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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 presents a personal account of what socially just and inclusive education means to me, an academic in a UK university. I identify the critical elements as being the recognition of the right to claim and the duty to protect the humanity and value of all members of society. Inclusion and social justice are about belonging in the world unfettered by the disablements of poverty, illness and prejudice. They are dependent upon interdependence, community and collaborative enterprise. Here I call upon all students in education to take a stand, to work together to end the marginalisation and exclusion of the poor and the abandoned and to disavow control through privilege. Only together by and for each other can we be free. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we explore the participation of disabled children, young people and their families in leisure activities. Drawing on the accounts of disabled children, young people, and their parents and careers, we reflect on the leisure spaces that they access and record some of their experiences within them. Using the concept of ‘ableism’ [Campbell, F. K. 2009.Contours of Ableism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan] we interrogate the data gathered as part of a two-year project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council Does Every Child Matter, post-Blair? The interconnections of disabled childhoods' (RES-062-23-1138). By doing so we identify some of the inherent and embedded discriminations in favour of those children and young people who are perceived to be ‘able’ that simultaneously work to exclude the young ‘kinds of people’ [Hacking, I. 2007. “Kinds of People: Moving Targets.”Proceedings of the British Academy151: 285–318] categorised as ‘disabled’ and their families from leisure facilities and opportunities. We suggest that currently, disabled families and children occupy a mix of ‘mainstream’, ‘segregated’ and ‘separate’ leisure spaces. We discuss the impact of occupying these spaces and ask what the experiences of accessing leisure by disabled children, young people and their families reveal about the processes and practices of ableism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The experiences of disabled people suggest that ableism insidiously and invasively impacts upon the practice of counselling and related therapies. This article critiques a particular account of psychotherapy with a child with the label of autism to illustrate how ableism can disrupt the process of empathy and negate the therapeutic experience. In so doing the article highlights the inherent difficulties in traversing different epistemic positions to make sufficiently informed readings of counternormative expressions of being. General principles of counselling practice are then proposed to support practitioners with providing effective therapy for all clients. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper focuses on accessing the experiences of three boys who are on the autism spectrum to identify what using a voice output communication aid (VOCA), within a classroom setting, means to them. The methods used to identify the boys' perspectives are described and evaluated. Establishing these through direct methods of engagement proved problematic but working with parents and school staff as ‘expert guides’ provided a rich insight into what using a VOCA appeared to mean to the boys. The findings suggest that using a computer-based VOCA can be viewed by children with autism as a pleasurable and motivating activity. This technology also seems to offer the potential for a much broader developmental impact for these children than that currently recognised within the research literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many professionals and carers who support people with the label of autism look to lecturers and ‘trainers’ in autism to provide the answers on how to ‘manage’ the ‘condition’. This article describes how two lecturers in autism respond to this challenge by encouraging their students to focus on questions rather than answers. It is argued here that it is through the process of reflective thinking that people will find the most appropriate solutions to the issues that concern them. The article identifies some of the key questions that can support the reflective process and illustrates the applicability of these, beyond the limitations of labels, to every relationship between educator and learner. [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]

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]