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Abstract\nPoints of InterestIn this article we study the concept of ‘belonging’ within the context of inclusive education. We see inclusion and belonging as two entangled concepts and focus on inclusion as an ethical process. We do this by analyzing the Flemish documentary Inclusief [Inclusive] to investigate the idea of belonging as building and finding roots. As a method we carry out a close reading of two episodes of the documentary and plug in theory to gain a deeper sense about the meaning of belonging in two students’ life stories. In our writing process these fragments become tangible. Through the stories, we see how belonging emerges. We come to understand belonging in inclusive education as connected to the dynamic interplay with the context; listening with care; and radical relationality. By combining these elements schools can invest in becoming inclusive communities of care, and contribute to every student having a feeling of belonging.This paper explores the relation between inclusion in educational contexts and the sense of belonging of disabled students.The authors argue for a system approach to aim for inclusion instead of through case-by-case assessment.Through close reading of two episodes of the Flemish documentary Inclusief, the authors find that belonging is enhanced through the teachers’ careful attention to the students’ relations with each other.The authors state that creating space to enhance every student’s belonging is carried out through listening with care and being open to many connections between the student and others.The interplay with the environment proves very important to stimulate a sense of belonging with every student.The authors argue that caring communities arise through close connections.This paper explores the relation between inclusion in educational contexts and the sense of belonging of disabled students.The authors argue for a system approach to aim for inclusion instead of through case-by-case assessment.Through close reading of two episodes of the Flemish documentary Inclusief, the authors find that belonging is enhanced through the teachers’ careful attention to the students’ relations with each other.The authors state that creating space to enhance every student’s belonging is carried out through listening with care and being open to many connections between the student and others.The interplay with the environment proves very important to stimulate a sense of belonging with every student.The authors argue that caring communities arise through close connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of statements issued by the Polish Ministry of Family and Social Policy, relating to care homes and the threat to the health and lives of their inhabitants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the declared intention by the government to carry out the transition from residential care to community-based support, the results of the study reveal that under the slogans of care, safety, and commitment, the traditional vision of disability that promotes the operation of segregated institutions is reinforced. Ensuring safety is understood as strengthening the institution of a care home by emphasizing its importance, allocating additional resources, and introducing organized isolation practices that do not necessarily account for subjectivity and residents' rights. The authors, using the critical approach, point to elements of the discourse that may be remembered most by recipients. The paper is focused on an approach presented by the Polish Ministry of Family and Social Policy during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding care homes. While the discussion about transition from residential care to community-based support in Poland seems to be advanced, there are still facilities for over 100 inhabitants. In the face of the COVID-19 crisis, the Ministry's communication related to facilitating the transition to independent living was pushed aside, while the traditional institutional-oriented approach came to the fore. The communication by the Ministry is transmitting to the public a strong message that presents care homes as safe places that should be supported and developed as a key housing option. The lack of attention to issues such as transition from residential care to community-based support and a human-rights approach in communication led us to formulate the concept of a turbo-institutional approach implicit in the Ministry's communiques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The awareness that museums must be inclusive and participatory led to practices adapted to visitors' requirements and co-creative experiences, encouraging interaction with exhibitions, and thus fostering memorable experiences. Yet, constraints remain for people with disabilities, reducing their satisfaction and desire to return. Despite the high number of people with visual impairments worldwide, there is a lack of research on factors that may impact their co-creation in museums. This paper aims to identify factors influencing the co-creation of people with visual impairments experiences in museums, either facilitating or constraining it. Based on focus groups discussion, the results of the study conducted suggest that the co-creation of people with visual impairments in museums is influenced both by aspects related to visitors, as well as by disabling features of the museums' physical, communicational, and attitudinal environments. Conclusions and implications drawn are critical to improve the experience of people with visual impairments in museums. This article highlights that despite the high number of people with visual impairments worldwide, many still face constraints when visiting museums. The article reveals that several museums offer opportunities for interacting with the whole museum environment and co-creating value, to trigger memorable experiences. This paper fills a research gap by analysing how a set of factors influence people with visual impairments to get involved in co-creation in museums, either facilitating or constraining it. The research found that the factors that influence co-creation of experiences of people with visual impairments in museums can be related to the visitors or to the museums, including physical, communicational and attitudinal aspects. The article provides guidelines to improve the co-creation in museums of people with visual impairments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a very common physical head injury that happens in an instant. These injuries can inaugurate a wide range of long-term impairments that vary widely between those that survive them. Using a blend of social scientific and contemporary Disability Studies theory, this paper traces how moderate-to-severe TBIs become disabilities through the daily lives and interactions of survivors, those closest to them, and their wider communities. The complex, shifting, and contextually dependent nature of what they term life 'with TBI' muddies and multiplies the acronym's original construction as a simple and knowable injury. The resulting confusion inaugurates a feedback loop between survivors' bodies and socialities that ultimately constitutes the injury as a complexly embodied disability. This process helps to productively expand the definition of disability to include other more complex and invisible conditions like TBI. This research studies a distinct kind of disability ("Traumatic Brain Injury") from a social perspective that has rarely been investigated. Disabilities like Traumatic Brain Injury affect and are changed by the social contexts, lives, and interactions of the disabled with those around them. Those that survive Traumatic Brain Injuries may not share any bodily or mental impairments, but they embody and perform the same disability. Traumatic Brain Injury is different across the individual, social, and political levels. This paper presents how those who may not fit within traditional definitions of disability can still be disabled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive education is a key global agenda that is primarily driven by concern for children's rights. In China, the term is a translated, introduced, foreign concept. The localised practice of inclusion is encapsulated in the policy of Learning in Regular Classrooms, which not only adopts the narrow sense of inclusion for children with disabilities, but it is also dominated by the medical model of disability. An explicit rights-based philosophical foundation for inclusion that is widely accepted and internalised by local Chinese teachers and schools appears largely absent. This paper explores how Confucianism as a moral philosophy may be compatible with the rights discourse and may provide the necessary moral strengths and philosophical base to support inclusion in Chinese schools. The conclusion highlights the needs to pay attention to how teachers' deeper values, motivation, and drives can facilitate inclusive efforts, and also calls for a more explicit human rights discourse to develop in China in the long term. This paper explores the possibility of using the moral philosophy of Confucianism, rather than relying on the explicit language of human rights, to offer theoretical advocacy for inclusion in China. The rich legacy of Confucianism may offer the necessary moral strengths and philosophical convictions for Chinese teachers and schools to become inspired and empowered to take more inclusive initiatives in a bottom-up approach. Confucianism as a moral philosophy is compatible with the international human rights discourse. While a more explicit human rights discourse in China needs time to develop, Confucian principles such as datong (great harmony), ren (benevolence), as well as its educational believes and human rights ideas, may offer readily-available and more accessible inspiration and support for the inclusive education for children with disabilities in line with the social and human rights models. Re-examining traditional cultural values may shed light on modern effective teaching practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract\nPoints of interestDisability Studies scholars have extensively analysed how people with disabilities are oppressed in societies that devalue them. Teachers can promote change in thinking by presenting people with disabilities as people with multiple identities and experiences who are