Search

Putting disability studies to work in art education suggests a form of action or industry, a creative opportunity for something to be done, recognising the relationship between theory and practice. Drawing on discourse analysis, this article offers an initial theoretical discussion of some of the ways in which disability is revealed and created through discourses about art education in articles published over the last 30 years in iJADE. This article proposes that the lens of critical social pedagogies applied to work relating to gender, race and class should be extended to disability in order to promote critical engagement through art education rather than critical avoidance. Drawing on Elliot Eisner's six lessons in what can be learnt from the arts, the article concludes by recognising the importance of art education as a means of epistemic validation, where different ways of being in the world are valued. Art education and arts practice offer a means of valuing and expressing the 'dynamic difference of what it means to be human'. The article argues that the combination of disability studies and art education can, therefore, be a force to be reckoned with. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medical and scientific research frequently has perpetuated the cycle of oppression by reinforcing the notion of disability as individual deviance rather than a sociopolitical issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Campus assessment instruments can explore the campus climate for students, faculty, and staff with disabilities, contributing useful insights for services and program development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the use of Internet resources in disability studies. Teachers can improve a student's understanding of disability studies by incorporating Internet resources into their curriculum. Some students can be intimidated by areas of a library where disability studies resources are kept and many libraries are not open at night whereas the Internet can be used at any time and is both a familiar and friendly atmosphere for students. The American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress hosts the Veterans History Project which is a collection of veterans' histories.

The article discusses a study that determines the role of confidence and emotion to the people with disabilities who played wheelchair basketball. The researcher examined seventy-nine adult male and female Caucasian wheelchair basketball players and uses performance self-efficacy (PSE), training self-efficacy (TSE), thought control self-efficacy (TCSE), resilient self-efficacy (RSE), positive and negative affect (PANA) as research instruments. The study revealed that players were efficacious about their sports, in managing their thoughts in times of difficulty and have positive feelings towards the game.

The study was planned to investigate the effect of a sensory integration therapy program on sensory problems of children with autism. This study was conducted at the Trakya University Training and Research Center for Mentally and Physically Handicapped Children in Turkey. The children were separated into two groups, each comprising 15 children between 7 and 11 years of age with autism, according to DSM-IV criteria. The children in each group were assessed initially on a checklist, Sensory Evaluation Form for Children with Autism, developed to evaluate sensory characteristics of children with autism, and at the end of the study, participants were assessed again on the checklist. Statistically significant differences between groups indicated that the sensory integration therapy program positively affected treated children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

"What makes your life meaningful?" is a question previous research- ers explored with people of various ages, but not of individuals who have significant physical impairments. In this study, 26 individuals with physical disabilities were asked to describe what makes their lives meaningful. Analysis showed human relationships were the most frequently reported source of meaning in life, the sources being family members, friends, and people in the community. The second most frequently cited meaning was service, specifically, helping and educating others, such as other people with physical disabilities. [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.