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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]

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]

In 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Where one sibling has a disability, research has examined the role of disability in sibling relationships; however, the majority has reflected a normative understanding of sibling relationships and a deficit understanding of disability. Reacting to this history, this paper draws on the concepts of embodiment (absorption of bodily experience into self/identity) and enactment (performance of self/identity) to provide a new way of understanding the role of disability in sibling relationships. Using data from an Australian study of young adult siblings with and without disabilities, the paper discusses how disability is embodied and enacted in: how siblings engage in supportive and conflictual talk and everyday chat with each other; how they enact recreation and seek connection with each other; and how they strive to understand and experience their emotions about each other. The paper ends by discussing how embodiment and enactment allow a clearer understanding of disability in sibling relationships, which may be empowering for siblings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary universal challenge of COVID-19 pandemic put more restrictions to disabled people's social interaction. This paper reports qualitative findings from a short-term art therapy intervention for a person with West Syndrome to examine how art therapy can be used as a coping strategy with the psychological impact of confinement. The data were analysed using Cathy Malchiodi's theory of 'art in therapy' and Edith Kramer's theory of 'art as therapy'. Findings from this study show that the use of art therapy as a coping strategy during the confinement period has clear benefits as it promotes emotional well-being and helps to reduce the mobility limitations caused by disability. The article concludes that art therapy can be used as an alternative way to cope with disability. It aims to positively impact parents and caregivers through highlighting new spots of action. The article looks in detail at the real-life experiences of a disabled person during the period of home-confinement. Disabled people experience isolation from society and the home-confinement policies put more restrictions to their social interaction. Disabled people need to be involved in activities such as painting, drawing, colouring, singing and story-telling to better cope with confinement. This type of research is important because it can help caregivers improve the quality of personal assistance during the period of confinement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using an autoethnographic approach, this paper focuses upon interactions between ‘Paul’ (a pseudonym), whose symptoms associated with ‘severe learning difficulties’ are such that he is positioned on the low-functioning end of the autistic spectrum, his carers and others, in spaces taken for granted to be ‘public’ in both the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. This paper examines how social discourses relating to disability filter into social interactions, ultimately constructing the symptoms they purport to represent. This paper concludes by highlighting how interactions might be viewed as enabling rather than disabling, as producing spaces for thinking about the human condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores how disabled girls with Personal Assistants (PA:s) in a Swedish context constitute themselves as subjects in relation to intersecting meanings of age, gender, space, time and disability. The results illuminate the importance of social spaces and social relationships for the girls' forming their sense of selves. Similar to ablebodied girls, disabled girls' transition into adulthood can be viewed as a yoyo-transitions, entering and exiting different adult positions several times. Unlike ablebodied girls, they enter adult positions not commonly associated with youths, such as work leadership positions in relation to adult employees, such as the adult PA. This implies that they to some extent manage their own process of becoming an adult. Our findings stress the importance of recognition and awareness of disabled girls transition to adulthood as different not pathological to nondisabled girls', where consideration is taken both to individual needs and preferences of female assistance users. All girls need to develop their sense of themselves to become women Disabled girls with personal assistants find it difficult to live ordinary lives as girls without the support of external personal assistants With the help of personal assistants disabled girls can participate in the places and with the people they choose themselves The relationship with the personal assistant put demands on the disabled girl to become a woman faster than abledbodied girls, in the same time it can hinder the girl's development into a woman It is important for practioners and policymakers to recognize the dual role of personal assistants in disabled girls lives [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little research has been conducted, understanding the impact of educational-inclusion and workplace anti-discriminatory policies on lived-experiences of people with dyslexia. This paper consequently analyses qualitative-biographical accounts of 15 adults with dyslexia; applying the social relational model of disability to conceptualise these. Findings illustrate, the embodied-experiences of dyslexia defined within a disabling-educational system and discriminatory-workplace; culminating in psycho-emotional impact on participant's self-esteem leading them to pathologise experiences of failure through an individualistic deficit-explanation of self. The article concludes suggesting these lived-experiences must be acknowledged in education to develop inclusive practices adequately preparing individuals for adulthood, not just for the workplace. This article draws on the social relational model of disability (i.e. recognising both the social and