Everybody In? The experience of disabled students in further education

The authors report on a study of student attitudes towards disabled students in three colleges of further education. They found that many non-disabled students were not aware of the various issues facing disabled students at the colleges. Social contact between disabled and non-disabled students was not extensive, although those who had attended school with disabled pupils were more likely to have friendships with disabled students at college. Whilst non-disabled students were strongly supportive of inclusive education in principle, many saw inclusion in the mainstream as conditional on the particular impairment of an individual. Disabled and non-disabled students supported the view that early social and educational contact results in greater mutual understanding, and is of benefit to all students.     

Disabling masculinity: the isolation of a captive audience

In this article, I propose that disabled people tend to engage with and interpret images of people with impairments in a variety of ways that have some degree of correspondence to their structural contexts and their differential access to discursive resources. Contending that gender concerns play a crucial role in the interpretative performances of both disabled and non-disabled participants, it is argued that soap operas are an alienating experience for men in general. I propose that the placement of impairment and disability narratives within the soap opera's structure, as a specific genre, is a particularly demeaning experience for disabled men. Finally, I raise some questions about agency and resistance in such viewing practices, making specific reference to the experiences of disabled men.     

‘It’s better if someone can see me for who I am’: stories of (in)visibility for students with a visual impairment within South African Universities

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.     

Managing manipulation: tools and challenges in creative collaborations with intellectually-disabled people

There has long been an ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality when it comes to the production of disability narratives on screen, driven by an assumption that non-disabled people cannot accurately interpret the disabled experience. Given the appalling history of representations by non-disabled filmmakers, it is easy to understand why many academics and members of the disability community favour the complete control of disability content by disabled people. But this approach has failed the many compelling ‘disabled voices’ that go unheard because they do not reach audiences. The most practical solution is to forge new models of creative collaboration between disabled and non-disabled people, something I attempted to do with my PhD film, a comedy feature entitled Down Under Mystery Tour. I discovered that the most important tool in such collaborations is the utilisation and management of manipulation, one that prioritises skill and experience and best expresses the unique perspective of intellectually-disabled collaborators.     

A Question of Friendship: Community Care and the Relationships of People with Learning Difficulties

There is evidence that a number of people with learning difficulties living in the community do not enjoy a range of satisfactory social relationships. This paper will examine the way that the issue of the apparent loneliness of people with learning difficulties has been approached in the community care literature. I will argue that there is a clear assumption in much of the literature that friendships between disabled and non-disabled people are of greater value than those relationships between disabled people. The low value accorded to friendships between disabled people is very damaging to their individual self-esteem, as well as to the possibility of political action based on a sense of solidarity. The paper will point also to the constraints that many people with learning difficulties face which render it difficult for them to form friendships and, therefore, reinforce their isolation.     

Does She Boil Eggs? Towards a Feminist Model of Disability

The Social Model of Disability is increasingly recognised as the theoretical and ideological underpinning for the collectivisation and politicisation of disabled people. This paper examines the Social Model from the perspective of disabled women. It then considers the position of disabled women in relation to both the women's movement and the disability movement. It argues that the former is oriented towards non-disabled women and the latter towards disabled men, with a consequent further marginalisation and disempowering of disabled women. Drawing on the history of black feminism, the author (who is a white non-disabled woman, and who teaches anti-discriminatory social work practice based on an integrated theoretical model) concludes by offering to disabled women a reframing of the analysis in which to explore their simultaneous experiencing of their gender and disability.     

The Experience of Higher Education from the Perspective of Disabled Students

This article describes the findings and examines the issues arising from a small-scale investigation into the experience of higher education from the perspective of disabled students at a university in the United Kingdom, and makes recommendations for policy and practice. Methodology involved semi-structured interviews with participants to reveal individual experience and analysis of relevant documentation from the university to examine the rhetoric underlying their experience. Factors that create a positive experience for disabled students, and those which effect discriminatory practice and marginalisation are identified. The implications of the findings for policy and practice are discussed, and conclusions drawn including: the need for a central policy which supports the philosophy of an accessible learning environment for all students; central co-ordination to implement the policy with practical guidelines to departments; ongoing monitoring and evaluation procedures which involve disabled students; staff training and awareness; student advocacy.     