frequently oppressed. This paper explores how teachers can change their thinking and Reconceptualise their practices to this end. It reports on a two-year teacher education programme implemented in Cyprus. The participants were 59 teachers from pre primary, primary and secondary levels of education. The study analysed discussions with teachers held in seminars, lesson plans and the researcher’s diary. The findings suggest that teachers questioned dominant oppressive practices, became critical of and proposed alternatives to oppressive materials, began to think in terms of anti-oppressive Approaches, and planned and implemented anti-oppressive lesson plans. The discussion draws the connections between the findings and relevant research to consider changes that can advance teacher education for inclusion.This paper explores how teachers Reconceptualise their thinking and practices to raise disability awareness.The research team developed a teacher education programme, based on Disability Studies key ideas, such as the social model.The participants were 59 teachers from pre primary, primary and secondary levels of education.The data included recorded discussions with teachers held in seminars, lesson plans and the researcher’s diary.According to the findings teachers changed their initial views on disability and were able to develop lesson plans to raise disability awareness.The discussion suggests how teacher education can be improved to empower teachers raise disability awareness.This paper explores how teachers Reconceptualise their thinking and practices to raise disability awareness.The research team developed a teacher education programme, based on Disability Studies key ideas, such as the social model.The participants were 59 teachers from pre primary, primary and secondary levels of education.The data included recorded discussions with teachers held in seminars, lesson plans and the researcher’s diary.According to the findings teachers changed their initial views on disability and were able to develop lesson plans to raise disability awareness.The discussion suggests how teacher education can be improved to empower teachers raise disability awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract\nPoints of InterestBy taking an autoethnographic approach I intend to explore my epistemological and ontological experiences as a deaf Norwegian PhD candidate on a data collection journey in an Indian context. The aim of this article is to delve into challenges in a research process with a complex and multilinguistic environment, with barriers occurring, and how they could be understood and met. I identify and discuss barriers and possibilities in my research journey, describe how I faced challenges with gaining access to the field, and with recruitment issues, and share my process of finding solutions regarding communication. The autoethnographic analysis reveals a complex research situation with dynamic relationships and displays intersectionality in action. This analysis illuminates how knowledge production is linked to epistemological and ontological concerns. The reflexivity of the researcher is crucial, but the power of definition is also of interest and points to my shifting positionality as a deaf researcher.The experiences and reflections of a deaf researcher from Norway, in the Global North, doing research in India, in the Global South, with deaf Indian women, are described and analysed.One topic concerns dealing with the fact that people use various local, regional, and national languages, and might not understand each other.This paper further explores the resources within deaf networks, also referred to as Deaf Space, and emphasises the need for researchers to approach the experience of being a deaf woman in India with sensitivity.As a researcher from the Global North and a deaf person, my activity in the Global South, in India, was influenced by my different positions.Undertaking research with deaf people in a context that differs from the researcher’s usual context requires ongoing reflection throughout the different aspects of the research process.The experiences and reflections of a deaf researcher from Norway, in the Global North, doing research in India, in the Global South, with deaf Indian women, are described and analysed.One topic concerns dealing with the fact that people use various local, regional, and national languages, and might not understand each other.This paper further explores the resources within deaf networks, also referred to as Deaf Space, and emphasises the need for researchers to approach the experience of being a deaf woman in India with sensitivity.As a researcher from the Global North and a deaf person, my activity in the Global South, in India, was influenced by my different positions.Undertaking research with deaf people in a context that differs from the researcher’s usual context requires ongoing reflection throughout the different aspects of the research process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract\nPoints of interestAlthough critical disability studies has become more widely recognized within physiotherapy scholarship and education, ableism still profoundly influences and directs the physiotherapy profession. We draw from post-structural French philosopher Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy to highlight how ableism is bound up in the taken-for-granted assumptions of physiotherapy. We outline how ableism is entangled with the profession’s ontology and European notion of human. As a result, ableism is maintained by clinicians through the embodiment of the ideal species typical human, in both the domain of the mind and body. As it stands, to do physiotherapy necessitates ableism. Imagining physiotherapy otherwise, we set out to critique and unsettle the profession’s metaphysical presuppositions, creating the possibility for new generative avenues for physiotherapy. Deleuze’s ontology of difference provides the profession an alternative starting point which makes the notion of ‘normal’, and consequently ableism, unthinkable.This paper explores how physiotherapy’s foundational assumptions continue to uphold ableism.By imagining the profession as always in motion, we argue that bodies are understood as always changing.We demonstrate how French philosopher Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy might enable physiotherapy to escape its ableist history.By theorizing physiotherapy as always in motion, the possibilities of what clients and clinicians can do and become open upWe outline the utility of not assessing physiotherapeutic interventions as ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’ but by what they do and what possibilities they open up.This paper explores how physiotherapy’s foundational assumptions continue to uphold ableism.By imagining the profession as always in motion, we argue that bodies are understood as always changing.We demonstrate how French philosopher Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy might enable physiotherapy to escape its ableist history.By theorizing physiotherapy as always in motion, the possibilities of what clients and clinicians can do and become open upWe outline the utility of not assessing physiotherapeutic interventions as ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’ but by what they do and what possibilities they open up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews existing approaches to inclusive, co-produced and agentic research in disability, and shares related reflections from a co-produced digital storytelling project. The project, which included self-advocates with intellectual disabilities, academics, and support staff was undertaken in Queensland, Australia, in 2018. This paper reflects on the potential and limitations of inclusive research methods by, and with, people with intellectual disabilities. We reflect on and analyse our experiences using a co-production framework and consider how this project increased participation and agency by, with, and for people with intellectual disabilities. The paper concludes with a summary of learnings and recommendations for future co-produced research activities including the importance of taking time to build capacity and establish the required foundations for more inclusive research. Historically, researchers tended to conduct research on people with intellectual disabilities instead of researching with people as co-researchers. Time and deliberate efforts are needed for all people involved in co-produced research, be they people with disabilities, family and carers, advocates, disability workers or academic researchers, to work together in ways which share power and decision-making. This project reflects on the processes used to co-produce individual digital stories and a group digital story about the activities of a long-established group of self-advocates. This includes reflecting on how the digital stories were shared and received; and how the research findings have been communicated, to date, including at a national conference about intellectual disability. The project demonstrates the value of co-production methods and the extended benefits that can arise from this way of working collaboratively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines disabled people's digital political engagement in China, which is a largely overlooked issue. Current studies about disability politics often focus on manifest political behaviours in western democratic societies, while the literature on technologies and China lacks the examination of everyday politics of specific identity groups, such as disabled people. This paper attempts to fill the gaps with a broader framework of political engagement. Based on long-term ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews, the paper presents a variety of political activities in China's cyberspace, including everyday presence, campaigning for policy changes, networking for disability constituencies, and organised online activism. These suggest both latent and manifest forms of political engagement, which are equally 'worthy' in understanding disability politics in China. The forms also interact with each other to build Chinese disability politics in the digital world. New information and communication technologies, such as the internet, have changed the ways we engage in politics. However, how the technologies have been used by Chinese disabled people for politics is a missing