What's in a Name? The Implications of Diagnosis for People with Learning Difficulties and their Family Carers

Diagnosis plays a significant role in the shaping of individual identities and the quality of life for people with learning difficulties and their family carers. Diagnostic labels are constitutive of peoples' lives, in that they bring forth pathology, create problemsaturated stories and construct careers as patients and cases. Disabled identities of people with learning difficulties remain largely 'embodied' and within the definitional control of professionals. Whilst the acquisition of a learning difficulty label can open doors to resources, it can also lead to disrespectful and dehumanising treatment, and the severe restriction of opportunities. This paper argues that a social constructionist perspective can offer a way of thinking about diagnosis that challenges the so called 'facts' and 'truths' that underpin and support it. Working in partnership with people with learning difficulties in relation to diagnosis requires professionals to relinquish power by resisting the 'temptations of certainty' associated with diagnostic practices.     

Making and missing connections: learning disability services and the transition from adolescence to adulthood

The transition from adolescence to young adulthood for people with a learning disability is complex and has not generally been handled well in the UK. The response from Government agencies has been to introduce law, regulation, guidance and good practice guides, but these appear to have only limited effect. Drawing upon evidence from a national study, this article examines explanations for the limited progress in this area. It identifies inter-organisational divisions as a crucial factor, and is critical of the 'top-down' approach that has characterised policy responses. It is suggested that a person-centred approach based upon Elmore's concept of 'backward mapping' provides both a tool for understanding and a model for improved implementation.     

Effects of fragmentation and trampling on carabid beetle assemblages in urban woodlands in Helsinki, Finland

We studied the effects of fragmentation (edge effects and patch size) and trampling (path cover) on carabid beetle assemblages in urban woodland patches in Helsinki, Finland. We expected that (1) open habitat and generalist species would benefit and forest species would suffer from increased woodland fragmentation, and (2) most carabid species would respond negatively to increased levels of trampling. A total of 2088 carabid individuals representing 37 species were collected. A cluster analysis distinguished sites in the interior of large woodland patches, with low or moderate path cover, from the other sites. The other sites did not cluster meaningfully, suggesting increased variation in the carabid fauna with increasing human impact. All species and ecological species-groups decreased with increasing distance from the edge toward the woodland interior and with increasing patch size. This pattern is in accordance with our expectation for open habitat and generalist species but opposite to what we expected for forest species. The reason for these surprising results may be that (1) the species we collected are not true forest interior species, (2) urban woodland edges are optimal habitats for many forest carabids, or (3) edges are actually sub-optimal, and high catches simply reflect increased activity of beetles moving away from the edge. Trampling did not have an overall negative effect on carabids as hypothesized. Species associated with moist forest habitat responded as predicted: they decreased in abundance with increasing path cover. Furthermore, open habitat species decreased with increasing path cover but more straightforward than we had predicted. Model elaboration, by dropping the highly trampled sites from the analyses, suggested that our data of high trampling may be too scarce: the results without these sites were more in accordance with our predictions than with the full dataset.     

Word processors for qualitative sociologists: A review essay

Summary and Conclusions To reiterate, we think word processors driven by microcomputers can be used effectively for processing notes, observations and other textual data collected through qualitative research methods and later for analyzing them. Of course, machines cannot analyze data, engender concepts, or write insightful prose. In fact, these machines can do nothing that humans do not instruct them to do. InAnalyzing Social Settings, John Lofland describes the overlap of observation and analysis in a project and suggests the use of a general file structure and mechanical procedures that can stimulate on-going analysis during observation (1971:118). Whatever the system one uses, if the interplay between what is observed and what is made sociologically meaningful can be less a clerical task, then so much the better. In sum, we think word-processing systems can help a sociologist electronically cut and paste raw text files and spur the researcher into producing superior files and reports.     

Seeking Philosophy Journals on the Web

Abstract

Allan Scherlen introduces us to the elusive world of free, online, peer-reviewed journals in philosophy. He argues that free e-journals, although often well respected among specialists within the field, can paradoxically be obscured from library researchers because of poor representation in established indexes and directories. He evaluates three such e-journals in terms of their history, scope, design, navigation, and archiving. Serials Review 2002; 28:225–231.     

Young people leaving care: moving towards ‘joined up’ solutions?

This paper presents some of the findings of a national study of 46 leaving care projects working with 3308 young people leaving care, and an analysis of national post Children Act 1989 initiatives. It presents key implications for local and national policy and practice from that study and, in so doing, records the considerable achievements of, but also the problems faced by, these projects. It is argued that despite a welcome, new commitment by government to the social inclusion of this group, sustained solutions remain complex, have been long in coming and remain a challenge. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.