Personal and Political: A Feminist Perspective on Researching Physical Disability

Feminist theory and methodology have much to offer in understanding how disability research has been experienced as alienated research by disabled people. However, feminist research has failed to apply its principles to disability and disabled women's subjective reality has found no place in mainstream feminist work. The paper identifies the challenges for feminism in addressing the interests and reality of disabled women, asserting that it is not helpful to focus on 'double disadvantage'. Disability research itself has much to learn from feminist methodology, in particular the principle of making the personal political. The role of non-disabled researchers as allies of disabled people is discussed, and the importance of research which turns the spotlight on the way in which non-disabled society oppresses disabled people. Finally, it is asserted that disability research and politics are of general relevance because the experience of disability is an integral part of a society characterised by fundamental inequalities and ideologies which divide people against each other.     

Who am I? Concepts of disability and their implications for people with learning difficulties

The relationship between concepts of disability, group membership and self-concept was examined. It was argued that people with learning difficulties have been categorised, by non-disabled people, as 'belonging' to a devalued social group with a rigid boundary based on IQ level. Findings from studies of self-concept have shown little evidence of a sense of belonging. It was suggested that people with learning difficulties may prefer not to identify with this social group because of the negative effect it may have on their self-esteem. The analysis based on intergroup and social identity theories proposed that people with learning difficulties may be encouraged in creating a positive self-concept by abandoning the IQ criterion for social categorisation; softening the boundaries between disabled and non-disabled people; and adopting collective rather than individual strategies for social change.     

Increasing Opportunities for Co-production and Personalisation Through Social Work Student Placements in Disabled People's Organisations

Social work student practice placements in disabled people's organisations offer several advantages for individual students, their peers and tutors, and DPOs themselves, who can offer placements for students in supporting service users to give their views as well as delivering social care services. In this context professional skills and anti-discriminatory practice are fostered through learning directly from disabled people as experts without the constraints of local authority policies.

This paper draws on my experiences of such student placements at Wiltshire and Swindon Users' Network over a 15-year period, 1993–2008, in collaboration with different universities. The social work student on placement here experiences an alternative organisational culture which recognises service users' expertise over professionals. The student learns to value collective peer support and working with activists who view their experience through the framework of the social model of disability. This facilitates a two-way exchange as the student learns about user-led practice and the disabled activists appreciate the skills the student brings.

The advent of policies of personalisation, the Big Society and the decreased role of local authorities is challenging the traditional model of adult care social work within local authorities. The placement of social workers in local centres for independent living, in order to provide intensive one-to-one support in support planning for those in complex situations, is only likely to increase in future. This can be seen as a positive alternative which enables professionals to rediscover their professional values and practice and extends the opportunity for placements beyond DPOs concerned with user involvement only.     

Developing Social Firms in the UK: a contribution to identifying good practice

Social firms and related enterprises are developing rapidly in the UK as a means of providing employment for disabled people. This study examined the kind of enterprise that will best meet the aspirations of disabled people. A telephone survey identified the range of enterprises describing themselves as social firms, and examined their develop ment and operation. Alongside the survey, focus groups with disabled people and interviews with carers explored perspectives on the values that should underpin social firms. The results suggest that indicators of good practice include: user/worker participation in the firm's development and operation; the availability of expert advice to enable informed choice about payment, with payment at the minimum wage rates or higher for those who choose this; opportunities for workers to develop to their full potential; a workforce comprising disabled and non-disabled workers; the involvement of carers and local socio-economic agencies in developing the social firm.     

Negotiating Identities, Negotiating Environments: an interpretation of the experiences of students with disabilities

This paper explores the experiences of nine students with disabilities pursuing degrees at a large Canadian university. An ethnographic approach was followed using face-to-face, unstructured interviews and a focus group to generate data. The analysis focuses on how these students negotiate disabled and non-disabled identities while negotiating the physical environment of the university campus. I argue that these negotiatory processes are necessarily interconnected and inherently contradictory.     

‘Special offices’: parenthood of disabled children on public display

Based on my own experience of parenting a child with mental disability, I raise the question of how disability unfolds in the spatial organization of work environments, specifically that of academic offices. I scrutinize the role of family pictures placed in offices for public display, and the way this element functions when pictures show your child is disabled. I do so in a provocative and contrasting manner to highlight the point that families with a disabled relative, especially a child, are deprived of a presence in a collectively shared symbolic reality that supplies structure, meaning, and meaningfulness to individual workplace lives. I argue that non-disabled spaces require daily repeated practices and narratives which images of disabled children disrupt.     

Disabled Children,Parents and Professionals: Partnership on whose terms?

