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This study sheds light on how to develop inclusive pedagogy in higher education, from the point of view of 42 inclusive faculty members from 6 Spanish universities. A qualitative methodology was used through semi-structured in-depth interviews. Data analysis was inductive, using a system of categories and topics. The results reveal that the faculty members which develop inclusive pedagogy in general have beliefs linked to the social model of disability and inclusive education approaches. They do not usually have specific training or knowledge about disability. They design their curricula in a flexible and open way to accommodate all students. They show a positive attitude toward students with disabilities and use diverse and participatory teaching methodologies, giving prominence to students. These data are consistent with those found in previous studies and offer keys to those faculty members who are interested in developing an inclusive pedagogy at the university. This paper examines in detail how faculty members of six faculties of educational sciences develop a theoretical framework comprising beliefs, knowledge, designs and actions. The research has found that faculty members hold beliefs about disability based on the social model of disability and inclusive approach. In general, inclusive faculty members' knowledge of disability and attention to diversity issues is scarce. The design of courses and teaching programmes led by inclusive university faculty is characterised by being open, flexible and providing clear and detailed information to students. Faculty who develop inclusive pedagogy use varied, participative and active methodologies, which are combined with a positive and approachable attitude towards students with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In South Africa, access to education is regarded as a right enshrined in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution yet issues of inequality, poor access and exclusion remain as intense as they have always been for students with disabilities. When universities closed due to Covid-19, all students suffered in one way or the other but those with disabilities suffered the most as their support is not mainstreamed. This highlighted the need to create a seamless system of student support if we are to leave no student behind. To do this, the paper proposes the adoption of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a framework that supports inclusive teaching and learning. Adopting UDL is critical in ensuring curriculum access and in addressing fragmented student support. Supporting students with disabilities should be everyone's responsibility and the sooner we adopt the principles of UDL, the better the learning outcomes for all students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive education has often been fronted as the panacea in the education of disabled children. Governments have made efforts for disabled children to access schools with their nondisabled counterparts. However, inclusive education should go beyond the mere presence of disabled children in mainstream schools to the participation and achievement of such children. This paper uses the theoretical approach of Disability Studies in Education to explore the extent that the traditional schooling system is willing to go in the pursuit of inclusive education for disabled learners. Can the schooling system change from the current cohort based model to an individual based model? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers Deaf time, or imagined futures of Deaf communities, as we question the efficacy of a rights framework to support the social relational model of Deaf childhood, which positions Deaf children within Deaf cultural discourses. We probe a disability rights discourse where the inclusion movement promotes the right of all children to high quality education and full participation in society. However, there is a gap between rhetoric and practice in early childhood education, which has often been a site of disablement for Deaf children and their families. In addition, legal recognition of the right to sign language in several contexts has not prevented a decline in numbers of Deaf children learning sign language. In planning for future Deaf communities, we examine Deaf cultural childhoods through the development of a parent ASL curriculum that is aligned with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The curriculum is contextualized in relation to disability rights, sign language rights, and the rights of children outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper contextualizes the recent process of development of the New National Curriculum (NNC) for use in Greek-Cypriot public schools. Using content analysis, it pays particular attention to the degree to which the language, performance expectations, and suggested materials described in the NNC take account of disabled children. Notwithstanding the human rights and anti-discrimination rhetoric that surrounds the process of creating an inclusive NNC, the findings presented herein suggest that the curriculum falls short of addressing the rights of disabled children in inclusive education. On the basis of this finding, the paper discusses the dangers inherent in implementing the proposed NNC in its current form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The value of, and need for, parent-professional partnerships is an unchallenged mantra within policy relating to 'special educational needs'. In spite of this, partnerships continue to be experienced as problematic by both parents and professionals. This paper brings together the different perspectives of two disability researchers: one a parent of a disabled child while the other was a teacher for 20 years of children with the label autism. The paper deconstructs the concept of partnership and then, drawing on the expertise of parents, suggests how enabling and empowering parent-professional relationships might be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By