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Diagnosed as having celiac disease during my final year of undergraduate studies at McGill University, in the spring of 2005, my identity and lifestyle have undergone a transformative process. In this article I examine my experience of having celiac disease post-diagnosis, using the social model of disability framework. I examine the barriers that persons having celiac disease experience, both generally and personally. At the general level I explore the parallels between the experience of having celiac disease and the experience of being disabled: culturally, environmentally and financially. At the personal level I recount the emotional experience of being disabled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disability research is conducted within a highly politicised 'hotbed' of competing paradigms and principles. New researchers, who want to work within the social model, are soon faced with complex and challenging methodological and philosophical dilemmas. The social model advocates research agendas that are focused on the emancipation and empowerment of disabled people but, in reality, these are rarely achieved. To be successful researchers need to engage with innovative and creative methodologies and to share their experiences of these within environments that welcome challenge and debate. This paper focuses on Lifeworld and assesses its value as a tool for emancipatory research. Using examples from a study with parents, whose children were in the process of being labelled as having autism, the paper illustrates how the principles that 'underpin' the methodology offered a supportive framework for a novice researcher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic of this article is the analysis of statistical data of the disability situation in Uzbekistan. The number of new registered people has been decreasing since 2000. On one hand the Government accepts various state programmes on population health care improving and the integration of disabled people into the society. On the other hand, authorities begin restrictive policy concerning disabled people. In the conditions of low living standards state pension has a vital importance for disabled people. Therefore, a number of those who can have it are falling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise of violence during the 1990s, the number of persons who acquired a spinal cord injury as a result of gunshot trauma increased dramatically in the United States. This qualitative study examined disability, race, and contribution of peer-mentors to the development of identity. Six men with a violence-related spinal cord injury participated in a focus group. They were injured for at least two years, making positive gains in their lives, and training to become peer-mentors at a rehabilitation hospital. In addition, 16 men with a newly-acquired spinal cord injury from gunshot trauma participated in an individual interview. These sixteen participants were all mentees (or recipients) of the peer-mentor program. Principles of grounded theory were used to code and analyze data. Data converged on three main themes: (1) disability viewed as a wake-up call or blessing, (2) disability viewed as a turning point, and (3) disability viewed as identity transforming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to explore emancipatory disability research possibilities through the use of participatory action research and the cross-fertilisation of ideas between British disability studies (DS) and community psychology (CP). First, we consider the psychology in CP and suggest that it is far removed from mainstream psychology's pathological vision of disabled people. Second, we draw on Burrell and Morgan's (1979) model of paradigms to interrogate research practice in DS and CP. Third, we compare and contrast research narratives from DS and CP through reference to some examples of our own research. We argue that CP pays particular attention to the development of community selves and cultural identities within the participatory action research process: which we feel to be a key concern for the development of an emancipatory DS. We conclude that recognising the radical humanist element of participatory action research (PAR) permits us to navigate an enabling journey for disability research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides a list of completed theses in the field of disability studies. It also provides the names of colleagues who are new entrants to the discipline. It presents the theses on the disability rights movement in Taiwan by Heng-hao Chang, analysis of the discourse and discursive devices used to represent learning disability in the stories told in the classroom to students by learning disability nurse teachers by Su Shaw, and disability and identity in South Africa from a human rights perspective by Martha M. Laclave.