Taking a parental perspective, this paper explores the experience of partnership between parents of disabled children with learning difficulties and educational professionals. It is argued that until policy, legislation and practice moves from its present perspective of viewing disability as the failure of the individual to that of a perspective embracing equality of value for all, relationships between parents and professionals will be fraught with difficulties. Furthermore, it is argued that until disabled children are centrally and positively placed within the relationship between parents and professionals, the existing prejudice and oppression experienced by disabled children will dominate the relationship.     

A Shared Presentation: Two Disabled Women on Video

In this paper we share our collaborative experience of making a video in which disabled women present their lives as they wish to portray them. We undertook what we hope will be perceived as emancipatory research, in which disabled and non-disabled women work together to create audio-visual teaching materials. We include a preliminary discussion about the representation of disability on British television broadcasts between October 1991 and March 1992. We look at negative imagery, charity fund raising, and positive images. The paper uses comments by disabled broadcasters and disabled academics, and reflects on their work.     

Disability, Ethnicity and Childhood: a critical review of research

Whilst there is an increasing body of literature on the perspectives of carers of disabled children, there is little research giving the disabled child's perspective from either majority or minority populations. Indeed, the voices of black and Asian children in disability research have been almost silent. This literature review collates and analyses existing knowledge about the perceptions held by disabled and non-disabled children, and young people from black and Asian families concerning issues of disability and impairment. The Disability Movement has long proclaimed its belief in the full participation and self-representation of all disabled people. However, despite this laudable objective, the Disability Movement in Britain has mirrored society in general and for the most part been led by white, middle-class, heterosexual, articulate males. This review discusses the simultaneous oppression faced by black and Asian disabled children, and concludes that their experience is unique and different from that of white disabled children. Accordingly, it emphasises the need for further research about the subjective experience of black and Asian disabled children in order to meet their particular needs.     

Siblings with disabilities: a duoethnography on the intersections between a sibling relationship and disability

A growing body of research examines the intersections between sibling relationships and disability. However, much of this research focuses on non-disabled siblings and how the disabled sibling affects them, thereby continuing to center able-bodiedness and able-mindedness while further marginalizing disabled people. This research centers the voices of two siblings who are both disabled. Using duoethnography, the researchers engaged in a dialog interrogating how disability has played a role in our sibling relationship. Our dialog demonstrated the complexity of our experiences as siblings and as disabled people. We found that physical disability, a status we do not share, created role asymmetry and power differentials in our relationship. Conversely, we discussed how our shared experience of having psychiatric disabilities had a positive influence on our closeness, and enhanced our ability to provide mutual support and engage in reciprocity. This duoethnography has important implications for the inclusion of disabled siblings in future research.     

We did it together: a participatory action research study on poverty and disability

This article presents the perspective of both non-disabled and developmentally disabled people working together in a research project on poverty and disability. Our study used a participatory action research approach that challenges the norm of exclusion in the research process. Control of the research agenda has been inclusive and shared to varying degrees in accordance with the needs and desires of the members of an advisory committee of developmentally disabled people living with low income. We reflect on our process of working together according to four principles of participatory action research with disabled people. We discuss our successes and challenges enacting these principles in the hopes that future researchers can build upon our experience to be more inclusive of developmentally disabled people in their work.     

The additional cost of disability: a new measure and its application to sensory impairment

This article introduces a method using consensual budget standards to estimate additional costs incurred by households that include disabled people with specified impairments. The article reports on a first application of this to UK single adults with sensory impairments. Using the Minimum Income Standard method, the research aims to identify the cost of disability by working with groups of disabled people to agree what additions to minimum budgets for non-disabled people are required for someone with a given impairment. This provides a more tangible account of the cost of disability than economic analysis of living standards achieved by disabled and non-disabled people, and adds to surveys of actual spending on additional items, which do not account for unmet need. The research on vision and hearing impairment yields new insights into costs arising from the way disabled people live their everyday lives, not just from spending on adaptations and equipment.     

Experiences of Grandparenting Disabled Children in the UK: A Qualitative Study of Intergenerational Relationships

Contemporary patterns of family, work, and welfare make the experience of grandparenting complex and diverse. This UK-based qualitative study aimed to explore grandparenting in the context of childhood disability. Nine grandparents (aged 59–79 years) with disabled and non-disabled grandchildren took part in semi-structured interviews. Grandparents provided extensive instrumental and emotional care and support and sought a balance between involvement versus interfering. Grandparents actively drew on life experiences to engage with services to maximize support. Contemplating the future, grandparents had concerns for adult children as well as grandchildren. Developing policies to support grandparents of disabled grandchildren are urgently required.