The ableism elephant in the academy: a study examining academia as informed by Australian scholars with lived experience

Abstract

The academy should be a welcoming environment for people with disability. Across Australia, however, there is a current shortage of programmes supporting people with disability to develop their careers as researchers. This article critically investigates current practice and experiences concerning universities and the employment and career development of people with disability as advised by the literature, and how this practice aligns with the lived experiences of several of our authors. Our review of the literature utilising Scopus, PsycINFO and ProQuest databases found a deficiency of research attention on this topic, with only 16 relevant articles identified. This paucity of literary evidence has been augmented in the article by personal stories shared by four of its authors. By focusing on evidence-based measures with potential to support disability employment and career pathways throughout universities in Australia and elsewhere, this article challenges leaders to address ableism and to advance a more inclusive academy.     

The role of evidence in nutrition policy‐making in Ethiopia: Institutional structures and issue framing

Malnutrition is the single greatest contributor to the global burden of morbidity and mortality, with most cases arising in low‐ and middle‐income countries. However, the multi‐sectoral nature of nutrition policy‐making adds considerable complexity to the implementation of effective programmes. This raises questions about why or how relevant policy change can come about within different country settings. This article examines multi‐sectoral nutrition policy‐making from the health sector perspective, specifically focusing on different sectoral perspectives and the role and use of evidence within this. Ethiopia provides a unique example of the challenging nature of multi‐sectoral nutrition policy‐making, even with a strong co‐ordinating infrastructure. In December 2014 we undertook 23 in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with stakeholders from key health sector organizations, along with a related documentary analysis. Participants represented a diverse range of perspectives, including government representatives, policy stakeholders, aid providers from multi‐lateral organizations and academic researchers. Our respondents described how nutrition framing in Ethiopia is changing, with greater consideration of overweight, obesity and non‐communicable diseases, as well as undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. However, overweight‐ and obesity‐related concerns are still less evident in key documents. Some health actors described the challenge of enacting structural policy changes when doing so requires engagement from the agriculture sector. While multi‐sectoral plans and infrastructure to address malnutrition are in place, respondents suggested that the mandate for addressing nutrition resting with the health sector was reinforced by the nature of evidence collected. This study of nutrition policy‐making in Ethiopia highlights the complex interaction of evidence within different conceptualisations of policy problems and responses. Despite Ethiopia's strategic framework and its progress in achieving terms of nutrition targets, it shares the challenge of countries elsewhere in addressing nutrition as a multi‐sectoral issue.     

A Bayesian Approach to Integrated Ecological and Human Health Risk Assessment for the South River,Virginia Mercury‐Contaminated Site

We conducted a regional‐scale integrated ecological and human health risk assessment by applying the relative risk model with Bayesian networks (BN‐RRM) to a case study of the South River, Virginia mercury‐contaminated site. Risk to four ecological services of the South River (human health, water quality, recreation, and the recreational fishery) was evaluated using a multiple stressor–multiple endpoint approach. These four ecological services were selected as endpoints based on stakeholder feedback and prioritized management goals for the river. The BN‐RRM approach allowed for the calculation of relative risk to 14 biotic, human health, recreation, and water quality endpoints from chemical and ecological stressors in five risk regions of the South River. Results indicated that water quality and the recreational fishery were the ecological services at highest risk in the South River. Human health risk for users of the South River was low relative to the risk to other endpoints. Risk to recreation in the South River was moderate with little spatial variability among the five risk regions. Sensitivity and uncertainty analysis identified stressors and other parameters that influence risk for each endpoint in each risk region. This research demonstrates a probabilistic approach to integrated ecological and human health risk assessment that considers the effects of chemical and ecological stressors across the landscape.     

Data from the COVID-19 epidemic in Florida suggest that younger cohorts have been transmitting their infections to less socially mobile older adults

Review of Economics of the Household - We analyzed the daily incidence of newly reported COVID-19 cases among adults aged 20–39 years, 40–59 years, and 60 or more years in the sixteen...     

