Students with disabilities represent a group of the population subject to “othering” (Kalymon et al., 2010); that is, being set apart from neurotypical students because of their disabilities. Within the realm of instrumental music, this treatment has followed the pattern of prejudice noted by Allport (1954). Band directors have resisted inclusion (Haywood, 2006; Hourigan, 2007a; McKee, 2011) and used tactics designed to discourage students with disabilities from continuing in band programs (Hammel & Hourigan, 2017). Lack of preparation to teach students with disabilities in a musical setting has been noted in the research as one factor inhibiting inclusion (Heller, 1994; Linsenmeier, 2004; McCord & Watts, 2010; VanWeelden & Whipple, 2014b). Viewed through the lens of Allport’s (1954) work on prejudice, though, the patterns of inconsistent inclusion in the music room may be explained by a subconscious mentality in which the instructor is “othering” a student with special needs, rendering them less teachable than students who present as typical musicians. Allport’s contact theory is used to provide a deeper understanding of the possible reasons behind these educational inequalities. This study used the Attitudes Towards Intellectual Disabilities (Morin et al., 2019a) protocol to assess the attitudes of Texan band directors (N = 49) towards people with intellectual disabilities. Allport’s (1954) contact theory was then used as a lens to investigate the formation of these attitudes. In open-ended interviews, six band directors shared their stories about their teaching, their preparation, and the people in their lives who shaped their attitudes about people with intellectual disabilities. Contact with people with intellectual disabilities was noted as a factor in the formation of their attitudes towards their own students with disabilities. These music educators discussed creating inclusive environments and fostering equity among all students in their programs. Four university professors shared their own stories, and how they have built programs to not only prepare future music educators, but to provide them the opportunity to experience contact with students with disabilities before graduation. Looking to close the gaps in education noted in the research, these professors have sought to change the nature of music education by changing the perception of who can learn music. Incorporating direct instruction and meaningful contact with students with disabilities, these professors have found success in increasing a positive attitude towards people with intellectual disabilities in their graduating students.

Educators and school staff often overlook students with intellectual disabilities and students who are LGBTQ+ within public schools. They recognize even less students who identify in both these areas. The purpose of this study is to add to a small pool of research about how to best support students with intellectual disabilities who are gender nonconforming. A review of literature found a gap in understanding the experiences of students with intellectual disabilities who are gender nonconforming. This study uses a qualitative research design and intersectionality as a theoretical framework. The researcher completed interview with four special education staff using open-ended questions to learn how they have observed ways schools have supported students with intellectual disabilities who are gender nonconforming. The researcher categorized responses into the following themes: gender expression, relationships, acceptance and representation, resources for students, training for educators, and policy. The researcher found through the experience, knowledge, and perspectives of these four special education staff that students can freely express their gender identity in school and have mostly positive relationships with their peers and school staff. Special education and school staff generally accept students with these dual identifiers in schools, but rarely represent them in curriculum. Schools support students through wellness centers and positive language. Educators are in need of training on existing policy and procedure and ways to better include and represent students with intellectual disabilities who are gender nonconforming in their classrooms.

