CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / A busca pelo Ensino Superior tem levado anualmente milhares de jovens do paÃs inteiro a se inscreverem no Exame Nacional do Ensino MÃdio (ENEM). Inicialmente criado, em 1998, com o objetivo de avaliar o desempenho do estudante ao final da EducaÃÃo BÃsica, a partir do ano de 2009, passou a ser utilizado como ferramenta de seleÃÃo para a EducaÃÃo Superior. Tal exame, que na atualidade apresenta vÃrios objetivos, deve assegurar a todos, indistintamente, o acesso, conforme previsto no princÃpio jurÃdico da igualdade ou da isonomia, que afirma que todos sÃo iguais perante a lei. O ENEM, portanto, deve prover recursos que garantam a igualdade a todos que dele desejem participar, sendo necessÃria, aos organizadores desse exame, a preocupaÃÃo em disponibilizar recursos que atendam adequadamente as necessidades daqueles que apresentam especificidades em seu desenvolvimento, comportamento, mobilidade, entre outros. Dentre aqueles que necessitam de recursos diferenciados para se sentirem incluÃdos estÃo as pessoas marcadas pela surdez, caracterÃstica esta que provoca no indivÃduo um modo diferenciado e particular de desenvolvimento, visto que a audiÃÃo à um dos principais elementos responsÃveis pela aquisiÃÃo da linguagem e sua ausÃncia irà interferir na constituiÃÃo e desenvolvimento do pensamento, memÃria e de outros processos psicolÃgicos bÃsicos. Apesar da existÃncia do princÃpio da isonomia em nossa legislaÃÃo, sÃo muitos os relatos de queixas de estudantes surdos que nÃo se sentem contemplados nos recursos de acessibilidades previstos pelo Inep para a realizaÃÃo do ENEM. Exemplo disso à que, ao longo dos anos, temos encontrado diversas manifestaÃÃes advindas da sociedade civil, seja por meio de mÃdias sociais ou atravÃs da procura dos meios jurÃdicos, para a conquista do direito a esse princÃpio bÃsico no ENEM. A pesquisa que se apresenta a seguir intenciona investigar as condiÃÃes avaliativas de acessibilidade no Exame Nacional do Ensino MÃdio â ENEM para alunos com surdez na cidade de Fortaleza, estado do CearÃ. A realidade que se desenha justifica a importÃncia social da realizaÃÃo de pesquisas que possam investigar e aprofundar conhecimentos sobre a temÃtica. Academicamente, uma pesquisa na Ãrea se justifica pela escassez de material cientÃfico que trate sobre o assunto e pela importÃncia de construir conhecimentos mais consistentes sobre a acessibilidade no ENEM. Para realizaÃÃo dessa investigaÃÃo, foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa, na forma de um estudo de caso. Foram utilizados como instrumentos o questionÃrio, a anÃlise de documentos e a entrevista semiestruturada. Os resultados apontam para a inadequaÃÃo de recursos de acessibilidade para candidatos surdos, pois estes apresentam grande dificuldade na compreensÃo da lÃngua portuguesa, o que favorece uma incompreensÃo do que à solicitado pelas questÃes do ENEM, que apresentam longos textos em seus enunciados. Os resultados apontam que os surdos nÃo possuem autonomia nesse exame e dependem quase que exclusivamente do intÃrprete para a sua compreensÃo.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) and depression are each major public health issues globally. Nigeria currently has the largest proportion of people with SCD worldwide, with up to 150,000 annual births. This study highlights the limitations of previous studies, which only utilize the biomedical model in explaining SCD, and which pay insufficient attention to the lived experiences of people with SCD. Extant literature reports strong associations between SCD and depression, and locates the problem ‘only’ in terms of disease severity, levels of service utilization or alleged psychological maladjustment to SCD condition. Biomedical research tends to treat stigma as a predicament that automatically correlates with SCD. Data collected was guided by a modified three-staged theoretical framework derived from Arthur Kleinman, with the use of questionnaires (incorporating Patient Health Questionnaire) to describe depression in persons with SCD; 15 in-depth interviews to explore the illness experience of SCD, and a series of six focus groups to examine depression and stigma in SCD as a form of ‘societal sickness’. In the first stage, questionnaires were administered to 103 outpatients at an SCD clinic in Lagos, Nigeria, and findings revealed an association of depression with age, and severity of SCD as indicated by symptoms such as leg ulcers. The first stage enabled those with moderate depression to be identified and invited into the subsequent stages (two and three) of the research. In the second stage, fifteen in-depth interviews with adults living with SCD were conducted and analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), also drawing on the influences of Herbert Blumer and Erving Goffman. Testimonies suggested that people with SCD face overwhelmingly negative criticisms from a wide range of significant others, including close family members; that the discrimination they face arises not from their condition per se but from the societal norms and expectation that they are assumed to break; and that they themselves identify pathways from the negative experience they endure to their own depression and mental distress. In the third stage, a series of three focus groups, each with five participants, found that people with SCD began to reject negative labels, identify challenges in their own terms, gain a sense of confidence and identity from their participation in groups, and began to identify social barriers to their full participation in society that they wished to challenge. The overall findings of the research suggest that by coming together in groups, people with SCD themselves suggest that rigorously researched social interventions may be considered an important adjunct to medical interventions in improving the lives of those living with SCD in Nigeria and throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

