Activism and the academy: losing the ideological and material battles

Abstract

In this article written in the summer of 2018 Professor Michael Oliver sought to convey a sense of urgency about the need to reinvigorate the relationship between disability, the academy and activism. In his usual clear unswerving style that is both liberating and enabling in its directness he calls upon all engaged with the journal to remember that the foundations of disability studies emerged out of democratic organisations of disabled people and must remain committed to placing the experiences of disabled people at the centre of academic and activist enterprise. He places emphasis on the original purpose of the journal to build on the social model of disability in order to produce real social change expressing frustration about what he saw as an increasing ineffectualness within the academic community to confront what is really happening to disabled people. He is forthright when describing his hope that disability activists and academics will strengthen the future of disabled people, and the future of disability studies too, by working ever more closely together.     

‘Stuck In The Middle With You’: Towards Enabling Social Work with Disabled People

This article explores progress to date in embedding enabling social work understandings and practices with disabled people by reviewing the UK social work curriculum. Based on these observations and the ideas from UK disability studies, it will offer possible solutions or at least better pathways to enabling practice with disabled people. As Meekosha has pointed out in a global context, to date social work has been experienced as an ambivalent practice [Meekosha, H. & Dowse, L. (2007) ‘Integrating critical disability studies into social work education and practice: an Australian perspective’, Practice, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 59–72], often both enabling and disabling; an intervention that can both lock and unlock resources, and challenge and reaffirm traditional notions of the ‘disability problem’ [Finkelstein, V. (1993) ‘Disability: A Social Challenge or an Administrative Responsibility?’, in Disabiling Barriers ‐ Enabling Environments, eds J. Swain, V. Finkelstein, S. French and M. Oliver, Sage Publications in association with the Open University, London]. Social work also has the potential to both challenge, but also be an (inadvertent) apologist for contemporary social support and welfare systems. Indeed it is clear that social work as a profession and social care as a policy area have been the poor relations of healthcare and health professions [King's Fund (2011) Social Care Funding and the NHS: An Impending Crisis?, King's Fund, London]. Viewed anthropologically, social work remains a largely non-disabled workforce ‘ministering’ to disabled clients (BCODP, 1997). This might reinforce the perception of ‘us and them’ in some social work encounters. As Paul Longmore questioned, can we begin to go ‘beyond affliction’ (2003) in our work with disabled people? Can social work help support the collective struggles of disabled people or is their role inevitably to reinforce that of individual(ised) clients?

The development of the personalisation agenda and self-directed support is clearly welcome in this context [DoH (2006) Our Health, Our Care, Our Say: A New Direction for Community Services, Department of Health, London; DoH (2007) Independence, Choice and Risk: A Guide to Best Practice in Supported Decision-Making, Department of Health, London; DoH (2009) Personalisation of Social Care Services, Department of Health, London]. Such developments reflect the changing service user–professional relationship. The temptation to see these developments as the icing on the social support cake needs, however, to be resisted. Arguably, with the increased rationing of social support, the continued role of social workers in assessment and monitoring of support could be seen to require a yet more reflexive and enabling professional education and training in an age of austerity, one where previously supported disabled people are being told that their needs can no longer be met.     

马克思主义与科学的综合研究:数十年梳理与综述——科学哲学的国际性研究

马克思主义对科学综合研究具有独特贡献。马克思主义观念从其产生到目前境遇的发展进程中有某些关键阶段,诸如苏联代表团参加1931年在伦敦举办的国际科学(历)史大会,以及随后马克思主义者与其他立场观点继承人之间在以后的国际会议中的交流互动、聚焦于那些以不同方式从事于科学工作的几代马克思主义者所产生的影响。马克思主义对当代科学研究发展趋势具有较大的影响,马克思主义以复杂且迂回的方式存活。这要求人们不仅应该正面解释马克思主义在过去时代中的重大贡献,而且应该正面理解马克思主义在当下以及未来中的道德价值。     

Social Work Research in the Field of Disability in Australia: A Scoping Review*

Although in Australia disability is receiving unprecedented attention with the rollout of major reforms, the body of research on disability to inform policy and practice has been found “not fit for purpose”. This scoping review of empirical research papers published by Australian social work authors between 2007 and 2015 investigated the quantity, nature, and scope of social work research on disability in Australia. We found a steady growth, an annual average of 13.8 papers, and a total of 124. Social work disability research makes a distinctive contribution; it is contextualised in service systems or policy, has a greater focus on community and civic participation and social relationships, and concentrates on adults, with either intellectual disability or traumatic brain injury. These research strengths provide foundations for building the profession’s research capacity and informing its practice and contribution to the multidisciplinary field of disability.

IMPLICATIONS

• Service system reform is increasing engagement of social workers with people with disabilities, yet disability has a low profile in the profession.