This study aims to investigate how school librarians work with media- and information literacy, MIL, with middle- and highschool pupils with intellectual disability, ID, in Sweden.  The Swedish government has decided that all Swedish citizens shall be digitally included, but there are people that are not. For example people with different disabilities. In Sweden it is common that school librarians work with MIL in schools – but it is also common to not have either a school library or an educated librarian in the school library.  In this study I have interviewed three school librarians that are educated and work full time in their schools´ library, with all the pupils in the school, also the pupils with ID. The theory in the study is the TLC-model, Teacher and Librarian Cooperation, by Professor Patricia Montiel-Overall. The model is explaining how teachers and librarians can work together in school, to fulfill the curriculum for every student. The model has four stages, where the first stage is not working together so much at all, and up to the fourth stage, where teachers and librarians work closely, and also plan the lessons and education, together. Monitel-Overall´s model is based mainly on sociocultural theory, which means that we learn things best in a social context, as the Russian philosopher and psychologist Vygotsky said. His thoughts on sociocultural theory has often been used and referred to in pedagogical research and also in school context. This study shows that the school librarians that are interviewed all have support from their headmasters and the teachers. The librarians are creative and often make their own material. But it also shows that librarians often are quite lonely in their profession in school, even when they have teachers as colleagues. / Denna studie undersöker hur skolbibliotekarier arbetar med medie- och informationskunnighet, MIK, med elever i mellan- och högstadiet med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning, IF, i Sverige.  Den svenska regeringen har bestämt att alla medborgare ska vara digitalt delaktiga. Men det finns de som inte är det, exempelvis personer med olika funktionsnedsättningar.  Det är vanligt att skolbibliotekarier arbetar med MIK i skolor, men det är också vanligt att inte ha antingen ett skolbibliotek eller en utbildad bibliotekarie i skolbiblioteket.  I denna studie har jag intervjuat tre bibliotekarier som är utbildade och arbetar heltid i sina skolbibliotek med alla elever i skolan, även de som har IF. Studien har använt sig av professor Patricia Montiel-Overalls samarbetsmodell, som grundar sig i en sociokulturell teori, som den ryske filosofen och psykologen Vygotskij lade grunden till. Han menade att vi lär oss bäst i en social kontext och hans teori har ofta använts i pedagogisk forskning och i skolans praktik. Studien visar att bibliotekarierna är kreativa och använder olika sorts material när de undervisar elever med IF, men att de också måste ta fram mycket material själva. Den visar också att de har rektorns och lärarnas stöd.  Men den visar också att skolbibliotekarier ofta är ensamma i sitt yrke på skolan, även om de har lärare som kollegor.

Bakgrund: Riktlinjer, rättigheter och lagar följs inte om den palliativa vården av patienter med intellektuella funktionsnedsättningar inte anpassas efter individen. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av att ge palliativ vård till patienter med intellektuella funktionsnedsättningar. Metod: Studien utfördes som en allmän litteraturstudie med induktiv ansats. Sju artiklar användes till resultatet och analyserades genom innehållsanalys. Resultat: Fem kategorier identifierades i beskrivningen av att ge palliativ vård till patienter med intellektuella funktionsnedsättningar: skapa en relation, anpassa kommunikation, behov av mer utbildning, samarbete i vårdteam samt samarbete med anhöriga. Bristande kunskap och svårigheter att kommunicera med patienten ansågs vara en utmaning för sjuksköterskor. Somliga utmaningar kunde överkommas genom att samarbeta med anhöriga och patientens nära vårdpersonal. Konklusion: Relationen till patienten, anpassad kommunikation och samarbete mellan sjuksköterskor, annan vårdpersonal samt anhöriga var viktiga delar i att uppnå god palliativ vård. Mer utbildning, mer forskning och tydligare riktlinjer krävs för att säker och likvärdig palliativ vård ska ges till patienter med intellektuella funktionsnedsättningar. / Background: Guidelines, rights and laws are not fulfilled if the palliative care of patients with intellectual disabilities is not adapted to the needs of the individual. Aim: The aim of the study was to describe nurses’ experiences of giving palliative care to patients with intellectual disabilities. Method: The study was carried out as a general literature study with inductive approach. Seven articles were used for the result and analysed through content analysis. Results: Five categories were identified in the description of giving palliative care to patients with intellectual disabilities: establish relationship, adapt communication, need of more education, cooperation with care team and cooperation with relatives. Lack of knowledge and difficulties to communicate with the patient were considered challenging to nurses. Some challenges could be overcome through cooperation with relatives and the patients’ close care staff. Conclusion: The relationship to the patient, customized communication and cooperation between nurses, other care staff and relatives were important parts for good palliative care to be performed. More education, more research and clearer guidelines is needed to ensure safe and equivalent palliative care for patients with intellectual disabilities.