the biological) and applies it to the experiences of people with dyslexia. Participants discussed the psychological and emotional impact of experiences of exclusion throughout their life histories. Participants discussed painful school experiences during childhood which had a lasting emotional impact. Even though legislation requires 'reasonable adjustments' must be made in workplaces, people with dyslexia still experience discrimination The research views dyslexia as an alternative reading and writing style which needs to be considered by schools and employers, looking to create an inclusive environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While disability scholars are increasingly exploring the experiences of disabled employees within the academe, there seemingly does not exist literature on this topic in South Africa. In this autoethnography, I make sense of my experiences as a visually impaired university lecturer. I dissect my continual performances of able-bodiedness – my efforts to conceal truths around my disability – despite a seemingly inclusive work environment. I discuss the psychological cost of these performances and, lastly, illustrate the importance of a creative, open and responsive attitude on the part of nondisabled colleagues and managers to help their disabled colleagues to become their true and authentic self. While literature on the experiences of Black academics is on the rise, very few studies investigate the experiences of disabled academics; Currently, there is no literature that tells the stories of disabled academics within South Africa; In this autoethnography, I narrate aspects of my experiences as an academic with a visual impairment; In this paper, I unravel my continual able-bodied performances within the academy and the cost thereof; Lastly, I discuss the importance of open and responsive relationships between managers and disabled academics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While studies in social media and disability are growing globally, there is paucity in such studies in Nigeria. This study addresses this apparent gap by exploring the experiences and perceptions of Nigerian adults living with physical disability regarding social media, using an interpretive approach. A total of nine adults with physical disability between the ages of 20 and 34, living in urban areas, were interviewed in this study. Findings show that participants experienced diminished social contact and smaller social networks due to their disability. However, participants who used social media experienced increased social contact, developed social relationships, and had larger social networks. Participants also acknowledged social media as a useful platform for disability advocacy and awareness. Results support a call for continued efforts to support adults with physical disability experiencing diminished social contact to use social media to increase their social wellbeing. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. The paper examines the perceptions and experience of social media use among adults with physical disability in Nigeria. Analyses show that adults with physical disability in Nigeria experience some form of diminished social contact and smaller social networks due to their disability. Nigerian adults with physical disability who use social media experience increased social contact, establish and maintain social relationships, and have a larger social networks. Adults with physical disability in Nigeria acknowledge social media as a useful platform for disability awareness and advocacy. This research recommends that Nigerian adults with physical disability experiencing diminished social contact should use social media to increase their social wellbeing. [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]

This paper breaks a long silence by bringing together two areas of literature that have generally been considered separately: that of sexuality and disability with findings from studies on sex work. Presenting empirical findings from two studies, one with sex workers who work from indoor sex markets and the other with men who buy sex, this paper exposes the existing relationships and practices between men with physical and sensory impairments who seek out commercial sexual services from female sex workers. In the discussion the politics surrounding sexual rights and commercial sex will be addressed. In the context of commercial sex, quality of life issues, complex power dynamics and the common ground between disabled people and sex workers rights are discussed. This paper considers the negative aspects of promoting commercial sex for people with impairments, as well as the positive aspects regarding the wider campaign for sexual citizenship. Finally, I set out recommendations and a new research and policy agenda that investigates the complexities of commercial and facilitated sex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employment for people with learning difficulties is considered key to their social inclusion. This contradicts the perceived un-employability of people with learning difficulties that has been part of their social identities throughout their history hitherto. The national rate of employment for people with learning difficulties remains extremely low and has barely changed in the 20 years between 1990 and 2010. This paper investigates links between learning disabilities and employment, drawing on interview-based research. It analyses the quality of experience of the minority in employment to consider whether employment can serve the inclusive purpose expected of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in higher education, linked to national and international policy, suggests the need for educationalists to show greater understanding and awareness of the lived experiences of undergraduate students with disabilities. These sources argue that this knowledge should then be used to inform their understandings as tutors and facilitate inclusive and effective teaching strategies. This research had a primary focus on first-year students with disabilities’ learning experiences; their transitions