Overcoming Disabling Barriers


Book Description

This book provides a valuable route map to the development of thinking in disability studies over the last eighteen years. It includes over twenty essential articles from the journal Disability and Society, written by many of the leading authors in the field from the UK, the USA, Australia and Europe. Compiled by the current editors of the journal, it is divided into three sections which mirror the three central themes: disability studies – clearly illustrates the debates and challenges that have emerged within the field over the last two decades policy – offers a snapshot of social policy that has impinged on the lives of disabled people in many parts of the world research issues – reveals the inequalities between disabled and non-disabled people and the advocacy of new methods and research practices. The editors’ specially written introduction to each section contextualises the selection and introduces students to the main issues and current thinking in the field. Altogether this book is a rich source of ideas and insights covering conceptual, theoretical, empirical and cross-cultural issues and questions.




Overcoming Disabling Barriers


Book Description

This book provides a valuable route map to the development of thinking in disability studies over the last eighteen years. It includes over twenty essential articles from the journal Disability and Society, written by many of the leading authors in the field from the UK, the USA, Australia and Europe. Compiled by the current editors of the journal, it is divided into three sections which mirror the three central themes: disability studies – clearly illustrates the debates and challenges that have emerged within the field over the last two decades policy – offers a snapshot of social policy that has impinged on the lives of disabled people in many parts of the world research issues – reveals the inequalities between disabled and non-disabled people and the advocacy of new methods and research practices. The editors’ specially written introduction to each section contextualises the selection and introduces students to the main issues and current thinking in the field. Altogether this book is a rich source of ideas and insights covering conceptual, theoretical, empirical and cross-cultural issues and questions.




World Report on Disability


Book Description

The World Report on Disability suggests more than a billion people totally experience disability. They generally have poorer health, lower education and fewer economic opportunities and higher rates of poverty than people without disabilities. This report provides the best available evidence about what works to overcome barriers to better care and services.




Young Disabled People


Book Description

Recent policies and government initiatives in many Western countries have strengthened the expectation that young disabled people have the right to be involved in decisions affecting their futures. Many of the choices that are currently taken out of young disabled people’s hands, including those relating to education and future employment, are now being viewed as an opportunity to encourage participation in the decision making process. Sonali Shah uses a comparative study of young disabled students within mainstream and special education to determine the influence these recent policies will have on the realization of their long term goals. Young Disabled People: Aspirations, Choices and Constraints will be essential reading for academics in the fields of education, disability studies and employment policy. It will also be valuable to policy makers and teaching and careers professionals.




Disabling Barriers, Enabling Environments


Book Description

`The strengths of this text are many. It has breadth and diversity in its content yet is presented in bite-size chapters. For those wishing to know more, it offers signposts to the relevant literature. The contributors have been carefully selected for their specific perspective yet these have been skilfully inter-related by the editors. It is now some 11 years since the first edition of this text was published. In my view, this second edition was worth the wait' - SCOLAG Journal `This has been a ground-breaking book...and I whole-heartedly welcome a new edition'- Professor Len Barton, School of Education, The University of Sheffield `It is a really well-structured book which has been very popular and widely used by students...Its great qualities are accessibility and diversity of contributors' - Jenny Corbett, Institute of Education, University of London `This book would be a valuable resource to students of disability studies and to health and social care staff and other professionals who work with disabled people'- Disability and Rehabilitation The Second Edition of this landmark text has been revised to provide an up-to-date accessible introductory text to the field of disability studies. In addition to analysing the barriers that disabled people encounter in education, housing, leisure and employment, the revised edition has new chapters on: · international issues · diversity among disabled people · sexuality · bioethics. Written by disabled people who are leading academics in the field, the text comprises 45 short and engaging chapters, to provide a broad-ranging and accessible introduction to disability issues. Disabling Barriers, Enabling Environments is an invaluable resource for both students and practitioners alike. It is an ideal text for undergraduates and postgraduates taking courses in disability studies, as well as disability courses in social work, education, health studies, sociology and social policy.