topic. The paper uses a broader framework to examine disabled people's online political engagement. The findings suggest a variety of activities that have explicit or implicit relations to disability politics. The study found Chinese disabled people use the internet to document their everyday life, and, to interact with others and create disability groups. These activities suggest no obvious political targets. The study also found actions with clear political purposes, for example personal or group activities to aim to change discriminative policies. The paper argues all these forms of engagement are meaningful. They interact with each other and contribute to the building of disability politics in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 on disabled people from the perspective of disability organisations located in the Global South. Drawing on the findings of an online survey, which received responses from 20 representatives of disability organisations located in 13 countries, this study builds on a growing body of recent research highlighting the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on disabled people, many of whom have experienced greater levels of discrimination and deeper levels of isolation and poverty as the result of inadequate state responses to the pandemic. The study also highlights the crucial role played by many disability organisations in supporting disabled people during the crisis, often filling in the gaps in mainstream service provision, and argues that they should be enabled to play a much more prominent role in the long-term recovery process in order to ensure a more disability-inclusive post-pandemic world. This paper argues that: State responses to the pandemic have often failed to take account of the specific needs and priorities of disabled people. During the pandemic, many disabled people have been denied access to essential services, cut off from the support of their caregivers, excluded from education provision and exposed to severe economic hardship. Disability organisations have offered vital to support to their members and beneficiaries, often helping to ensure that their basic needs are met. Policymakers and service providers should collaborate closely with disability organisations in order to ensure that disabled people are not left behind in the long-term recovery process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractOur paper aims to consider how hybrid academic conferences can create inclusive spaces for knowledge exchange. The paper begins by considering the purpose of academic conferences and identifying the groups of people excluded when conferences are run in an in-person-only format. Reasons for exclusion include being disabled, being a carer, being unable to travel (e.g. in the final trimester of pregnancy), being unable to secure a VISA, or being unable to access funds to cover travel and accommodation costs. Next, we consider the existing challenges that individuals and event organizers face concerning academic conferences. Then, pragmatic opportunities for event organizers are presented, making the case for running conferences in a hybrid format. The paper concludes with a call to action for promoting care democracy in the workplace by addressing the humanity deficit and the unheard voice of academics currently excluded from in-person-only academic conferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from a study on blindness discourses found in South African non-profit organisations that provide rehabilitation services to visually impaired adults. The paper investigates what the public relations materials of these organisations communicate about blindness. It also considers the ideological assumptions that blindness discourses reinforce and embed in rehabilitation practice. The primary focus is a discourse analytic review conducted on a sample of organisation public facing material. The findings comprise three clusters of assumptions, with concomitant enactments in practice. These are i) third-person alliances around the blind subject and a resulting objectification of service users ii) 'journey discourse' which prohibits the expression of complex disability experiences and iii) polarised blindness fantasies which promote othering and prescribe acceptable ways of being for blind subjects. This paper questions what might be imparted to blind persons at a symbolic level through rehabilitative practices. This article explores the ways that blindness and blind persons are represented on the websites of organisations that provide visual impairment rehabilitation services in South Africa. These representations affect the way that society views visually impaired people, and the way that visually impaired people feel about themselves. Organisation websites describe visually impaired people in ways that make it seem as though they play little active role in the rehabilitation process. The idea that rehabilitation is a journey from dependence and depression to independence and self-acceptance might make it difficult for rehabilitation service users to express ongoing feelings of grief and loss. There is a need for more focus on interdependence in rehabilitation services. Rehabilitation organisations must think carefully about what their public relations materials communicate to society about blindness and blind persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely recognised that First Nations peoples in Australia (also known as Aboriginal Australians) have some of the poorest health and social outcomes of any other group. This is evidenced in a number of areas including the disproportionately high rates of disability for First Nations peoples in Australia. This paper explores how the intersection of race and disability compounds disadvantage for First Nations peoples with disability in Australia. Additionally, it explores the conceptual diversity of disability and the role colonisation has played, and continues to play, in creating and maintaining high rates of disability for First Nations peoples in Australia. This paper argues for the decolonisation of the disability sector as a step towards improving outcomes for all. In particular, the use of intersectionality theory is examined as a potentially effective tool for mapping and enacting the decolonisation of the disability sector. First Nations peoples in Australia understand disability in a manner that differs from the mainstream dominant 'western' understanding, and this has huge implications for the disability sector. The dominant model focuses on people with disabilities as individuals who need to be 'treated' and 'supported' by health authorities. First Nations approach is community-based wherein everyone has abilities and responsibilities that are valued by the community – a culture of inclusion and connection that normalises and accepts people with disabilities. Routinely encountered racism and structural discrimination experienced by First Nations people compound discrimination commonly experienced by people with a disability. Intersectional theory identifies how disability and race combine in Australia to produce particularly poor outcomes for First Nations people with a disability, compared to their non-Indigenous peers. Decolonisation, the process of reversing the impact of the dominant way of thinking, is important to improving outcomes for First Nations people with a disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents with disabilities and their families experience pervasive inequities within the child welfare system. However, existing conceptual frameworks do not adequately explain or address the unique needs and experiences of parents with disabilities and their families involved with the child welfare system. Accordingly, we present a conceptual framework that incorporates empirical findings from existing literature while integrating and expanding extant frameworks and models. The conceptual framework, which is aimed at being a starting point from which to investigate child welfare system inequities experienced by disabled parents, includes interrelated factors measured at the contextual, institutional, and individual levels. The paper discusses areas for further research, challenges for researchers, and implications for reducing child welfare system inequities. Parents with disabilities are more likely to be involved with the child welfare system, have their parental rights terminated, and receive inadequate services and supports from the child welfare system, compared to other parents. This paper offers a conceptual framework that identifies factors that impact the inequities experienced by disabled parents who are involved with the child welfare system. Researchers can use the conceptual framework to study the reasons that parents with disabilities have worse child welfare system outcomes than other parents. Policymakers and child welfare professionals can use the conceptual framework to identify ways to prevent parents with disabilities from being unnecessarily involved with the child welfare system and ensure that parents with disabilities who are involved with the child welfare system are treated fairly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades there has been an increase in the use of participatory and emancipatory methodologies within disability research; centring the lived experience of disabled people. This paper explores some of the ethical and practical considerations when researching in the area of disabled women and sexuality, highlighting the pervasiveness of ableist attitudes and processes. Drawing on critical disability studies and utilising critical reflexivity, the researcher, a disabled woman, discusses some of the strengths and limitations of being an 'insider-outsider' researcher. The paper also presents some strategies and considerations for researchers who seek to use inclusive methods in research with and by disabled people, including the importance of language and multi-methods to facilitate and promote access and expression. If research is to be a true reflection of the community being researched, then it is vital inclusive principles are incorporated into all stages of research projects. There has been an increase in research that includes disabled people in all stages of the research process. This paper discusses some of the ways the researcher, a disabled woman, used inclusive research methods throughout her study focused on disabled women's experiences