from school or college to university and their feedback on positive and negative learning experiences at both levels. Rich, complex stories were uncovered taking the research beyond the lecture theatre and seminar room, into the students’ union bar and back to the Year 10 classroom. It is the intention of this paper to relay some of the stories shared, in particular drawing out findings related to effective learning practices and to note the significance of placing a socio-cultural lens on the question of inclusion in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to develop a conceptual framework to understand how parents of a particular support and self-advocacy group in Malta, the National Parents' Society for Persons with Disability, experience difference and difficulty. The objective of this case study with the Parents' Society is to: (1) explore the historical and social context; (2) examine the concepts of inclusion and exclusion; (3) analyse the relationship between parents and professionals, from the former's point of view; (4) define whether the disabling barriers of parents are an issue of voice impediment. Ultimately, the purpose of this paper is to reflect on the experience of parents in this group. The tools used to validate this paper are literature review, my own experiences and involvement with the Parents' Society, documentation review and a mail questionnaire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of `Quality of Life' (QOL) has recently become a key device in the intellectual disability research community. Despite considerable attention to operational definition and issues of measurement, little work has considered the historical and sociopolitical context of the construct. The view that QOL represents an evolution of Wolfensberger's (1972) Principle of Normalisation appears widespread. This paper argues that this view is naive. An historical study of the rhetoric of government and academia in the United Kingdom suggests that QOL is intimately bound up with broader discourses of managerialism and corporatism in contemporary western societies. Rather than being the ideologically pure and scientifically untroubled notion implicitly claimed by the research community, QOL discourse is shown to be mutually constructed by government and the `psy-complex'. Whether such a construction can redeem its practical and rhetorical promises, and also serve the interests of people with intellectual disabilities, is questioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on an ethnographic study of the closure of a large institution for people with intellectual disabilities in Australia. The research involved 20 months of field work including participant observation in a locked unit at the institution, 120 interviews with those closing the institution, staff and families involved with people living there. The researcher was also involved as a participant observer in the closure of the institution. The paper argues that deinstitutionalisation is a problematic process because it necessarily involves a tension between two incompatible discourses: one concerned with the `rights' of people with intellectual disabilities and the other with their `management'. This tension leads inevitably to compromises in the practice of deinstitutionalisation. The paper concludes by exploring the implications of this argument for future institutional closures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with dementia have been assumed to possess weak or even no agency, so this paper provides a novel contribution to academic debate by examining their actual potential for agency. The author draws on findings from a qualitative study of everyday decision-making by people with dementia that aimed to identify the role of social factors (such as gender) in influencing their involvement in decisions. Whilst decision-making constitutes a form of deliberative agency, the research also identified when agency was alternatively habituated, embodied or emotional. The Economic and Social Research Council-funded research was undertaken in the North of England. Existing theoretical perspectives on agency are critiqued, particularly in relation to rationality, language and individualised agency. The study highlighted that people with dementia who lack deliberative capacity can nonetheless demonstrate creative capacity for agency. A more expansive concept of agency is needed in social science theory that is informed by the experiences of cognitively disabled people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women with an intellectual disability are under-represented in domestic violence research, yet they are one of the most vulnerable groups who are at risk of violence and abuse. This article aims to contribute to the domestic violence field by reporting on a narrative dialogic performative study, which utilised a feminist poststructural perspective to explore significant relationships and the concept of belonging in the lives of women with a mild intellectual disability. Four in-depth narrative interviews were conducted. The study found that the women shared similar stories of devaluation and rejection in childhood and hence the women’s search for belonging contributed to their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse in domestic violence relationships. The paper argues that gendered discourses and constructions of intellectual disability regulate domestic violence as a personal problem or way of life for women with intellectual disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ludwig Guttmann, who pioneered the use of sport in the physical, psychological and social rehabilitation of paraplegic patients, argued that sport facilitates social reintegration, even asserting that: ‘an employer will not hesitate… to employ a paralysed man… when he realizes that [he] is an accomplished sportsman’ (Guttmann, 1976: 13). Disability activist Harlan Hahn, on the other hand, argued that participation by people with disabilities in sport is: an emulation of non-disabled standards; over-emphasises physicality in the assessment of humans; and diverts attention from the struggle for