Southern Romance: Relationship Quality,Consensus, and Context among Cohabiting Couples in the Gulf States

Abstract

Relationships are significantly stressed in the Southeastern United States. Of the six states in the Gulf region (Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas), four are in the top-third of the nation's highest divorce rates. Threats to relationship household stability cause a myriad of social problems and public expenses of approximately $24 billion in increased spending in benefit programs to offset family hardship following divorce and relationship dissolution. This study analyzed associations between relationship quality and satisfaction, consensus, and a series of contextual variables among three types of cohabiting homeowners across the Gulf States (unmarried, married, and married with additional family members), surveying variables of interest. Findings indicated that dyadic couple relationships in this sample are generally distressed relative to other states and that significant negativity is present, but that a large portion of the variance in relationship quality is consistently predicted by certain factors. Using an instrument of increased sensitivity, these factors (consensus, negative interaction, household composition, etc.) have been parsed into specific components (types of consensus, types of interaction, etc.) for improved individual analysis. Specific relationship problem areas are outlined, clarified, and discussed.     

The Nature of Social Responsibility: Exploring Emancipatory Ends

Social responsibility (SR) initiatives within a corporate environment (CSR) continue to be met with deep scepticism. My concern is with exploring this scepticism, which I argue is due to there being more to the underlying objectives of SR than has previously been investigated. I begin by outlining and substantiating my project as a social ontological enquiry, one in which I unpack key concepts to reveal the nature of SR. These ontological findings then underpin my argument that SR is problematically grounded in liberalist thinking, and CSR is in fact just one manifestation of SR. I advance the thesis that SR has emancipatory ends, of meeting human needs and flourishing, and that it is best explicated using feminist care ethics. The argument is then focussed on both shoring up and advancing the emancipatory project of SR. The scepticism of interest is revealed to be the incongruity between care and business; that businesses are deemed as being incompatible with SR, at least in their present capacity. Any claims to the contrary by the business community are branded inauthentic and the aforementioned scepticism ensues. The paper concludes with a brief discussion concerning implications for CSR initiatives and future changes and developments are considered.     

Mainstream and Marginal Newspaper Coverage of the 1995 Quebec Referendum: An Inquiry into the Functioning of the Canadian Public Sphere*

Cet article applique le concept habermassien de la sphère publique à l'examen des relations entre les journaux ethniques et grand public présents à Toronto. En particulier, cette étude analyse les éditoriaux parus au cours de l'année précédant le référendum de 1995 sur la souveraineté du Québec et en explique la couverture médiatique sur la base d'entretiens avec les rédacteurs en chef des journaux concernés. Pendant cette période, tous les journaux, sauf un, étaient antiséparatistes. Cependant, contrairement aux journaux grand public, les journaux ethniques se sont particulièrement attachés à des questions de survivance culturelle. Les approches des éditeurs sur la question de la souveraineté suggèrent qu'on ne peut ni parler de sphère publique unifiée ni de publics multiples et atomisés. Il y a plutôt des sphères publiques multiples - inscrites dans des tempo-ralités socio-économiques spécifiques - qui se recouvrent et se complètent. This article employs Habermas's concept of the public sphere in examining the relationship between ethnic and mainstream Toronto newspapers. In particular, the study analyses editorials in the year leading up to the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty, and draws upon interviews with the newspaper editors in explaining the patterns of coverage. During the specified time period, all but one newspaper was anti-separatist. Unlike the mainstream papers, however, the ethnic presses stressed issues of cultural survival. The editors' approaches to the sovereignty question suggests that there is neither a single unified public sphere nor multiple discrete publics. Instead, there are multiple overlapping public spheres—embedded in particular socio-economic historical moments—that complement one another.     

The Search for a Landfill Site in the Risk Society*

Cette étude examine comment les inquiétudes concernant les risques de l'environnement ont été traitées dans une recherche d'un site d'enfouissement des déchets qu'on a menée récemment à Guelph, Ontario. L'argument sera que les interactions observées entre expert et profane ainsi que le genre de questions soulevées peuvent être comprises en termes de la thèse de la societéà risque proposée par Ulrick Beck. En particulier, cette étude montrera comment la science de l'impact de l'environnement a été restructurée pour s'occuper des conditions de la sociétéà risque. This paper examines how concerns about environmental risk were treated in an landfill search that was recently conducted in Guelph, Ontario. It is argued that the expert-lay interactions observed, and the types of issues raised, may be understood in terms of the risk society thesis proposed by Ulrich Beck. In particular, it is shown how environmental impact science was restructured to deal with the conditions of the risk society.