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What role do texts play in LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) parents’ experiences of disability service systems? In interviews with 15 LGBTQ parents of disabled children in Toronto, Canada, participants selected documents to be used as a focus for discussion. Parents considered how LGBTQ identity and other intersectional identities influenced their experiences of institutional texts including adoption certificates, intake forms, and assessments. Findings suggest that documentation practices can operate as forms of systemic gatekeeping. LGBTQ identity was sometimes very significant in parents’ accounts, and sometimes less central than other aspects of their families' identities and experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the experiences of immigrant women with visual impairment in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) of Canada. Conceptually, the paper draws from feminist disability theory and critical scholarship on blindness to consider the discursive and material processes shaping women’s experiences across different socio-cultural contexts. Empirically, the paper draws from in-depth interviews with seven women. The analysis is organized around three themes. The first explores women’s understandings of visual impairment. The second examines the ways in which women’s experiences of visual impairment are shaped by meanings and attitudes that circulate within their cultural communities, and the extent to which immigration might challenge or reinforce these meanings. The third examines the shifting barriers and opportunities women face with respect to social and economic participation. We close by identifying the conceptual implications of our research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout history different practices have attempted to silence the experiences of disabled people. In this paper we explore some of these practices including the medical, familial, and self-subjugating practices English-speaking Canadian polio survivors experienced throughout their lives. We analyze participant’s experiences of silence and silencing through a Foucauldian lens, drawing on the three modes of objectification to explain the institutional and cultural discourses around polio subjects that acted upon and through the polio body to silence it. Participants’ oral history accounts demonstrate how sociocultural and medical practices effectively silenced survivors from speaking about their polio experiences. However, the trope of silence is also uprooted within oral history traditions. We will demonstrate how participants broke their silence and shifted their perspectives on polio and disability, and how this process contributed to their resistance of hegemonic conceptualizations of disability as defective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today’s youth face high unemployment and other labor-market challenges; these challenges are often worse for youth with disabilities. This paper explores what employers and employment counselors look for when hiring youth into entry-level jobs and whether they believe youth with disabilities have fewer skills than those without. This study used a qualitative design with a purposive sample of 19 youth employers and employment counselors. Our findings show that youth employers and employment counselors identify the following traits as enhancing young workers’ employability: a well-prepared job applicant; job fit and a good attitude; and soft skills. We find youth with disabilities are perceived to be at a disadvantage. Consistent with a rising body of research, the emphasis on soft skills, and pliability, opens the door for employment discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A literature review regarding the social support of immigrant mothers of disabled children in Canada was undertaken with a focus on settings where supports need to be shored up. An integrative review of published papers and policy reports concerning key aspects of social supports for immigrant mothers and disabled children was undertaken. Immigrant mothers experience numerous barriers to social supports for themselves and their disabled children. Maternal immigrant populations experience unique challenges in the setting of childhood disability as well as the challenges of mothers in the dominant culture. There are negative impacts on maternal health as a result of inadequate policy offerings. Public health policy needs to be refashioned in light of weak systems and supports for both immigrant mothers and disabled children and to acknowledge that the current system poses concerning implications for the long-term health of both groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite affirmation that students with disabilities should have equal access to education, individuals with disabilities are still not participating to the same degree as individuals without disabilities, particularly within postsecondary institutions. Students in Health and Human Service (HHS) programs experience many unique challenges and disadvantages. In-depth focus groups and interviews were conducted with 14 university stakeholders in HHS programs regarding their perceptions and experiences of working with students with disabilities. We found that the rhetoric of citizenship, specifically notions of rationality, autonomy, and productivity, interacts with beliefs about students with disabilities to allow stakeholders to justify their exclusion or limited participation. Our findings demonstrate how taken-for-granted beliefs can limit the inclusion of students with disabilities in ways that seem natural and unproblematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada has expressed a strong commitment to the rights of its citizens against discrimination, including those with disabilities. A question remains whether Canadians with disabilities are able to practice these rights. Our mixed-methods study sheds light on the situation of one important sub-group of people with disabilities – those who are legally blind. Our survey results show that the labour-force participation rate for this population is very low compared with those without disabilities, and also lower than the rate for persons with other disabilities. Legally-blind working-age Canadians have significantly higher rates of unemployment and underemployment, and perceive major barriers to employment. In-person interviews reveal the negative impact of one major barrier – disability stigmatization – on accessing meaningful employment and other societal assets. We discuss the implications of these findings and suggest policy directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]