of sex education, sexual expression and violence. The paper considers some of the strengths and challenges of insider research, and outlines ways to promote access and expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Counterspaces are fields of social action and activism in which people organize themselves to change oppressive social structures. Ableism, or discrimination based on disability, is expressed in everyday life. Its expressions may take the form of ableist microaggressions. This paper analyses a Twitter campaign, through a sample of 335 tweets published from August to December 2018 under the hashtag MeCripple, that exposed ableism and the daily microaggressions people with disabilities endure in Spain. It examines exposed ableist microaggressions, tests if the domains of microaggressions proposed by other scholars apply to Spain, and explores whether the campaign generated a space for coping and responding to ableist discrimination. It also shows that practices of online visibility generate heterotopic online counterspaces leading to cooperation and mutual support to counter ableist microaggressions. This article analyzes a 2018 Twitter campaign in Spain under the hashtag MeCripple as an offshoot of the MeToo movement. Most of the tweets under this hashtag report experiences of discrimination, insults, or contempt towards a person just for having a disability: we call these situations ableist microaggressions. The classification of ableist microaggressions used in this study serves to analyze experiences in both the U.S. and Spain. Tweets in this campaign expressed the importance of meeting each other on social media websites, such as Twitter, and bringing visibility to the discrimination faced by people with disabilities. This article suggests that public exchanges can help people unaware of ableist microaggressions better understand these forms of discrimination and mobilize them to form alliances to counter these aggressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract\nPoints of InterestThis paper examines autistic adults’ narratives and accounts of their experiences. It focuses on exploring how autistic individuals interpret and respond to stigma and negative attitudes surrounding autism. Thematic analysis of qualitative data obtained from interviews and focus groups reveals how autistic persons reconstruct their self-perception and definition of autism in response to stigma and societal attitudes. Further, the analysis reveals the prevalent use of social camouflaging among autistic adults to manage and cope with their stigmatized identities. This research contends that the dual approach that appeared among participants of advocating for autism acceptance while masking and concealing autism, reflects a continuous balancing act between avoiding stigma and its harmful consequences and striving to fit in, gain acceptance, engage in social interaction and relationships. Reframing autism as positive and reporting decreased motivation for camouflaging and increased self-acceptance, demonstrate stigma resistance and the agency and power possessed by autistic people.This article looks into how autistic adults describe their daily and social experiences.Specifically, it examines the impact of stigma on autistic individuals’ understanding of autism as well as explains how autistic people deal with stigmatic views and negative reactions to autism.The data collected for this study is based on interviews and focus groups conducted with autistic adults.The study highlights the use of masking, where autistic individuals hide their autism to avoid stigma and its negative consequences while seeking social acceptance and engaging socially.By exploring how autism intersects with various social identities, the study reveals how autistic individuals navigate societal challenges, highlighting the diverse experiences and perspectives within the autistic community and the complexity of the autism experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractDiscrimination against people with disabilities persists in the Chinese labour market despite policy efforts. Enterprises exploit loopholes by engaging in false employment practices, renting disability certificates to circumvent their obligations to employ persons with disabilities or contribute to the Employment Security Fund. This deceptive practice not only undermines the rights of persons with disabilities but also perpetuates discrimination and marginalisation within the workforce. Additionally, resident committees tasked with assisting persons with disabilities in employment often resort to facilitating false employment due to administrative constraints. The paper stresses the importance of combatting false employment as a human rights issue, urging the Chinese government to take decisive action through enforcement measures and proactive initiatives. It emphasises the inherent value and potential of individuals with disabilities and underscores the necessity of creating an inclusive and equitable society for all members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract\nPoints of InterestThis article analyses the difficulties that 16 graduate with disabilities from 8 Spanish universities in the area of Health Sciences experienced during their academic career. It also shows how they overcame these difficulties, as well as their insight into their own resilience. This qualitative study used semi-structured and individual interviews. The results showed that the difficulties, the strategies to deal with them, and the opinions of the participants about their resilient characteristics are multiple and relate to both external and internal factors. The results reveal that participants’ voices from these Health Sciences degree contain useful strategies for the ­university community to promote the academic success of students with disabilities for the benefit of all students.Healthcare degrees tend to present greater challenges for students with disabilities.Students often experience exclusion during their healthcare training due to the fact that disability is based on a ‘medical’ perspective of disability.This paper analyses the difficulties and coping and resilience strategies used by university students with disabilities with a Bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences to successfully overcome these difficulties.Numerous internal and external factors enable students with disabilities to successfully complete health studies.This study can contribute that including students with disabilities in healthcare degrees improves healthcare improves for vulnerable populations, as well as the relationship between professionals and patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract\nPoints of interestAbleist microaggressions are ubiquitous experiences for workers with an impairment, chronic illness or neurodivergence in the daily execution of their job. These (un)intended everyday (non)verbal negative messages based on disability status affectively disable people, momentarily and with lasting effects on mental health and positive identity. Past research provided either psychological accounts, locating the origins of microaggression in the minds of individuals, failing to highlight the role of an ableist society, or sociological accounts, stressing exclusionary structures and marginalising discourses, neglecting to fully account for the inner experience. This paper puts forward an alternative, combined account by empirically zooming in on three vignettes in work contexts. It contributes to expanding knowledge on subtle forms of ableism, showing the entanglement between material arrangements, negative co-worker affect, and their internalisation by the disabled worker. By locating the microaggression concept firmly in the structural oppression of ableist societies, we hope to inspire organisational programs aimed at detecting and preventing microaggressions. Finally, we prepare the ground for future research to look into even more subtle forms of disability-based discrimination present in everyday interactions.This study explores how barriers in the environment and negative interactions from colleagues impact individuals with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and neurodivergences in the workplace, leading them to internalise feelings of inadequacy and create their own barriers.One way this happens is through small but hurtful actions known as ableist microaggressions, which can come from co-workers, supervisors, or others. These actions include making someone feel like an outsider, talking down to them, or disregarding their dignity or privacy.The findings show that these microaggressions play a big role in maintaining unfair treatment of disabled individuals at work, even if they are not intended to be harmful.It is crucial for managers to recognise and address these behaviours to create a more inclusive work environment.This study explores how barriers in the environment and negative interactions from colleagues impact individuals with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and neurodivergences in the workplace, leading them to internalise feelings of inadequacy and create their own barriers.One way this happens is through small but hurtful actions known as ableist microaggressions, which can come from co-workers, supervisors, or others. These actions include making someone feel like an outsider, talking down to them, or disregarding their dignity or privacy.The findings show that these microaggressions play a big role in maintaining unfair treatment of disabled individuals at work, even if they are not intended to be harmful.It is crucial for managers to recognise and address these behaviours to create a more inclusive work environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractLimited literature is available from Arab women authors on the topic of disability, and even less interest is found when looking at the publishing industry. This autoethnographic paper examines the role of the publishing industry in promoting underrepresented voices and questions who determines which voices are important and deserving of publication. This article intends to highlight the obstacles that disabled scholars and individuals confront in the publishing sector by examining the author’s personal experience in publishing a hybrid memoir. Head Above Water: Reflections on Illness (2022, 2023, London and New York) explores themes of ableism, academia, and