equality. Focusing on the Paralympics, this paper shows that disability sport is neither a panacea for social exclusion, as Guttmann would have it, nor a monolithic disabling institution, as Hahn would suggest—but rather an incredibly complex phenomena politically, socially and historically. It is argued that, whether essentially disablist or not, the Paralympics may make an excellent political platform for the disability rights movement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes the dynamics of support observed in the networks of nine adults with intellectual disability, developed by families who had committed to achieving a ‘good life’ for this person. Network members, including the person with a disability, participated in this longitudinal ethnographic study. Three principles that underpinned their work were positive and respectful relationships, mentorship and providing opportunities and expectations. Participants worked actively with other network members to develop higher levels of autonomy and social participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a critique of sociometrics as a ubiquitous method of measuring social relationships among children in social groups such as school classes. This is important in relation to disability politics and research as the apparently scientific measures are frequently used in the process of labelling children or predisposing the children involved, or others involved with them, to view disabled and other children in particular ways. We open a debate about judgements concerning whether the use of sociometric techniques needs to be better informed by questions about the underpinning normalising frameworks on which they depend, about the connotations of blame associated with particular sociometric statuses, and about the way that research constructs difficulties and reflects an adult agenda, marginalising the voices of (disabled) children. We argue for the value of the transactional turn in understanding the implications of this approach and for highlighting alternative perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the embodied experience of three women living with an episodic or fluctuating disability within the context of relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis. I argue that this shifting embodiment is subjectively, performatively, and interpretively experienced in discrediting ways across social, organizational, and local contexts in women's lives. Drawing on findings from my doctoral thesis, three interpretive themes inform the analysis: not looking disabled, more than meets the eye, and institutional bafflement. Respectively, these themes pertain to a woman's physical appearance, cultural assumptions about disabled embodiment, and the contestation of social, organizational, and local institutional practices shaping women's lives. These themes hold implications for an ‘embodied politics' in rethinking the manner in which episodic disability is experientially, conceptually, and socio-politically recognized as a legitimate tier of the experience of disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the experiential accounts of 24 young people with physical disability or chronic illness as they make the transition to junior high school, with a particular focus on their social experiences with peers and friends. Children’s reports were examined in a reflexive, disability studies framework, in which commonalities and difference in experience were examined. These reports highlight a common experience of disability-related harassment and differential experiences of friendship, peer rejection and school culture. While children encounter and actively counter disablement in a variety of ways, it is clear that these children are also cognisant of the stigma, prejudices and disabling expectations that are at the core of these experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with learning difficulties, like all disabled people, face social oppression. Much recent policy and practice are underpinned by at least some understanding of this oppression, and the social model of disability has been influential in discussions of services and supports for people with learning difficulties. However, in the area of mental health, the picture is somewhat different. This paper argues that the medical model has predominated in discussions of mental health support for people with learning difficulties, and that a social model approach could have much to offer. The paper draws on an ongoing action research study in which service providers, families and young people with learning difficulties are working together to articulate what is needed, in order to find routes to improve the support offered to young people with learning difficulties and mental health support needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The provision of care within families, and specifically the difficulties within such relationships, has become the focus of much research, legislation and debate in recent years. This paper explores carers' and carees'[1] talk about 'stress', home-based care, and comments on how such talk is reflected in UK social policy. Carers' and carees' accounts are presented to theorise the construction of difficulties in the present relationship—focusing in particular on the taking up of or resistance to roles and responsibilities within the family. The way in which competing discourses and discursive strategies are deployed to achieve certain effects within the family, social services and other support agencies is also explored. Family care is re-presented with a focus on language, and a reflection on how such relationships can become tinged with bitterness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to address obvious inequities, rights have been utilised to provide the 'basic' material needs for many groups. Whilst this brings some groups/individuals up to a perceived minimum standard, it unfortunately fails to address the misunderstandings from which the inequities originally stemmed. Via a sociological and philosophical exploration of rights-based strategies relating to intellectual disability, the