This diploma thesis deals with the social policies of the European Union and with poverty. Social policies are divided into five social models, based on basic typologies. Individual social models are characterized separately and the claims are supported by appropriate economic indicators. The practical part builds on these theoretical foundations and examines the dependence of variables and social models. Based on the indicators of poverty, the social situation of the individual states of the European Union is defined. Dependencies were created using indicators of poverty and economic variables. A generalized linear model was designed to determine the dependence of the social situation in the EU based on selected factors.

The purpose of this thesis was to explore socially constructed discursive barriers to physical activity for people with physical disabilities. This research was informed by a critical disability studies framework. Eight interviews were conducted, split between end-users and stakeholders. The end-user article discusses their perspectives with regard to their own PA participation, their use of PA resources, and their views of how disability is constructed. The stakeholder article deals with their views with regard to Canada’s progress in creating inclusive PA guidelines, the research process as it effects people with physical disabilities, and how disability is constructed. The results showed awareness among both groups of the social model of disability, but that the medical model is still firmly rooted. Work is needed to create inclusive promotional materials and disseminate them effectively. An effective advocacy and lobbying effort was suggested as one avenue towards a possible solution to this issue.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005, and the domestic law surrounding it, is currently in a state of instability, having undergone rigorous scrutiny by the House of Lords Select Committee. At an international level, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006 has cast substantial doubt over the very basis of this legal framework. The recommendations made by the Select Committee, and any resulting action by the government to address these, will be hoped to have an impact on the implementation of the legislation on those falling within its remit. On a deeper level, however, this thesis seeks to critically engage with the theoretical underpinnings which inform and guide this legislative framework. This entails a questioning of the ways in which those with disabilities and their carers are responded to under the statute. Exploring the theoretical debates in this context leads to a conclusion that the Act promulgates an individualistic approach to the concept of mental capacity, and does not adequately reflect the reality and lived experiences of those deemed to lack capacity or their informal carers. The papers in this thesis interrogate these issues through a focus on three distinct areas- carers interests under the best interests test; the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards though a social model lens; and capacity to consent to sex. In doing so, this thesis suggests that more relationally and contextually focused approaches can inform a legal framework which is attentive and responsive to the interwoven interests of those with cognitive impairments and their carers, and which facilitates the enjoyment of rights through a focus on the societal, structural and institutional barriers which have historically worked to exclude these individuals.

While there has been research regarding the effectiveness of teaching strategies to teach science to students with learning disabilities (LD), the viewpoints and experiences of students with learning disabilities using narratives have not received the same attention. This study was conducted to explore the beliefs and feelings of students with learning disabilities about their science learning experiences during their high school years. Vygotsky’s theory on Social Constructivism was used to examine the interaction of cognitive processes such as perceptions and attributions; behavioral features such as social skills and communication difficulties; and, environmental factors such as teaching techniques and peer interactions. These factors are interacting determinants of learning and classroom participation. Due to the social nature of schooling and disability, the social model of disability approach was considered the most efficient way to address this issue of learning of science with learning disabilities. Eight undergraduate students with LD were interviewed about their experiences of learning science in mainstream science classrooms. Four themes emerged after thematic analysis of the narrative interview data: a) understanding of learning disability; b) finding resources and strategies for learning science with LD; c) overcoming difficulties in learning science with technology; d) learner autonomy and science learning experiences with LD. The salient feature of these themes showed that the participants had an adequate understanding of their LDs, and the difficulties they faced in learning of science subjects due to their learning disabilities. The stigmatizing experiences of low achievement in science subjects and the initial reaction of some teachers triggered sad and angry feelings, and all the students longed to be more pushed to their higher potential in science learning. Participants then sought help from More Knowledgeable Others (MKO), they used assistive technology and developed their own strategies to overcome difficulties they were facing in learning science. The difficulties in learning of science subjects indicated by the participants have consequences; these difficulties may result in student’s reduced motivation in learning, disengagement from school, leaving school prematurely, and may cause depression in students who drop out of school. These possible consequences and the dissatisfaction expressed by the participants in this study implicate a need to continually assess students with LDs knowledge of, perceptions of, and experiences with their science learning, both in research and actual practice. In turn, this greater consideration of participant’s viewpoints may have a positive influence on the success of high school science education programs and the social-emotional development of students with LD.

Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to try to contribute to the research about adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in public libraries. The two research questions this study attempts to answer are: How do the public libraries in a Swedish city work to increase accessibility for adults on the autism spectrum? And, what possibilities are there for the public libraries to help adults on the spectrum be more socially included and increase accessibility (as defined by the social model of disability) to create a more socially sustainable library? The study has two different research methods, because the lack of previous research necessitated a basic quantitative survey to start with. The survey was distributed to public libraries in a Swedish city. The results of the survey showed, with a few exceptions, that the respondents do not work for adults with ASD. In addition to the survey, a qualitative comparative analysis of international projects was made to examine different ways of working towards the group. The projects were analysed to examine ways to work towards the group, based on an understanding of barriers based on the social model of disability. The analysis showed that projects often contained an informational course on ASD and that a social network was an important component for further skills development. It is problematic, from a social sustainability perspective, when a group in society is excluded from the mind set of societal institutions. Adults with ASD are by law a prioritized group for the Swedish libraries and the work towards accessibility should reflect that.

The aim of this PhD thesis was to illustrate the modernisation of Swedish and British welfare policies during the time of the EU’s Lisbon Agenda which aimed at reconciling social protection with labour market integration. Specifically it should be illustrated if both countries managed to cope with the weaknesses and shortcomings that European policy recommendations identified in relation to unemployment benefits, social assistance schemes, parental leave systems and childcare subsidies. The attempt to grasp which role (European) ‘ideas’ were able to play in national welfare modernisation processes between 1998-2008 constituted a key consideration in this regard. By using a case-study design it is worked out that Sweden and Great Britain followed their European recommendations; not completely but significantly. Yet, causal connections can hardly be established and the overall development doesn’t constitute a ‘top-down’ implementation of EU recommendations. In both cases a discourse analysis reveals that the realization of European ideas rather depends on party-political preferences and the arrangement of national discourses. It is shown that ideas become powerful in puzzling situations when existing discourses are challenged and in line with the work of authors like Jørgen Goul Anderssen or Vivien A. Schmidt this thesis confirms the importance of an actor-centred perspective for explaining welfare policies. Considering Sweden as a socialdemocratic and Great Britain as a liberal welfare regime the PhD thesis aims as well at contributing to a better understanding of how policy reforms affected these two differing regime types. For the time during the Lisbon Agenda it holds that they moved ‘closer’ to each other and that welfare modernisation can be described as an exercise of making the social democratic welfare regime a better social democratic welfare regime and of making the liberal welfare regime a better liberal welfare regime. Yet, in 2008 the international financial crisis hit the EU and two years later the Lisbon Strategy was replaced by the EU 2020 Strategy. The PhD thesis takes these developments into account, illustrates the major changes in Swedish and British welfare policies and compares them to the research period. Rather untypical developments in Sweden lead to the conclusion that there might be a certain ‘carousel-effect’ which seems to kind of reallocate ‘problems’ and ‘solutions’ between the different welfare regimes. For Great Britain the conclusion is drawn, that the conservative coalition government triggered a transformation process which wasn’t first and foremost caused by the international financial crisis but represented more of a political choice to make the liberal welfare regime more liberal.

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Staff who work in front line, direct contact support positions with community based clients with acquired brain injuries (ABI) hold unique responsibilities, and face unique challenges in their work due to the combination of three key factors: autonomous work environments, socially sanctioned power status over clients, and the decision making deficits of clients with ABI. These factors further contribute challenges to staff in the presently complex and ambiguous outreach context, where the embedded ideologies of the medical model of treatment remain in tension with the purported ideologies of the social model of disability and client self determination that drive outreach services. Using constructivist grounded theory methods and narrative and interpretive analysis strategies, this research interviewed fifteen (15) ABI outreach support workers to explore and examine their perceptions of the outreach context, how they negotiate decision spaces, and how they deal with the central ethical dilemma of outreach - achieving balance between their duty of care and the client's dignity of risk. The thesis documents decision making strategies used by the interview participants, examines the factors that influence their decision space when in the field with clients, and explores the role staff awareness of professional and personal values plays in making decisions in the best of interest of the client. Staff awareness is shown to be a critical, yet oft neglected factor in consideration of staff ethical decision making in ABI outreach. Implications for best practices in the field are discussed. / PhD Doctorate