disability identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract\nPoints of interestIn the past four decades, Independent Living (IL) has gained prominence in inspiring services for people with intellectual disabilities. Yet, its practical application faces challenges within a field still influenced by medical-rehabilitative and paternalistic perspectives. This study seeks to explore the fundamental characteristics that IL models assume within the field of intellectual disabilities, focusing on the Spanish experience, identifying pioneering projects, influential models, and their ripple effects. A comprehensive mapping of IL projects has been conducted, analyzing publicly available information on 86 identified cases. In seven significant cases, in-depth interviews were conducted with people responsible for their development. Our analysis sheds light on some emerging tensions, with a focus on what is identified as a family-centered approach, an emphasis on skills-oriented services, and an overreliance on housing accessibility. Finally, this paper offers recommendations to enhance these initiatives and foster the integration of IL in the intellectual disability context.This study examines difficulties encountered when implementing independent living services for people with intellectual disabilities in Spain.The study shows that independent living for people with intellectual disabilities has the following characteristics: it is mostly oriented towards the families, it is focused on the development of personal skills, and it is strongly dependent on the possibility of housing access.We suggest the need to find ways to place people with intellectual disabilities at the center, while considering their social networks. It is also important to promote personal assistance, allowing support in tasks lead by the people themselves. And it is a fundamental responsibility of the administrations to ensure that everyone has access to housing.Independent living for individuals with intellectual disabilities should no longer be seen as something exceptional, but rather as the center of services provided in this field.This study examines difficulties encountered when implementing independent living services for people with intellectual disabilities in Spain.The study shows that independent living for people with intellectual disabilities has the following characteristics: it is mostly oriented towards the families, it is focused on the development of personal skills, and it is strongly dependent on the possibility of housing access.We suggest the need to find ways to place people with intellectual disabilities at the center, while considering their social networks. It is also important to promote personal assistance, allowing support in tasks lead by the people themselves. And it is a fundamental responsibility of the administrations to ensure that everyone has access to housing.Independent living for individuals with intellectual disabilities should no longer be seen as something exceptional, but rather as the center of services provided in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides insights into the experiences of children with disabilities in an Ethiopian context during prolonged school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on data gathered through telephone surveys from parents of children with disabilities who had been attending school prior to closures and teachers working in different educational settings, we discuss children's learning journeys during closures, motivations to return to school and the implications of this on current educational reform efforts in Ethiopia. Our findings highlight the significant merits of including children with disabilities explicitly in wider education reform efforts; the many positive gains seen in parental desires to send their child back to school; and the need to recognize and strengthen the role of schools as spaces for promoting children's socio-emotional well-being. Schooling of children with disabilities in Ethiopia was significantly impacted due to the lack of accessible learning materials available at home and in schools Caregivers expressed that returning to school was a strong priority for their child with disabilities Teachers and caregivers noted significant negative impact of closures on children's social and emotional well-being, with many reporting heightened feelings of sadness, loneliness, isolation, and diminished interest in learning and playing among their children. Caregivers and teachers felt that more could be done to support families and schools during such times, especially with better allocation of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One central aim of disability studies is to shift understandings of disability, such that disability comes to be understood as about the social disadvantage/oppression that people face when society does not cater to impairment of body/mind. Nevertheless, there remains a need for more practical tools for disability advocacy, through which to transmit disability studies' ideas of disability to the general community. Drawing on a qualitative study of the perspectives of 23 people with physical and sensory impairments, this paper proposes virtual reality as an advocacy tool to communicate the principles and beliefs of disability studies. The findings highlight that, due to the nature of the technology, participants feel virtual reality has clear potential as a disability advocacy tool that can facilitate empathy, perspective-taking and positive social change, with a particular focus on how it is the environmental barriers and social attitudes around people that disables them. More practical advocacy or informal education tools are needed that align with the principles of disability studies. This research conducted in-depth interviews with 23 people with physical and sensory impairments. The research finds that virtual reality has clear potential as a disability advocacy tool. The participants reported that virtual reality can facilitate empathy, perspective-taking and positive social change. The research finds that virtual reality focuses on how environmental barriers and social attitudes around people with disability disable them, rather than focusing on impairment experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First, as a fan of live music and a power wheelchair user living with congenital muscular dystrophy, I use critical storytelling to describe my personal experiences of negotiating for accessibility during participation in arts and cultural activities. Second, I reflect broadly on the ableist ideologies that contribute to the inaccessibility of arts and cultural activities, focusing on the narrow scope of target participants, the ableist rationale for accessibility service provision, the inaccessibility of promotional materials and ticketing, segregated seating arrangements, venue inaccessibility, and single-modal performance. Third, I highlight the detrimental impact of the inaccessibility of arts and cultural activities at the organizational, social, intergroup, interpersonal, and individual levels. Finally, I propose future research directions and suggestions for inclusive practice in arts and cultural activities. This paper aims to promote self-empowerment, unravel the manifestations of ableism in arts and cultural activities, and stimulate readers' critical reflection on in/accessibility of arts and cultural activities. As a power wheelchair user living with congenital muscular dystrophy in Hong Kong, I reflect on how my first-hand experiences of going to more than 60 live concerts and some other arts and cultural activities across five places reinforce discrimination and stereotypes against wheelchair users. I provide examples of my real-life scenarios to illustrate the discrimination against wheelchair users in cultural and arts activities. Examples include experiences in the purchase of concert tickets, inquiries about accessible seating options, communication with venue staff, and interactions with my companions during concerts. I reflect on the impact of the discrimination and barriers of arts and cultural activities. I provide examples of inclusive practices that can promote the accessibility of arts and cultural activities. The writing process is a self-empowering. It helps organize and express my emotions and thoughts regarding the barriers encountered in arts and cultural activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with disabilities have an inviolable right to equitable access and participation in tertiary education and support systems are known to be indispensable in making this right a reality. This article presents the voices of students with disabilities regarding aspects that influence their successful access and participation in tertiary education in Ghana. A qualitative approach was adopted for the study with data collected through interviews with 12 students with disabilities in three public universities. From the perspective of these students, successful inclusion of people with disabilities in tertiary education in Ghana is influenced by enrolment practices, the built environment, teaching and learning approaches, and assessment provisions. The context influenced provisions and support provided. Attitudes of the university community and lack of knowledge of inclusive practices such as Universal Design play a role in students' access and participation. Comprehensive awareness-raising on disability and inclusive practices is recommended to address this issue. This paper explores inclusion practices in three Ghanaian public universities focussing on the combined voices of students with disabilities. The context of the three universities influences the provisions and support available for people with disabilities. The students with disabilities involved in the study reported that access to the university environment and support for academic engagement impact their university experience. The attitude of the university community is a factor in ensuring access, participation and success of people with disabilities in higher education. Creating awareness of disability issues within the university community is pivotal in building and sustaining inclusive culture. The application of universal design principles is essential to improving access and participation of people with disabilities in higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper considers some of