purpose of this paper is to provide a fuller exploration of the issues surrounding this problem, and to suggest some fruitful alternatives. These alternatives will be concerned specifically with a broadening of rights to facilitate understanding, rather than simple 'protection' from harm and/or the provision of material needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests that the oppression experienced by disabled people in society is sometimes replayed in the counselling room by counsellors who are unaware of their own disablist attitudes and prejudices. Whilst the provision of Disability Equality Training (DET) within counselling courses would ameliorate the problem, I believe that disabled people would be most empowered by a counselling approach which recognises the potential for oppression within the counsellor-client relationship. One solution may be the creation of a new counselling approach, disability counselling, which includes the social model of disability as one of the foundations. An alternative solution may be found within the emerging counselling approaches that treat counselling as a social and political process and place emphasis on developing comprehensive anti-discriminatory practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Quality of life’ experiences for people with disabilities who are highly dependent on services that are delivered in home-based environments are strongly influenced by the nature of their interactions with service workers. Service workers may not be aware of the felt attachments of people living in services because their own lives are relationally enriched. Role descriptions of service workers, which focus on task-orientated service, rather than relational serving, distances them from the people they serve. It is more difficult for people living in services to expand their social world and relationships with service workers may be the only validating relationships in their lives. Human service delivery involves relationships between people, which necessarily address ethical questions. This paper discusses findings of a study involving 14 agencies in Western Australia, which provide living environment services for young people with disabilities and older adults, to gain insight into service users’ daily experiences and their perceptions of quality in receiving services. Immersion in different models of services over a 2-year period, and inductive analysis of interview data, has found that relationships between service users and workers lie on a continuum, with mutually supportive relationships between service users and workers at one end, and physical and psychological abuse at the other. Experiences were variable in single service contexts, highlighting the problems of using currently employed extant measures to evaluate quality in living services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper reports on part of a wider study concerned with the collaborative efforts of an inquirer and six people with an intellectual disability, to develop a grounded theory explaining the processes by which these informants manage the relationships within their personal communities. The study was conducted through a series of in-depth interviews with each informant; a process characterised by information sharing, tentative theory development and elaboration, and informants' checking the accuracy of the emerging theory. This inductive approach allowed not only an insight into the lives of each informant, but recognised the informants' expertise in matters concerning their own lives and thus facilitated the emergence of theoretical elements of relevance to the informants themselves. The focus of the paper is on the collaborative or partnership approach adopted. The outcomes of the research partnership are detailed and implications drawn for the role of research in the lifestyles of people with an intellectual disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sociology of disablement needs to redefine the meaning of independence. In Western industrial societies, independence is associated with being able to do things for oneself, to be self-supporting and self-reliant. The paper attempts to show that some of our understanding of independence is influenced by views of the subject and personal autonomy stemming from the Enlightenment philosophy. The main target of the paper is to show that the modernist view of the subject is inadequate. What is missing is the notion of interdependence. The paper suggests an understanding of the subject that recognises the human condition as one of interdependence. It is argued that a reformulation of the subject as both embedded and embodied, bears better to a sociology of disablement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilising insights from narrative theory this paper explores the role of narrative in the everyday leisure experiences of people with a mild intellectual disability. Drawing on our experiences with an Australian leisure service Live it UP! we develop the connection between leisure and storytelling in order to open up an innovative approach to working with individuals. The stories of people's capabilities that we draw on run counter to a dominant cultural story of lack associated with disability. Through a post-structuralist analysis we argue that narratives of leisure are a powerful social medium with the potential to produce change in an individual's life and immediate social relationships. Such an understanding is crucial for the development of alternative leisure support services which identify the person's needs, challenging the social positioning of people with an intellectual disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the new phenomenon of the survival into old age of the increasing numbers of people with learning difficulties. This raises both theoretical and practical policy issues. In the UK health and social services for older people and for people with learning difficulties have followed quite different paths. One has been based on a limited, age discriminatory view of `normal' ageing; the other has focused on a potentially liberating concept of