Disability and Music Performance


Book Description

Disability and Music Performance examines discriminatory social practices in music conservatoria, orchestras, music festivals and music competitions, which limit disabled people’s access to music performance at a professional level. Of particular interest are the disabling barriers that musicians with an intellectual, physical, sensory or neurological disability—or an acquired brain injury—encounter in the world of Western classical music, both as students and as professional performers. This book collects data in the form of semi-structured interviews and video and audio recordings to explore the voice, concerns and suggestions expressed by musicians with disabilities. It examines their perceptions of both inclusive and discriminatory practices in music institutions as well as the representation of, and audio-visual recordings by, key musical figures with disabilities. Its findings aim to contribute to the wellbeing of musicians with impairments by challenging disabling social practices that see them as inferior. This publication offers performers, teachers and researchers new perspectives for exploring some of the most common social dynamics in encounters between normative audiences, musicians and music critics, and musicians with disabilities. It invites the reader to recognise disability as a rightful identity category in music performance and to dismantle the disabling barriers that limit the participation of disabled people in music-making.




Moving Beyond Boundaries in Disability Studies


Book Description

What challenges are posed by changing transnational trends, agendas and movements that affect disabled people’s lives, and what can disabled people, their representative organisations and their governments do to advance the agenda for self-determination and inclusion? This book draws together the writing of academics and activists to depict the experience and perspective of disabled people in relation to a range of contemporary social changes, with a focus firmly on ways in which disabled people and their allies can act to counter disabling policies and practices. Throughout the book there is an emphasis on disabled people’s own voices and activism as the critical driver of theoretical critique and practical change. Chapters address a wide range of cultural, institutional and personal arenas to explore and contest the boundaries that disabled people seek to move beyond, from cross-border labour movements in Korea to experience of day services in England, from continuing and long-lasting realities of wars in Lebanon, Cambodia and Somalia to the beauty of harmony in Navajo traditions for understanding disability, from collective activism to individual participation in the Olympics. This book is recommended reading for students, researchers and activists interested in Disability Studies and is directly relevant to policy makers and practitioners in a position to reshape rights, spaces and innovations in response to the priorities disabled people feel and articulate are important for their lives. It was originally published as a special issue of Disability & Society.




Disability and Technology


Book Description

This edited collection brings together keynote articles from the journal Disability & Society to provide a comprehensive and though-provoking exploration of the place of technology in disabled people’s lives, documenting and analysing the growing impact of technology on disability and society over recent decades. The authors explore theoretical, empirical and moral dilemmas that arise with the changing relationship between technological change and the lives, aspirations and possibilities of disabled people. The volume is organised into three parts which consider early foundational work connecting disability and technology; key empirical studies related to the optimum use of technologies for independence and inclusion; and new moral and social dynamics thrown up by technological developments for disabled people’s lives.




Expanding Horizons


Book Description

Expanding Horizons: Current Research on Interpersonal Acceptance offers readers an outstanding collection of papers that reflects current trends in research on interpersonal acceptance. Papers in this volume cover a variety of questions and topics with regard to issues of acceptance-rejection by significant figures in parent-child, sibling, peer, and adult intimate relationships. Also, several papers deal with the implications of interpersonal acceptance for the development and educational achievement of children, college students, as well as children with special needs. Lastly, an entire section of the book is devoted to methodological issues in the evaluation of interpersonal acceptance across cultures. The authors draw on the perspectives of different disciplines such as educational psychology, anthropology, sociology, developmental psychology, and family studies. Research findings discussed in this collection of papers have important implications for professionals working in different contexts to strengthen family relationships, teacher and peer relationships in schools, and couple relationships. As such, the book constitutes a useful reference source for graduate students, academic researchers, clinicians, teachers, special educators, school counselors, and service agencies. Scholars who contributed to this book come from different parts of the world, including the Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East.




Adopting a UDL Attitude within Academia


Book Description

Adopting a UDL Attitude within Academia bridges the gap between the theory and practice of UDL (Universal Design for Learning). It guides the reader through the origins of the development of UDL as an innovative way of thinking about inclusion and the evolution of this theory into practice, as it explores UDL and its relevance beyond the classroom. Including reader-friendly descriptions and case studies supplemented with international research, this book allows the reader to think and see through a UDL lens, ultimately emphasising their part in the inclusion agenda. From the outset this book shares the attitude necessary to promote UDL and inclusion across higher education and addresses some of the most common questions: Is this a scientific theory or just a new practice, and why is it important? How can I be more inclusive in my current practice? Is it sustainable and how do I ensure I’m implementing it correctly? The book will have a broad appeal and is essential reading for anyone looking to understand and implement UDL across their learning environment – be it a university or any education institution.