the hidden challenges which may be faced by the neurodiverse academic. The neurodiverse academic, at times, can be seen as something ‘hidden’, remaining undisclosed due to the challenges which can be faced by making this declaration to colleagues and employers. As a result, our voices are often not heard, and, thus, the difficulties we face overlooked. This has begun to be addressed for the student within higher education, but not the academic. Within this paper I, therefore, reflect on my experience as a dyslexic academic. I consider the challenges of excess labour, increasingly needed to ‘make it’ in academia today, the pressures this creates and impact on mental health. I, also, highlight the divergence, from non-disabled colleagues, which can exist in access to development opportunities. I provide this account to challenge assumptions and spur a research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract\nPoints of interestResearch on the experiences of academics with disabilities regarding access to higher education spaces is vast, but not much has been done to assess if such research goes beyond analysing physical spaces. This paper follows the capabilities approach to contribute knowledge in this regard, drawing from research conducted in one South African University. Ten academics with disabilities were interviewed, and data were analysed thematically. Findings suggest that it is not enough for academics with disabilities to be employed at the University. Denial of social and physical access to various spaces has epistemic and professional advancement implications. The possibilities for alternative spaces and freedom of choice to function optimally for academic identity advancement can still be enhanced. The paper makes recommendations that can be explored for policy and practice to advance human development of academics with disabilities.We draw attention to how ableism relates to capabilities and freedoms to develop academic identities in multidimensional spaces of higher education.Marginalising spatial configurations go beyond just inability to attend academic gatherings, but also to participate in knowledge production for academic identity development.Academics with invisible disabilities can receive even more limited support, causing them to take longer to develop academically.Academics have agency and responsibilities towards developing their identities, but these are often limited by the nature of spaces.Advanced technology provides alternative ways of thinking about self-ability versus disability in an academic workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe process of deinstitutionalisation gained momentum in the late 20th century, driven by disability rights movements and increased awareness of the harms of institutionalisation. This paper provides an overview of deinstitutionalisation in South Korea, focusing on the transformation of large disability residential facilities since the 1970s, with efforts towards promoting independent living. Current debates highlight conflicting perspectives among stakeholders. Advocates, primarily disabled individuals, support accelerated deinstitutionalisation for its benefits in autonomy, social integration, and improved quality of life. However, oppositions from families and service providers express concerns about care gaps and the need for specialized support for people with higher support needs. The paper underscores the importance of establishing a consensus on deinstitutionalisation objectives and proposes multidimensional alternatives, including legislative reforms, expanded community services, and improved facilities. Fostering social agreement is identified as pivotal for successful deinstitutionalisation and the well-being of disabled individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the adjustments made to include people with intellectual disabilities in mainstream services. Drawing on in-depth interviews with both people with intellectual disabilities and mainstream service managers in four urban regions in Australia, the paper points to three modes of practice that are operationalised, to different degrees, when people with intellectual disabilities seek access to mainstream services: a commitment and adjustments to support inclusion of a wide range of marginalised people (diversity and inclusion ethos); adjustments to support inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities more specifically (differentiated adjustments); and, personal support for service users with intellectual disabilities. We argue that these three modes, at the service level, correspond in complex ways with three broader approaches to social inclusion: mainstreaming, differentiation and individualisation. Rather than contradictory modes of inclusion, our analysis suggests these approaches should be understood as complementary. Some mainstream services that value 'inclusion' make adjustments to their service in order to better include people from different marginalised groups. Such adjustments have mixed outcomes for people with intellectual disability, whose specific needs are not always met. Some mainstream services operate separate activities for users with intellectual disability. This helps them manage behavioural and communication challenges, and can help people with intellectual disability experience a sense of belonging. But separate activities also limit opportunities for full inclusion in the mainstream. Often people with intellectual disability require their own personal support to be able to use mainstream services. Some mainstream services rely on such personal support as their main strategy to include people with intellectual disability. Other mainstream services work collaboratively with personal supporters to promote inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Film, a powerful publicising agent of knowledge, can have detrimental ideological and material implications contributing towards the systematic exclusion of disabled people. The paper explores how acquired physical disability is constructed within three contemporary mainstream fiction films. Guided by theoretical disability models and stereotypic representations of disability, identified by seminal authors in the field, the discussion highlights discourses that are perpetuated, challenged, or omitted within cinematic portrayals of disability. The paper also addresses how these discourses contribute to the maintenance or subversion of ableist power. The data underwent a multimodal analysis guided by critical and cinematic discourses. While steps towards more nuanced and diverse representations of acquired physical disability are evident, the films continue to perpetuate hegemonic discourses, emotionally provocative, and caricatured portrayals of disability. Arguably, contemporary disability fiction films are still largely produced for, and consumed by, abled audiences. Recommendations for transforming cinematic representations of the disabled are addressed. Films can communicate accurate knowledge as well as damaging stereotypes to the public. Disability has often been portrayed negatively in films and thus it is important to critically analyse films about disability. The paper discusses three contemporary films in which the main actors have an acquired physical disability. What is said about disability through the films' dialogue, and how disability is shown through camera angles, music, and props was analysed. The research found that films about acquired physical disability continue to produce negative stereotypes about disability. Thus, discrimination against disabled people is continued. Encouragingly, some stereotypes about disability were seen to be challenged in the contemporary films. Future films need to be more inclusive of disability. Characters need to be complex, all-rounded individuals, with disability being only one facet of their personhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract\nPoints of interestAgeing family caregivers of family members with disability must navigate complex social care systems within a single household for long-term and end-of-life transitions. This is particularly challenging for migrants from culturally and racially marginalised (CaRM) backgrounds, given their historical exclusion from developing disability and aged care support systems. Limited research exists on the lived experiences of new and second-generation CaRM communities providing informal care to family members with disabilities, globally and in Australia. This paper highlights the challenges faced by CaRM families navigating racial, ethnic, and immigration politics while seeking access to appropriate disability and ageing social care supports. The findings reveal that Many CaRM families face isolation and difficulty accessing needed support due to misconceptions about their strong local networks. Moreover, the significance of place, especially in low-resource urban areas, poses challenges for ageing family primary caregivers managing a dual long-term care arrangement, leading to uncertainties about their future.Families in culturally and racially marginalised (CaRM) communities experience significant difficulties in seeking help for disability care changes (or transitions) when primary caregivers are ageing;Disability and ageing support systems in Australia often wrongly assume that CaRM families have strong support networks that help to access formal care and support;Parents need long term support for their adult child with a disability, but want to avoid giving their other adult children without disability care responsibilities after their own death;Many families feel isolated and alone because of language barriers, and cultural exclusion. This makes it very difficult to seek the right care and support for both the ageing carers and family members with disability;Many factors affect immigrant ageing family caregivers in seeking suitable care transition options for family members with disability. These include property ownership, caregiver age, personal health, partner support, and other adult children in the family;Therefore, families need different social care systems to plan support changes (a) short term for the ageing family caregiver, and (b) long-term for the family member with disability, into end-of-life stages.Families in culturally and racially marginalised (CaRM) communities experience significant difficulties in seeking help for disability care changes (or transitions) when