normalisation. This distinction is being challenged by the advent of older people with learning difficulties, which is raising questions such as, what is the meaning of normalisation in older age? We focus on this key question, illustrating the different principles behind service provision for these two groups and argue that the concept of normalisation is flawed when applied to older people. The alternative of social integration is proposed as the basis for organising health and social services for both older people and those with learning difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contains the results of an eight month qualitative study of a group of young adults called a 'circle of friends', in Ontario, Canada. The 'circle of friends' concept has become increasingly popular in the field of disability in the last few years. In it, unrelated age peers are expected to befriend and support a person with a label. Utilizing participant observation and in-depth qualitative interviewing, the researcher gathered data which revealed a group ethos. The group attempted to make their activities seem as 'natural' and 'normal' as possible. It was also found that the 'circle' meant little or nothing to the supporters involved, but their friendships with the labelled person were quite important to them. The results of the study increase our understanding of how one such group operates, and the meaning participation has to those involved. As well, we can begin to build a theory about the relationship between friendship and support in such groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social inclusion policies often assume that community integration is beneficial for all people with disabilities. Little is known about what actually happens in encounters between people with and without severe intellectual disabilities in the public space. Based on social-constructionist and responsive-phenomenological insights, we performed participant observation, semi-structured interviews and researcher reflexivity to study encounters between Harry (pseudonym), a man with a severe intellectual disability, his neighbours, fellow service-users, support professionals, and the first author. A thinking-with-theory strategy was adopted to interpret and deepen observations and reflections. We argue for more 'experimental-relational spaces of encounter' between people with and without severe intellectual disabilities, wherein the latter put down their verbal and cognitive weaponry. This proved to be more appropriate for spending 'quality time' with Harry then typical satisfactory neighbourhood interactions – often embedded in verbality, habits, routines and rationalizations that do not reflect the existence of people with severe intellectual disabilities. An increasing number of people with severe intellectual disabilities live in homes in a neighbourhood setting. However, in everyday neighbourhood life people with and without severe intellectual disabilities hardly ever encounter each other in a way both of them like. The research shows that this lack of pleasant encounters can be related to powerful rules about how we should interact in the public space in the 21st century. In the neighbourhoods we studied, people without intellectual disabilities are in control of these rules. They prefer verbal and cognitive interactions in the public space. Non-verbal and less cognitive approaches are often seen as inappropriate. The research recommends that people without intellectual disabilities should open up for more fitting ways to communicate with people who cannot speak (for themselves). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents with intellectual disabilities face a disproportionately high risk of having their children removed from their care. Independent advocates can play an important role in supporting parents with intellectual disabilities through child protection proceedings. This study explored the lived experiences of both parents with intellectual disabilities and the advocates who supported them in the context of child protection proceedings. Four superordinate themes emerged from the data (power and control; justice and fairness; compassion and empathy; and resilience), underpinned by fourteen themes and three subthemes. The findings revealed positive and effective relationships between advocates and parents with intellectual disabilities and offered insights into this relationship. They also provided new information about the lived experiences of advocates themselves and the challenges they face. Many parents with intellectual disabilities have their children taken away. Independent advocates help parents to understand why this happens and to have their voices heard. The independent advocate's job is complex, requiring many different skills. They receive no funding from the state. Both parents with intellectual disabilities and advocates suffer feelings of powerlessness, due to isolation, lack of support and the challenges of going through child protection proceedings. Advocates can help to improve the experiences of parents with intellectual disabilities who go through the child protection process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses 'special observation', a practice used in inpatient units and in mental health and learning disability services. I present some perspectives on this practice from women detained on locked wards, and staff members. Despite the many valid criticisms, I show that constant observations can be used as a way to harness engagement and to improve relationships between staff and residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines findings from a qualitative study exploring the experiences of young adults with disabilities regarding their perceptions of interpersonal discrimination on public transport in two Australian states. Interpersonal discrimination by members of the public included contests for accessible seating, receiving unwanted physical assistance, bullying and intimidation. Participants reported that transport staff engaged in verbal abuse and hostile interactions including questioning the young person's disability. These experiences