period of financial cuts, including cuts to personal income, social care and advocacy organisations. Many individuals have found themselves in increasingly precarious situations, having to rely increasingly on non-statutory, more informal structures of care. Disabled people, however, have not accepted these changes in silence but have often been vocal in their opposition to these cuts. Opposition and resistance can be seen through increased lobbying, the establishing of disability anti-austerity protest groups and the emergence of numerous online campaigns. Austerity has been accompanied by a recent growth in disability activism, as individuals find ways of resisting and coping under increasingly difficult conditions. To date, there has been very limited documentation or analysis of the political struggles of disability activists during a time of austerity. Through adopting a qualitative approach, this study examines the lives of those involved in disability activism, and the places in which their activism is enacted. The findings are drawn from 27 biographical interviews and participant observation at 13 disability activist events. Rather than being a representative study, this research seeks to provide a deep and nuanced insight into the lives of a small number of disabled people who are engaging in activism in response to austerity. It is hoped that this thesis will serve as a form of activism in itself, as a space in which stories can be both shared and heard and used as a possible resource for future generations
Encountering precarity, uncertainty and everyday anxiety as part of the postgraduate research journey
No full textWhilst there has been a recent rise in research within the social sciences which has sought to explore the topic of ‘precarity’, to date there has been very little discussion around the precarity inherent in the research process or in following an academic pathway, and its subsequent impact on the wellbeing and mental health of the researcher. Within this intervention piece, we expose some of the uncertainties and precarities experienced as part of the postgraduate research journey, in doing so, drawing upon our own personal experiences as doctoral researchers. These have included, for example, the potential of research to fail and perpetual anxieties around future academic careers, preservation and progression in the context of an unstable academy. Academia appears to have traditionally required a commitment to the silencing of emotions and feelings of uncertainty, with very few academics talking openly about the emotions involved in their everyday work. This piece calls for an environment which is more open, supportive and accommodating of both the emotions and mental health of postgraduate researchers.</p
Vulnerability in action: the role of the disabled body in shaping geographies of protest
No full textProtest has been a long-held concern of geographers who have examined the socio-spatial practices of activists and social movements. Yet, within this corpus of work, limited attention has been paid to the role and experience of the body among those involved in protest. Drawing on a study focusing on the experiences of disabled activists organizing in response to austerity in the UK, the paper examines the use of the individual body in activism and explores how disabled people use their bodies for social change in a way that seeks to turn corporeal vulnerability into a site of defiant resistance. While vulnerability is often seen as anathema to direct-action protest, the study reveals that vulnerability can be a fundamental and inherent element of activism. The paper seeks to challenge the implicitly ableist and masculinist accounts of activism persisting in some geographic scholarship and calls for greater attention to be paid to more inclusive spaces for different embodiments.</p
Teaching accessibility in computer science and related disciplines: a systematic literature review and narrative synthesis protocol
Full text linkBackground: Imperatives for digital inclusion mean there is growing demand for graduates with the knowledge and skills to produce digital services that are accessible to disabled people and older populations. Accessibility is mandated by a body of laws that constitute digital disability rights, and internet use among disabled people is increasing (ONS, 2019). However, a lack of progress in the delivery of accessible mobile web-based services, tools and resources mean disabled and older people face persistent digital barriers. There is a pressing need to develop accessibility capacity in the digital workforce. To this end, this systematic literature review seeks to establish what is empirically known about the effective teaching and learning of digital accessibility through the lens of pedagogy.Methods/Design: The review will consider research (1999-2019) which focuses on the teaching and learning of digital accessibility in higher education and the workplace. The focus is on how pedagogy is enacted - the pedagogic practice of teaching - rather than curriculum development or other activities that relate to planning or governance. Two databases will be searched, using identified keywords. To identify further papers, backward- and forward- citation analysis is used. Researchers will work iteratively with the data, to ensure no loss of context through data extraction. A narrative synthesis of the findings will be presented.Discussion: The review will collate literature on the pedagogy of accessibility education, reporting on how the teaching or learning of digital accessibility is effectively undertaken. It will identify the empirical basis for accessibility pedagogy
Coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific and changes in global Holocene