primary caregivers are ageing;Disability and ageing support systems in Australia often wrongly assume that CaRM families have strong support networks that help to access formal care and support;Parents need long term support for their adult child with a disability, but want to avoid giving their other adult children without disability care responsibilities after their own death;Many families feel isolated and alone because of language barriers, and cultural exclusion. This makes it very difficult to seek the right care and support for both the ageing carers and family members with disability;Many factors affect immigrant ageing family caregivers in seeking suitable care transition options for family members with disability. These include property ownership, caregiver age, personal health, partner support, and other adult children in the family;Therefore, families need different social care systems to plan support changes (a) short term for the ageing family caregiver, and (b) long-term for the family member with disability, into end-of-life stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractDisabled scholars are seriously underrepresented in academia and experience some of the highest rates of harassment of any protected class within the post-secondary educational system. This paper recounts my personal experience as someone living with Ehlers Danlos syndrome (EDS), postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and endometriosis. Focusing on lived examples of ableism and approaches to advocacy, I highlight barriers to disabled individuals within the academic field of environmental science. I further argue that the pervasiveness of ableism within the environmental field is especially insidious, as such barriers limit the ability of ∼1/5 of the population to contribute to addressing environmental degradation. This account provides insights to administrators seeking to improve their organization’s treatment of disabled faculty and staff, to faculty and staff seeking to improve their treatment of disabled colleagues, and to disabled scholars currently navigating an ableist education system and job market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improper processing of sensitive personal data concerning disabled people in government information disclosure not only violates their privacy rights but also leads to discrimination, stigmatization, and other serious secondary harm, that have long been overlooked. China's procurator-led public-interest litigation system is a powerful tool for protecting the privacy rights of vulnerable groups. This paper contends that procurator-led public-interest litigation, as a supplement to and support for private-interest litigation, assists the Chinese government in fulfilling its international obligations to protect the right to privacy of disabled people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community housing services adopt care models such as rehabilitation, recovery-oriented care and person-centered planning to improve the quality of life of service users with an intellectual or psychiatric disability. However, the way these care models are implemented and practiced can negatively impact service users' experience with the service as their complex needs go unmet. In this paper, we conceptualize these experiences through developing the counternarrative of burdens of support. For this we draw on burden of treatment theory. We conducted ethnographic fieldwork in a community service organization in the Netherlands. This included participant observation (84 h), interviews with service users (n = 20), experts-by-experience (n = 8), family members (n = 10) and photovoice workshops. Our analysis identifies four burdens of support: burden of self-determination; re-identification; responsibilisation and re-placement. The results show that burden of support is very much a relational concept: through their support, professionals can aggravate or alleviate burden. People with intellectual or psychiatric disabilities often receive support with living in the community. Good support fits people's needs (e.g. person-centered planning), builds on people's strengths and contributes to recovery and community participation. Even when support is practiced or organized with such aims, service users can have negative experiences. In this research we call this: 'burden of support'. Examples of burden of support identified include: Clients' needs and wishes are sometimes not sufficiently attended too when working with a personal care plan. Too much responsibility is sometimes shifted to clients, which results in feelings of failing or abandonment. The focus on strengths and recovery sometimes leaves too little room for clients to voice support needs. Having to move to a different home or neighborhood as part of becoming more independent can result in many difficulties including loneliness. The research recommended that those who improve services should also alleviate these burdens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract\nPoints of interestMental health peer support is a form of care in which people with mental health conditions provide emotional support and education to fellow individuals in recovery, and it is often offered online. Yet little research has considered the social and ethical consequences of providing peer support virtually. Drawing on qualitative data on peer support at mental health agencies across Ohio, this paper argues that the move to online platforms like Zoom led to concerns around boundaries: the rules within personal relationships between people giving and receiving support. In particular, the shift to virtual delivery of peer support posed new questions around privacy and communication. I assert that understanding boundaries in virtual settings is critically important to the field of disability studies, as scholars, activists, and practitioners document and analyze the nature of interdependent care relationships that unfold across a variety of social contexts.Mental health peer support is expanding as a form of care for mental health conditions, yet there is little research on peer support ethics‘Boundaries’ are the rules we set in relationships between people receiving and giving support, which can change in online settings like ZoomEthics concerns in online peer support include privacy and appropriate use of technology for communicationResearchers and activists should focus on ethics in peer support as an important place where disabled people receive careMental health peer support is expanding as a form of care for mental health conditions, yet there is little research on peer support ethics‘Boundaries’ are the rules we set in relationships between people receiving and giving support, which can change in online settings like ZoomEthics concerns in online peer support include privacy and appropriate use of technology for communicationResearchers and activists should focus on ethics in peer support as an important place where disabled people receive care [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract\nPoints of interestPrevious research has shown that pre-existing social and economic inequalities deepened during the COVID–19 pandemic. Persons with disabilities were among the most affected social groups. This article focuses on the social support that persons with disabilities and their families received during the coronavirus pandemic in Europe. A semi-systematic literature review was conducted: 578 records were identified, and 31 empirical papers were included. Four themes emerged from thematic analysis: (1) challenges in formal social support and care, (2) challenges in informal social support and care, (3) access to information and assistive technology, (4) positive practices, innovative methods and opportunities. In public policy, health-related needs overshadowed the needs to be met by the social support system, revealing the already existing dysfunctions of social protection systems.The COVID-19 pandemic had a more significant impact on the lives of persons with disabilities than on the general population in Europe.As a result of the closure or reduced operation of the residential and community-based social services, persons with disabilities and their families have been deprived of essential forms of support, access to assistive technology, and thus opportunities to participate in society.To fill the gaps created by the changes in the formal support system, families have had to step in to ensure that all disabled family members’ needs are met.Persons with disabilities and their families did not receive reliable and accessible information about the pandemic and the lockdown regulations.In addition to the negative impacts of the pandemic on persons with disabilities, their families, professionals, and the service system, there were also some positive, innovative developments worth maintaining in the post-pandemic period.The COVID-19 pandemic had a more significant impact on the lives of persons with disabilities than on the general population in Europe.As a result of the closure or reduced operation of the residential and community-based social services, persons with disabilities and their families have been deprived of essential forms of support, access to assistive technology, and thus opportunities to participate in society.To fill the gaps created by the changes in the formal support system, families have had to step in to ensure that all disabled family members’ needs are met.Persons with disabilities and their families did not receive reliable and accessible information about the pandemic and the lockdown regulations.In addition to the negative impacts of the pandemic on persons with disabilities, their families, professionals, and the service system, there were also some positive, innovative developments worth maintaining in the post-pandemic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract\nPoint of interestFamilies raising children on the autism spectrum often experience financial pressures, including lower incomes linked to reduced parental employment participation. Although the literature identifies many school challenges for children on the autism spectrum and their families, the evidence analysing the impact of school challenges on parental employment is sparse. This paper presents findings from in-depth interviews conducted with 19 families living in England, Scotland and Wales to explore their perspectives on the