appeared to be influenced by narrow perceptions of disability, visibility or otherwise of the young person's impairment, limited understanding of the needs of young people with disabilities, and the age and gender of the person behaving in a discriminatory way. The discriminatory experiences were reported to have had a negative impact on the social and economic participation of these young adults in their communities. The participants of the study disclosed diverse experiences of interpersonal discrimination by the travelling public and transport officials. Interpersonal discrimination impacted on some of the young adults' capacity to move about freely, as they sought to avoid exposure to prejudicial attitudes and verbal abuse. Heightened concerns about getting to and from activities safely affected the young adults' willingness to use public transport for their daily activities. Eliminating day-to-day interpersonal discrimination that young adults with disabilities experience on public transport requires legislative, policy and societal change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea that disabled young people should be at the centre of decision making about their future is promoted in policy, practice and research, yet this often translates into a narrow agenda on transitions through service and benefits systems. In this project, we aimed for an expansive exploration of disabled young people's hopes and dreams in the context of unprecedented societal changes. Co-production methods brought academics, members of a Centre for Independent Living, and nine peer researchers together to host knowledge cafes with fifty seven disabled young people. Peer researchers visited a robotic laboratory and developed key messages around the freedom to define their future that engaged stakeholders in the impact events they took part in. The themes: being responsible, giving love, freedom and happiness and a strong sense of self and togetherness, convey a more filled-out vision of disabled young people's futures and a new politics of the possible. A co-production research approach was chosen to explore and promote disabled young people's own views of their future in a rapidly changing society. Key themes arising from the research on 'being responsible', 'giving love', 'freedom and happiness' and a 'strong sense of self and togetherness', suggest rich visions of the future possibilities. New technologies, such as the automation in home and travel environments, were not highlighted by peer researchers, but were seen as possibilities supporting their key messages about quality of life. Peer researchers' presentation of their key messages to public sector workers and politicians focussed on independence and social connections, rather than welfare services and benefits. The project themes discussed here resonate with those of disabled young people involved in citizenship research internationally. Reflections question ideas about 'the future' for a wider rich vision of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mate crime is a specific subset of hate crime in which the perpetrator is known to the victim. The aim of the current study was to examine perceptions of friendship and the concept of mate crime in autistic adults. Five adults were interviewed about their experiences of social interactions, friendships and mate crime. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis revealed three superordinate themes: (1). Perceptions and 'learning the formula' (2). Socialising... 'It's more complicated than that', and (3). 'Taking Advantage of You'. Themes highlight the importance of further research into positive and negative aspects of social relationships in autistic adults, and the need to challenge attitudes around disability and provide support to those who may be socially vulnerable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender has often been overlooked in the lives of people with intellectual disability, resulting in a limited understanding and service response. This is in part due to a lack of knowledge about the way people with intellectual disability negotiate and build a gendered identity. In this article we present research undertaken with six young women with an intellectual disability who worked with the first researcher to co-develop some stories from their lives. We show how, facilitated by an innovative method which focused on meaningful engagement, the women told stories of richly gendered lives and subjectivities. Their stories showed how gender can be a desired and productive subjectivity, and how consideration of gender can help to identify resistance and agency in their lives. Their stories illustrate how gender is necessary in forming a comprehensive understanding of the lives of women with intellectual disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School is a site of critical importance in the development of self, yet little is known about the ways in which school affects how autistic pupils come to describe and evaluate themselves. Educators are centrally positioned to support autistic pupils with development of an empowered sense of self. This article reports on a study which captured how staff in four English schools understood development of sense of self for autistic pupils. We found that educators perceived autistic pupils as being affected by both a particular biology and their social encounters with others. Our participants identified the school environment as a significant influencer on sense of self development but seemed uncertain how to make this more enabling. We suggest that one response could be to develop a framework of activism engagement in schools that might enable autistic pupils to work collectively with other autistic people towards a positive sense of self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article relates the eight Guiding Principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) to both liberal and relational perspectives on autonomy and different layers of citizenship. While the UNCRPD covers a broad scope of citizenship, accounting for liberal and relational values of autonomy, it appears that the