106 research outputs found
Ten affects of hidden, mental dis/abilities and the act of disclosure
Get PDFThis is an accepted manuscript of a chapter published by Routledge in Social Research and Disability: Developing Inclusive Research Spaces for Disabled Researchers, edited by Ciaran Burke & Bronagh Byrne, available online: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429426124
The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version. For re-use please see the publisher's terms and conditions.This chapter clarifies some definitions, the particularities of hidden dis/abilities and the consequences for disclosure. It explores the opportunities and dilemmas of being a researcher with a hidden dis/ability. The chapter elaborates on the researcher’s role and how disclosure might influence the research process looking at mainly the question of neutrality, partnership and reflexivity. The task of the researcher is then to explore the actions, and their effects such as disclosure perform in the stories they encounter. The chapter offers some pragmatic discussions about the emergence of the 10 affects of the act of disclosure in the various stages of research practice. Human actors in research such as researchers and participants are connected through other actors like objects, ideas and experiences. With certain approaches, such as biographical, longitudinal or ethnography research, it is common to meet the respondent on more than one occasion
Dis-Equality: Exploring the Juxtaposition of Disability and Equality
Get PDFThe (in)equality issues facing disabled people are extensive and long-enduring. The way(s) in which equality is conceptualised has important consequences for understandings of disability. The ambiguity of what I call dis-equality theory is two-fold; the apparent failure of mainstream equality theorising in, firstly, embracing disability concepts at all, and secondly, in fully incorporating the logistics of disability, particularly in relation to the social construction of such. Practices of institutional and more complex forms of discrimination are part of those deeper structures of domination and oppression which maintain disabled people in positions of disadvantage. Everyday practices, in the ‘ordinary order of things’ (Bourdieu, 2000), continue to be misrecognised as natural and taken for granted. This article critically explores the complexity of dis-equality theorising utilising a Bourdieusian lens which explicitly incorporates complex and subtle forms of discrimination, and by examining the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ approach to equality. I argue that the way forward for dis-equality theorising in today’s rights based era must be one that considers the nuances of the ‘rules of the game’ (Young, 1990) if it is to be effective in challenging the inequalities to which disabled people have long been subject
From Individualism to Co-Construction and Back Again:Rethinking Research Methodology for Children with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities
Get PDFChildren with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) are said to experience severe congenital impairments to consciousness and cognition stemming from neurological damage. Such children are understood as operating at the pre-verbal stages of development, and research in the field typically draws conceptual resources from psychology to devise educational interventions and assessment tools. Criticism has been levelled at studies which treat children with PMLD as objects of research rather than subjects to be consulted. Proponents of the latter view have attempted to redress the situation by exploring how personal experiences can be gleaned through adapted qualitative methods. Debate about methodology in the PMLD field tends to coalesce around these individualist polemics: children with PMLD are either positioned as incompetent and lacking voice; or researchers are positioned as lacking the appropriate tools to gain access to such voice.This paper offers an alternative position to the individualism of post-positivist/constructivist approaches, identifying the need for a critical and participatory approach which sees knowledge about children with PMLD as situated and co-constructed through regular and longitudinal interaction between the researcher, children with PMLD, and significant others. Context to this argument is provided by exploring the application of this approachto an inclusive education research project for a child with PMLD
"The Things that are Inside of You are Horrible":Children and Young Men with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Talk about the Impact of Living with a Long-term Condition
No full textFrom Individualism to Co-Construction and Back Again:Rethinking Research Methodology for Children with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities
Get PDFChildren with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) are said to experience severe congenital impairments to consciousness and cognition stemming from neurological damage. Such children are understood as operating at the pre-verbal stages of development, and research in the field typically draws conceptual resources from psychology to devise educational interventions and assessment tools. Criticism has been levelled at studies which treat children with PMLD as objects of research rather than subjects to be consulted. Proponents of the latter view have attempted to redress the situation by exploring how personal experiences can be gleaned through adapted qualitative methods. Debate about methodology in the PMLD field tends to coalesce around these individualist polemics: children with PMLD are either positioned as incompetent and lacking voice; or researchers are positioned as lacking the appropriate tools to gain access to such voice.This paper offers an alternative position to the individualism of post-positivist/constructivist approaches, identifying the need for a critical and participatory approach which sees knowledge about children with PMLD as situated and co-constructed through regular and longitudinal interaction between the researcher, children with PMLD, and significant others. Context to this argument is provided by exploring the application of this approachto an inclusive education research project for a child with PMLD
Social Research and Disability: Developing Inclusive Research Spaces for Disabled Researchers
No full textSocial Research and Disability argues that the contemporary rules of sociological methods outlined in numerous research methods texts make a number of assumptions concerning the researcher including ambulance, sight, hearing and speech. In short, the disabled researcher is not considered when outlining the requirements of particular methods. Drawing upon these considerations, the volume emphasizes how disabled researchers negotiate the empirical process, in light of disability, whilst retaining the scientific rigour of the method. It also considers the negative consequences arising from disabled researchers’ attempts at "passing" and the benefits that can emerge from a reflexive approach to method.This innovative and original text will, for the first time, bring together research-active academics, who identify as being disabled, to consider experiences of being disabled within a largely ableist academy, as well as strategies employed and issues faced when conducting empirical research. The driving force of this volume is to provide the blueprints for bringing how we conduct social research to the same standards and vision as how the social world is understood: multi-faceted and intersectional. To this end, this edited collection advocates for a sociological future that values the presence of disabled researchers and normalises research methods that are inclusive and accessible.The interdisciplinary focus of Social Research and Disability offers a uniquely broad primary market. This volume will be of interest not only to the student market, but also to established academics within the social sciences
Minding the Gap: Children with Disabilities and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
No full textThis chapter provides a critical assessment of the approach adopted by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) towards children with disabilities and its implications for socializing States Parties to both ‘right’ and ‘rights’ behaviour. It discusses the ways in which ‘rights talk’ for children with disabilities, itself a relatively recent development in this context, has been predominantly needs based in its substantive content, and explores whether the exacerbated disadvantage experienced by children with disabilities as a result of the particular interaction between disability and childhood is effectively addressed and given due weight by the new Convention. The CRPD's provisions are discussed in the context of children with disabilities and their potential to provide effective redress assessed. The chapter concludes with some critical reflections on the extent to which the CRPD can really be understood as minding the gap for children with disabilities
International Policies on Inclusion
No full textThe education of children and young people with disabilities and the appropriate form this should take is an issue with which countries across the world are grappling. This challenge has not been assisted by the diverse interpretations of “inclusion” within and between States. The international community, in the form of the United Nations (UN), its associated treaty bodies, and its related agencies have taken on an increasingly critical role in working with countries to develop some kind of global consensus on how inclusion should be defined, its core features, and what it should look like in practice. The conclusions of discussions on these issues have emerged in the form of declarations, treaties, general comments, and guidelines, which countries across the world are expected to adhere to, to varying extents. Together, these constitute a set of international policies and benchmarks on inclusion in an educational context, informing and shaping contemporary national policy and practice. At its core is the underlying principle that children and young people with disabilities have a fundamental right to education without discrimination. Examination of international discourse on inclusion indicates that its meaning, form, and content has become more refined, with increasing emphasis being placed on the quality of inclusive practice as opposed to merely questioning its merits.<br/
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