making use of a disability studies perspective informed by phenomenology, this paper interrogates the social process of reading news articles that depict disability as if it is only limit. The paper begins from my experience of reading an article that assumes reader‐willingness to imagine disability as a kind of limit without possibility, without life. I go on to consider how the meaning of disability is actually produced by normative forms of cultural perception that recognize certain bodies as a kind of negation. Reading, a common mode of perception within literate western cultures, is used to problematize how mainstream media configures embodiment. Finally, the paper raises the ever present possibility that the ways in which impaired bodies are typically limited may contain the possibility of alternatives that disturb and re‐make the everyday modes of perceiving disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students with disabilities are under-represented in higher education (HE) institutions in Botswana. The number of students with disabilities is on the rise but parity has not been attained. The struggle of students with disabilities to access and participate in HE remains an issue of great concern for disability activists and researchers. This paper sought to document the experiences of university students with disabilities in their struggle to access and participate in HE. Seven students with disabilities took part in the study. Data were gathered through semi-structured focus group interviews. Later on these data were triangulated with an access-audit of facilities. Constant comparison methods were used for data analysis. Six themes emerged, namely: attitudinal barriers; resource barriers; structural barriers; policy related issues; lack of support mechanisms; and lack of skills and knowledge. Implications of the findings to institutions of higher learning are discussed in order to promote wider participation for students with disabilities in HE in Botswana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the friendships of disabled youth in forthcoming doctoral research raised many unsettling questions. Members of academic and disability communities thoughtfully asked how the researcher could legitimately understand, interpret and represent the experiences of disabled youth. The initial impulse was to rely on nearly two decades of clinical practice with children and youth with disabilities; however, the futility of this strategy quickly surfaced. Uncertainty about how to proceed arose. A colleague and mentor suggested that a careful reading of Sandra Harding, Donna Haraway and Mats Alvesson and Kaj Skoldberg might provide the conceptual tools required to address these concerns. This paper presents a student's stumbling, hesitant and sometimes 'harried' attempts to grapple with their unfamiliar arguments while simultaneously exploring tentative connections with disability studies. The evolutionary cycle of queries, responses and reflections from a series of e-mails demonstrate a transition in thinking about research and representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disabled people report dissatisfaction with their contact with health professionals and their educational systems. This paper reports on a study into disability within a curriculum leading to initial professional nursing qualification. The 'case study' design involved collecting data from the curriculum document, from students via questionnaire, and a total of 16 semi-structured interviews with both students and teachers involved in delivering the curriculum. Disability appeared as the inequality of inequalities in the planning and delivery of this curriculum. Simulation was employed to teach about disability, yet there was little confidence that students emerged with the necessary skills to deal with a disabled person who happens to become a patient. There was some indication that nurses may be ready to adopt a more socially orientated view of disability. Such optimism remains tentative and there may be a long way to go before nurses play a key role in challenging discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents guidelines for student perspectives section like from 2014 student perspective papers will be free to access along with peer review and work can be submitted as a student perspectives paper during course of study.

We welcome Forshaw's reply to our paper because it opens up debate about psychology and its relationship with the development of an emancipatory disability studies. In our paper we aimed to: (1) raise possibilities for disability studies researchers' engagement with psychology (rather than psychology colonizing disability studies); (2) trace some of the epistemological journeys we underwent in carrying out disability research and community psychology research; (3) consider these possibilities and journeys in relation to previous literature on emancipatory disability research. Forshaw's reply appears to ignore aims (2) and (3) and instead focuses on the ways in which we (mis)represent psychology. He suggests that we: present an inaccurate account of qualitative research in contemporary psychology; make a divisive argument for a 'breakaway group' of community psychologists; epistemologically contradict ourselves because of our concern with 'reality' and social constructionism; argue for only adopting participatory action research; not least, adopt 'simplistic' and 'outdated' views of psychology. We will respond to these criticisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information about the invitation to submit completed doctoral theses in the field of disability studies. The author mentioned that the theses submitted will be an important reading resources for research in the said field. It would also provide the names of the new colleagues who recently joined the discipline. The format of the information needed for submission like the name of the author and title of the thesis, name of the university which awarded the degree, and where to send the theses are also presented.