recent long-term care reforms in the Netherlands primarily address outcomes based on liberal values. As a consequence, persons with long-term cross-domain care needs face barriers that threaten their citizenship in terms of access to adequate care and support services. We argue that long-term care and support services need to explicitly address the relational aspects of autonomy to warrant the citizenship of persons with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the limits of national discussions on gender equality in Rwanda from the perspectives of disabled young women. Based on 16 in-depth interviews and three focus group interviews with disabled Rwandan young women, this article points out that the barriers to gender equality are interpersonal and institutional. The empirical analysis reveals that gender biases at Rwanda's largest inclusive secondary school are reinforced by wider cultural and religious norms, which endorse the subordination of disabled girls and young women in school. The study suggests that the equality rhetoric/reality gap will remain in Rwandan schools and society if the wider cultural and religious institutions are not examined and transformed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this analytical autoethnography, I share some of my complex relational experiences between my partner with a severe physical disability, his carers and myself. The article explores the benefits of care and carers, the physical and emotional costs of carers and some of the general considerations taken in this triad relationship. I share some of my relational experiences with an audience who might not normally encounter or have thought about the dynamic relationships between this triad. It is hoped that this will stimulate an interest to open dialogue, offer support and provide an insight into the lives of some relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This ethnographic project explored the lives of women with learning disabilities on three locked wards. Aspects of these women’s lives were regulated by the service; in particular, relationships with family outside the unit, and peer relationships inside the unit. The women in this study valued these relationships, but they were treated with ambivalence by the service. Success in future community integration and accessing community resources can be dependent on the nature and quality of relationships with others, and therefore services should acknowledge that service-users need to forge relationships of their own choosing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There are numerous ways in which human beings respond to humour: they smile, grin, laugh, giggle or guffaw, and their behaviour might include anything from a glint in the eye to an uncontrollable heaving of the whole body. We consider how laughter is displayed in the lives of four children with profound and multiple learning difficulties and disabilities (PMLD), and reflect on what this reveals about their capabilities and relationships. We look at examples of absurdity and incongruity as elements of humour, and we explore how these create a space for ‘relational commonality’ between people whose differences are many and profound. We suggest that laughter, and involvement in humorous interaction, enables children with PMLD to express themselves, to develop relations with others and to be seen as fully our fellow human beings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although previous literature sheds light on the experiences of visually impaired students on tertiary grounds, these studies failed to provide an embodied understanding of their lives. In-depth interviews with 15 visually impaired students at one university demonstrated the ways in which they experienced their disability and the built environment in their bodies. At the same time, lost, fearful, shameful and aching bodies revealed prevailing gaps in provision for disabled students. Through this research it becomes clear how the environment is acutely felt within fleshly worlds, while bodies do not fail to tell of disabling societal structures. Based on the bodily stories, we thus make recommendations to improve the lives of visually impaired students on tertiary campuses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Issues of visibility, invisibility and the non-disabled gaze are very relevant to the lives of many disabled persons. With this article we tentatively show that, despite the physical ‘over’-visibility of disabled bodies, many intricate parts of their personhood remain obscured and invisible. Interviews with 23 students with a visual impairment revealed that they sometimes experienced stares and averted gazes from their sighted counterparts. In response, they often hid their entire impairment, or parts thereof, in an effort to conform and gain acceptance and to earn membership to a non-disabled peer group. Acceptance was often found in companionship with fellow disabled peers. Since these stories told of continuing exclusion for disabled students on tertiary grounds, further participatory research is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Children’s play is a principal site for the construction of disability, and this is particularly the case for autistic children. Investigation of children’s own perspectives in play provides information about the interests, concerns and meanings that are being produced in play and provides insight into what is valuable in children’s play and children’s skills as players. Autobiographies produced by autistic writers often include descriptions of enjoyable leisure activities and playful encounters with others the writer experienced as a child. Using thematic analysis, this study identifies patterns of experience in autistic autobiographies in relation to childhood play and friendship. Strongly sensory experiences of play, forms of pretending that involve orderly and predictable representations of real life, vividly remembered details of external sources and particular ways of interacting with playmates were found to be shared features of autistic play cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]