Full text linkThe key to understanding the future impact of the anthropogenic combustion of fossil fuels on the climate system, is to fully understand the complex feedback loops within the natural Earth system. One natural climate feedback that has been proposed is the Coral Reef Hypothesis whereby significant increases in coral reef growth may have contributed to the deglacial increase in atmospheric CO2 observed in the ice core records. This thesis examines the role of coral reefs in the oceanic carbonate budget and global carbon cycle both spatially and temporally during the Holocene. Using the most comprehensive reef area estimate to date, a conservative estimate of cumulative CaCO3 accumulation within coral reefs globally from 10 kyr BP to present is 7970 Gt. This estimate includes a temporal and spatial view of reef CaCO3 accumulation during the Holocene and represents coral reefs alone, whereas previous budgets have included wider neritic carbonate facies. This mass of reefal CaCO3 accumulation would have made approximately 2100 Gt CO2 available for release to the atmosphere over the Holocene.Radiocarbon dating of coral obtained from new drill cores from Rodrigues (Southwest Indian Ocean), Lizard Island and MacGillivray Reef (Northern Great Barrier Reef (NGBR)), helps to reveal the spatial and temporal pattern of Holocene CaCO3 accumulation within these reefs and contributes to the dataset compiled to calculate the global mass balance of coral reef carbonate. The new data presented here demonstrates that the reefs at Rodrigues, like those at Reunion and Mauritius only reached a mature state (reached sea level) by 2 to 3 ka – thousands of years later than most of the reefs in the Australasian region. The windward margins at Lizard Island and MacGillivray Reef started growing ca 6.7 and 7.6 cal kyr BP respectively directly on an assumed granite basement and reached sea level approximately 4 and 5.6 cal kyr BP respectively. The leeward margin at MacGillivray Reef was initiated by 8.2 cal kyr BP directly on a granite basement, only reaching sea level relatively recently between 260 and 80 cal yr BP. The absence of Pleistocene reefal deposits indicates the possibility that the shelf in this region may have subsided relative to modern day sea level by at least 15 m since the last interglacial (125 ka).The role of the calcareous green alga Halimeda in the marine carbonate budget is still unknown both spatially and temporally for the Holocene. Here a quantification of the carbonate mass within the ribbon reefs and Halimeda bioherms on the outer shelf of the NGBR is presented. It is estimated that Halimeda bioherms contain at least as much (possibly 400 % more) CaCO3 sediment than the adjacent ribbon reefs within the NGBR province
Disability, social class and stigma : an intersectional analysis of disabled young people’s school experiences
Full text linkRecent decades have witnessed a renewed interest in stigma and its effects on life-course trajectories of disabled people. However, sociological narratives largely adopt monolithic understandings of disability, neglecting contextual meanings of different impairments and conditions and their intersections with other ascriptive inequalities, which may be consequential for exposure to stigma. Our article provides an intersectional analysis of disabled young people’s lived experiences of stigma in mainstream school settings. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 35 autistic, dyslexic and/or physically disabled students, we show that stigmatisation is contingent on social class background, which affects students’ location within the school. We also find substantial variation in experiences of stigma between and within sub-categories of conditions/impairments, as a consequence of the perceived distance from normative ideals of skills and behaviour attached to individuals in school settings. Our findings highlight the importance of intersectional analyses of stigma, challenging universalised views about stigmatised disabled people
'My existence is resistance':an analysis of disabled peoples everyday lives as an enduring form of resistance
No full textDisabled people continuously find themselves in situations where they must justify their existence and presence within society. This has been seen most recently in the context of COVID-19 with a number of disabled people having ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ orders applied to them with little consultation (BIHR, 2020). Alongside this, the past ten years have seen disabled people face an onslaught of cuts to social care and personal income under austerity, challenging disabled people’s right to independence and participation in society. The above raise the poignant question of ‘whose life counts?’ or is of more value. For some disabled people, remaining alive in spite of such challenges to one’s existence, is itself a form of resistance. This chapter will therefore challenge conventional and idealised notions of resistance by drawing upon disabled peoples’ direct narratives of how their everyday lives and bodies may constitute material forms of resistance, refusing to be ignored or left behind throughout time. These biographical narratives are drawn from a geographical doctoral study focusing on the lives disabled people involved in activism in response to austerity. The chapter will draw upon both feminist scholarship and critical disability studies in order to illuminate the often unrecognised everyday acts of resistance and the liminal spaces in which they take place
“There’s no place for emotions in academia”: experiences of the neoliberal academy as a disabled scholar
No full text- …
