Trailing my journey into disability insights

The following short article traces my journey towards a better understanding of disability in my personal and professional life. I argue that context, professional cultures and changing theories of disability have all intersected in my journey to this fuller understanding. In turn this provides me with a better theoretical and professional tool kit with which to grasp disability and the lives of Maltese disabled people.     

Brief online surveys to monitor and evaluate facilitated peer support groups for caregivers of children with special needs

BackgroundThere have been few systematic evaluations of experiences of participating in peer support groups for parents and other caregivers of children with special needs. In Australia, facilitated groups are available to caregivers in community settings, through a nationally funded program, MyTime. Mechanisms for ongoing monitoring and evaluation have not yet been instituted.AimTo establish whether brief, online surveys can be used for monitoring and evaluating peer support groups for caregivers of children with special needs.MethodsTwo brief, online surveys, with both fixed-choice and open-ended questions, were developed. All caregivers who attended any MyTime group during a 1-month period were invited to participate.ResultsOf 89 caregivers who expressed interest in participating, 54 and 31 respondents completed respectively. Respondents represented a variety of backgrounds and circumstances. Responses revealed both positive and negative aspects of group participation. Linked data on expectations and experiences provided important feedback for the program.ConclusionBrief, online surveys are a suitable mechanism for ongoing monitoring and evaluation of peer support group programs for caregivers.     

复杂化与胶着态的邪教与反邪教运动--从国际膜拜团体研究会年会审视国际邪教问题研究

国际膜拜团体研究会（ ICSA）转型以来，倡导学术交流与实际工作并重。2016年ICSA年会展现了国际上膜拜团体研究领域关于膜拜团体警示教育、脱教咨询与社会治理、膜拜伤害及其测度、膜拜团体前成员康复四个维度新的视角和关切。中国学者的膜拜团体研究主要体现在中国现代化进程中的邪教认定与治理、中国的社会救助与帮辅、邪教与媒体传播、邪教警示教育、膜拜伤害及其测度等方面。邪教的认定、邪教危害程度的标定、邪教形成和伤害成员的机制，将是今后邪教研究的重点。     

The impact of a faculty training program on inclusive education and disability

This paper describes the knowledge gained by 20 faculty members following their participation in a training program on inclusive education and disability. The study, which was conducted at an university in Spain, aimed to design, implement and evaluate a program for training faculty members to respond in an inclusive manner to the needs of students with disabilities. An initial, formative and summative qualitative evaluation was carried out and four instruments were used for collecting the data: group and individual interviews, written open-ended questionnaires and observations. The data were analyzed inductively, using a category and code system. The results reveal that, after the training program, faculty considered what they had learned to be useful for their professional practice and highlighted that they felt better-informed and better-trained in relation to disability and were more aware of the needs of students with disabilities. Finally, in the conclusions section, the paper discusses the results in relation to those reported by other studies, and offers some recommendations for universities planning to implement training policies designed to build more inclusive learning environments.     

New policies,old ideas: the question of disability assessment systems and social policy

This paper reports on qualitative content analysis research and critically analyzes the state’s intention to use the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health as a tool to develop a national disability assessment system that will guide social policy developments, and particularly the allocation of pensions and benefits to disabled people. The work uses Cyprus as an example, and reviews the most important issues arising from a recent study prepared by the Department for Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities. The most important points stemming from the analysis are grouped and discussed in such a way as to shed light upon the most controversial aspects of the proposed assessment system, such as the definition of disabled people in national laws, and the implications of associating social policy with the assessment of disability and functioning. The discussion addresses issues that are of interest at international level.     

国际权力基础与伊拉克战争

本文考察国际权力在不同历史时期的基础及其变化,并提出,各国围绕国际权力竞争的背后是各国围绕国际权力基础的竞争,国际权力基础随着时代不断发生变迁。作为国际政治的一个重要变量,国际权力基础反映出国际政治单位之间所享有的国际权力差异。自威斯特伐利亚条约以来,国际社会见证了数次国际权力基础变化。在第二次世界大战以前,国际权力的基础是常规武器水平;冷战期间核武器成为了新的基础;冷战结束后,各国之间的竞争围绕着综合国力展开;伊拉克战争爆发以后,国际权力基础又变迁为国家独立行动能力。     

LOCATING CULTURE IN THE US AND CENTRAL EUROPE - A TRANSATLANTIC PERSPECTIVE ON CULTURAL STUDIES

This article attempts a comparative critique of interdisciplinary cultural analysis in the US and Central Europe. It tries to sketch out the different points of departure and methodological approaches used in American and British cultural studies on the side, and in German Kulturwissenschaften (cultural sciences) on the other side. Furthermore it is asked in which ways the critical political impetus of cultural studies can be made productive for the further advancement of Kulturwissenschaften, and how they could perform an innovative role for the understanding of problems posed by the current political and social situation in Central Europe.     

Foucault and the politics of critical management studies

This paper explores the different ways in which we read Foucault in management and organisation studies but, more particularly, some of the features of his project that we seem often to exclude. In the context of a growing interest in more ‘engaged’ forms of scholarly practice among management academics, we argue that further consideration of Foucault might have something more to offer. Setting the main arguments in context, we suggest an outline of the dominant ways in which we read Foucault: the identities we assign to him. Hence we know Foucault primarily as a social theorist, genealogist, neo‐Weberian, and postmodernist. We then consider some of the engaged aspects of his project, focusing on his emergence as an activist intellectual in the 1970s. Possible implications for critical management scholars are then considered.     

国内社会保障研究的趋势和内容分析——以《社会保障研究》为基础

近年来社会保障一直是政府和社会关注的热点话题,也是公共管理学科下的重要分支。本文以《社会保障研究》为文献基础,选取了《社会保障研究》2005年至2012年的文献作为数据来源,分析了国内社会保障研究的内容变化和社会保障研究趋势的相关特点。     

创知与致用 ——民国时期边政学派学术活动述评

边政学是民国时期迅速发展起来的 一门学科,其间有大量知名学者参与边政学的学术研究,为推动其发展作出了卓越贡献,遂使边政学研究成为著名的边政学派。与当时的国家命运相伴相依,边政学之学术研究不仅有创知的紧迫感,还有致用的目的性,因此与我国传统学术研究的“纯洁性”规范存在一些差异。考察边政学派之创知与致用成果,能深刻理解彼时学人将个人命运与国家命运相融合的浪漫情怀,也能探察其致力于“西学”中国化的良苦用心。边政派学人走出“书阁”、注重田野调查的学术实践,体现出积极的入世态度和实干精神,对当今的人文社科研究不乏启示意义。