People with intellectual/developmental disabilities experience exclusion from social spaces. In this dissertation, I address social inclusion in: a) research and b) peer relationships in the context of mental health services. To address inclusion in research, we conducted key informant interviews with academic researchers (n = 8) and co-researchers with intellectual disability (n = 6) who have expertise in inclusive research (study 1). Using principles of grounded theory we analyzed the data and developed a conceptual model describing the contextual factors and team-level factors that coalesce to foster and maintain inclusive research collaborations. We found that team members’ values and characteristics influence inclusive research collaborations and drive a commitment to accessibility. Additionally, perceived personal and societal benefits contribute to co-researcher involvement. Contextual factors, including funding and partnership duration, influence teams’ processes and structures. These processes and structures influence the extent to which co-researchers perceive the inclusive research team to be co-facilitated or academic-facilitated. This model describes how contextual and team-level factors and processes may be optimized to support co-researcher engagement in inclusive research. To address peer relationships in the context of mental health services, I used a stakeholder-driven approach to develop a peer mentoring intervention for young adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities and co-occurring mental health conditions (study 2). This approach included partnership with 3 young adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities and co-occurring mental health conditions and a 7 member advisory board composed of self-advocates and professionals. In addition, I conducted focus groups with mental health clinicians (n = 10), peer support specialists (n = 9), and transition specialists (n = 20) to identify the desired peer mentoring outcome and intervention components and content that may facilitate these outcomes. The focus group participants identified several relationship-driven and outcome-driven actions peer mentors may use to support outcome achievement. Stakeholders also identified five components relevant to the intervention: safety considerations, mentor matching, degree of intervention structure, mentor training and support, and collaboration with mentees’ support teams. These findings draw attention to the importance of social relationships and individualization of both mentoring and supports for mentors. Together, these two studies highlight the importance of valuing the unique strengths of people with disabilities and the need for task and environmental adaptations to foster social inclusion of people with intellectual/developmental disabilities. / 2021-06-18T00:00:00Z

Introduction: Numerous studies have examined caregiver burden and stress, yet few represent the perspective from the sibling caregiver of a person with a neurodevelopmental disorder within the context of occupational therapy practice. Therefore, this scoping review provides a review of current evidence. Aim: The aim of the study is to review current literature to find sibling caregiver perspectives on their roles as caregivers to an individual with a neurodevelopmental disorder and whether their perspectives can influence improvements to the occupational therapy practice. Method: A scoping review methodology was chosen to map out the available literature and summarise the findings. The author conducted this review using guidance from the Joanna Briggs Institute. Results: The review resulted in 11 articles and reviewed the perspectives of 1181 sibling participants. The findings resulted in five main themes: (1) Need for education and training opportunities in relation to caregiving; (2) Policy and guideline changes in relation to sibling caregiver involvement; (3) Sibling caregiver inclusion into the care pathway; (4) Need for improvements in service coordination; and (5) Sibling caregivers' lack of knowledge in guardianship matters. Conclusions: Both positive experiences and negative challenges were reported from sibling experiences when accessing healthcare services. Ideas and strategies were discussed by sibling caregivers in how to improve services. Significance:  This review identified practical strategies which can be used in occupational therapy practice to support and improve services in relation to working with sibling caregivers.

Studies and reports have shown that a significant portion of young individuals with intellectual disabilities who complete their studies at special needs upper-secondary school find themselves outside the labor market. Among these, a considerable number are described as being somewhere else, i.e., not in employment, education, or daily activities. This is despite Sweden, through the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Ds 2008:23), acknowledging their right to work on equal terms as others. The aim of this essay is to highlight the underlying reasons why young individuals with intellectual disabilities are excluded from the labor market and the reasons they find themselves in NEED (Not in Employment, Education, or Daily Activity). In a non-systematic literature review, twelve scientific articles found through PsycInfo and Libsearch were examined to address the challenges and opportunities that young individuals with intellectual disabilities face in relation to employment and work. The results were then analyzed based on theories of stigma, social justice, and developmental ecology. The findings primarily point to three reasons why young individuals with intellectual disabilities are excluded from labor markets and are in NEED: 1. stigmatization of the group, 2. structural barriers such as a complex welfare system and limited educational opportunities, and 3. difficulties in participating in today's work structure due to limited adaptive abilities.

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