• Social work disability research has strengths in understanding service systems, social relationships, and strategies for social and civic participation, particularly with adults with cognitive disabilities.

• Increased attention to disability in qualifying and higher degree programs will better prepare students for complex practice and develop the distinctive contribution of social work research in this interdisciplinary field.

     

我与译事

本文为作者译文选集的自序,对近半个世纪以来从事阿拉伯语翻译和阿拉伯研究工作的实践进行了回顾,以期使读者了解翻译和研究工作者的曲折坎坷和甘苦,增进对阿拉伯国家历史、地理、文学、艺术和社会科学的理解。     

Impairment on the move: the disabled incomer and other invalidating intersections

In this article, I argue that disabled people and immigrants are subjected to similar forms of representation. I draw on examples from theology in the Christian Middle Ages, the influence of eugenics on late nineteenth and twentieth-century US immigration policy and welfare reform in contemporary neoliberal Britain. These vignettes are invoked as case studies to illustrate how ableism follows impairment on the move and to point to the ways in which the confluence of ethnocentric and ableist fantasies about strangers brings the history of disability and migration onto the same terrain of disrepute.     

构建太平洋共同体的失败努力：太平洋国际学会的活动与影响（1925-1945）

作为太平洋地区最早出现的国际非政府组织,太平洋国际学会从一个旨在促进亚太地区国家间相互理解和培育太平洋共同体意识的知识团体逐渐演变成以影响政府政策为目标以及服务于美国和盟国战时需要的思想库,并在冷战初期受到美国国会的指控而解散。学会开展的学术研究、圆桌讨论和教育活动虽然有助于消除国家间的误解,对太平洋战争时期的美国政策也具有一定影响,并推动了美国的亚洲研究,但其试图通过培育太平洋共同体意识来改善太平洋地区国家间关系的目标并未实现。个中原因除了学会无法控制的外部国际环境的巨变外,还与其自身的局限性有关,包括各国别理事会的民族主义立场和学会组织者对科学和理性的天真信奉。     

燕赵文化的历史传承和精神特质

中国是一个疆域辽阔、民族众多的统一的大国。先秦时期诸子学说的出现 ,标志着中国古代哲学的诞生与兴起。众多学科的研究成果表明 ,从春秋到战国 ,中国大体形成了若干个具有各自特征的文化区域 ,先秦诸子的形成与这些地域性的文化传统有着紧密的联系。这种地域性传统贯穿在其后中国古代哲学发展的全部历程之中 ,两汉至隋唐如此 ,宋元明清表现更为突出 ,就是中国近代哲学也还是摆脱不了地域传统的影响。因此 ,研究中国古代哲学的地域性传统是一个十分有意义的课题。而当下学界对此挖掘不够 ,为了深化对该课题的研究 ,我们组织了这次笔谈 ,现推荐给读者 ,希望引起学界的关注。今后 ,我们还准备在适当的时候继续进行讨论。     

How are women with a disability identified in maternity services in Australia? A cross-sectional survey of maternity managers

BackgroundWomen with a disability have poorer perinatal outcomes, but little is known about the prevalence of women with a disability accessing maternity services, how they are identified and what care and services are available. Estimates suggest that nine percent of women of childbearing age have a disability.AimTo explore how public maternity services in Australia identify pregnant women with a disability, what (if any) routine disability identification questions are used, and to examine availability and adequacy of services for women.MethodsCross-sectional online survey of maternity managers in Australian public hospitals.FindingsThirty-six percent (70/193) of eligible hospitals responded including all states and territories. Overall, 71 % routinely asked women about disability status (usually as part of routine history taking), however there was wide variation in how this was asked. Most (63 %) did not have standardised documentation processes and two thirds (65 %) were unable to estimate the number of women with a disability seen at their hospital. Most (68 %) did not offer specialised services, with only 13 % having specialised training for staff in disability identification, documentation and referral pathways. Only a quarter of respondents felt that there were adequate services for women with a disability related to maternity care.ConclusionThis is the first study to explore disability identification in maternity services in Australia. How women were asked was highly varied and documentation not standardised. National guidelines on disability identification for women accessing maternity services should be developed and collection of disability identification data should be routine.     

回顾与展望:美国和平学的起源和发展

和平学是一个相对新兴和发展中的学科。从研究角度而言,和平学主要起源于欧洲国家,但大部分和平学课程却首先出现在美国。冷战后期,美国的和平学课程主要关注结构性、家庭和社会内部暴力问题。和平学的研究范围包括人际关系、组织关系和社会关系,超越了民族国家的界限,其价值基础和行动目的就是替代暴力。和平学的研究面临各种挑战,主要包括:关于和平的定义过分模糊;行政方面的支持不够;和平学还遭到政治偏见的批评。和平学有助于政治和经济政策的变化,为了促进这样的一个长时期的根本变化,需要营造一种和平的文化。