impact of school on parental paid employment. School support and staff understanding can be critical for children on the autism spectrum and their families. Lacking school support was found to contribute to eventual formal and informal school exclusions as well as child school refusal. These manifestations of unmet school needs meant that parents frequently experienced employment interruptions, exacerbating both financial pressures (the risk of losing work pay) and temporal pressures (for example, making up for lost working time).Families with children on the autism spectrum often experience financial pressures and tend to earn less.It is known that children on the autism spectrum encounter school challenges, but these challenges have not been explored within the context of parents’ engagement in paid employment.The study finds that formal and informal school exclusion (including permanent exclusion periods and occasions of the child being sent home early from school) impact parental employment.The study also finds that child school refusal (the reluctance from the child to attend school) is another way that school-related challenges impact parental employment.Child school refusal and child behaviours which may lead to formal and informal school exclusions are identified as consequences of lacking school support, understanding and flexibility.Families with children on the autism spectrum often experience financial pressures and tend to earn less.It is known that children on the autism spectrum encounter school challenges, but these challenges have not been explored within the context of parents’ engagement in paid employment.The study finds that formal and informal school exclusion (including permanent exclusion periods and occasions of the child being sent home early from school) impact parental employment.The study also finds that child school refusal (the reluctance from the child to attend school) is another way that school-related challenges impact parental employment.Child school refusal and child behaviours which may lead to formal and informal school exclusions are identified as consequences of lacking school support, understanding and flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract\nPoints of interestThe scarcity of literature in the field of chronically-ill college student development makes it difficult to determine what factors may contribute to greater levels of wellbeing for this unique group of students. Among other groups of marginalized college students, campus counterspaces have been explored and, in many cases, successfully implemented as part of university efforts to foster student wellbeing. Drawing from literature on campus counterspaces and a series of interviews with chronically-ill college students, this paper explores potential uses of campus counterspaces as a means for facilitating wellbeing among chronically-ill college students. We consider potential advantages and disadvantages when determining whether counterspaces may be useful in various higher education contexts and provide recommendations for implementation at individual institutions.This article considers potential advantages and disadvantages of using campus identity-based student advocacy groups in institutional efforts to support the development of chronically-ill college students’ wellbeing.No studies to date have considered how institutions might facilitate the development of wellbeing among chronically-ill students.We introduced the idea of identity-based student advocacy groups to chronically-ill college students and asked about their opinions of these groups, including whether they would be interested in joining and their justification for their answers.Students’ expressed insights, alongside our review of the literature on identity-based student advocacy groups, suggest that there are several potential advantages and disadvantages to consider when developing and implementing these types of groups for chronically-ill students in higher education.This article considers potential advantages and disadvantages of using campus identity-based student advocacy groups in institutional efforts to support the development of chronically-ill college students’ wellbeing.No studies to date have considered how institutions might facilitate the development of wellbeing among chronically-ill students.We introduced the idea of identity-based student advocacy groups to chronically-ill college students and asked about their opinions of these groups, including whether they would be interested in joining and their justification for their answers.Students’ expressed insights, alongside our review of the literature on identity-based student advocacy groups, suggest that there are several potential advantages and disadvantages to consider when developing and implementing these types of groups for chronically-ill students in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persons living with dementia continue to desire and need air travel. This study gives voice to the current lived experiences of persons with dementia and their caregiving travel companions using U.S. airports. Forty-eight persons living with dementia and 176 travel companions shared information about themselves and their airport experiences through a web-survey. Results identified common challenges and ways in which U.S. airports could be improved to better serve persons living with dementia and their travel companions. Anxiety, understanding signs and announcements, and getting lost or separated were primary travel concerns. Participants detailed themes of frustration with security and locating family restrooms or quiet spaces. Many are unaware of the services available to assist travelers. Among other recommendations, participants suggested staff training on hidden disabilities to improve air travel experiences. Results inform ongoing efforts to develop dementia-friendly airports and support continuing independence and quality of life. This study surveyed the air travel experiences of persons living with dementia and their travel companions to understand how going through the airport can be made more comfortable for them. Primary concerns voiced by the participants were anxiety and frustration at security, trouble finding their way around the airport, and not enough quiet spaces or family bathrooms. Participants shared that better staff training, hidden disability badges, and more wheelchair or electric cart services could help travelers like them and other persons living with disabilities. Airport updates that reduce noise and add more family bathrooms can make airport travel better for persons living with dementia and their travel companions. This paper shows how persons living with dementia and their travel companions' could be more comfortable in public spaces like airports if we use their experiences and opinions to make improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the health professions, altruism is a foundational value upon which professional privilege is built. This imperative towards self-sacrifice for the benefit of others is a key component of what it means to be professional. This paper explores how altruism operates as a coded mechanism of exclusion and oppression for disabled health professionals. Analysis is based on interviews with fifteen Canadian disabled healthcare professionals in medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, and social work about their experiences of inclusion and exclusion. Themes including the disproportionate sacrifice of time, resources, and income emerged, as did the need to manage political disclosure, often embodying the role of the 'super-crip' with patients/clients and colleagues so as to maintain others' faith in their professional competence and their professional privilege. Further discussion includes questions of how to 'crip' altruism as a professional value and the role of altruism as an ableist force within the health professions. Altruism, the idea of helping others even at cost to oneself, is an important value for health professionals. Disabled health professionals sacrifice more than non-disabled healthcare professionals to meet this obligation. Disabled healthcare professionals may work without accommodations, putting in extra time and effort to prove their altruism. Disabled healthcare professionals experience that disclosing disability may mean their colleagues will treat them as patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the interaction between unconventional and conventional political participation of electoral candidates with disability who competed in Indonesia's 2019 general elections. Interviews with electoral candidates highlight that their reasons for entering the electoral race, and strategies adopted over the course of their campaigns, were shaped by their prior involvement in the disability rights movement. This connection between activism and electoral engagement demonstrates how the disability rights movement shaped political candidates' selection and use of political participation tools. The significance of these findings has bearing for others seeking to understand the political behaviour of people with disability. In particular, it illustrates that community building based on unconventional political participation can positively influence the participation of people with disability in conventional politics despite ongoing challenges posed by accessibility, public perceptions of disability, and access to resources. The 2019 election was the first national legislative election to be held after Indonesia's new disability law was passed in 2016, and many more people with a disability competed than in it compared to previous elections. Most candidates who ran did not have any previous experience running for public office, but the majority did have experience with disability activism. Candidates were motivated to run for office to build on the previous successes of the disability movement, to make sure people with disability had a voice within parliament and to use the electoral campaign to raise awareness about disability rights within the community. Candidates with a disability struggled with physical accessibility, social stigma, and costs during campaigning. Ultimately, it was the skills, networks and resources that candidates previously acquired through their links with the disability movement that helped them to negotiate these limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]