The aim of this thesis is to analyze social inclusion among young adults with intellectual disabilities in small towns and rural community settings. The specific context is three small towns in south eastern Ontario in 2006/2007. A phenomenological study relying on a hermeneutics cycle is undertaken to derive an understanding from multiple sources. In the first instance, policy documents related to the province's approach to supports for adults with intellectual disabilities, the research literature on experiences of adults with intellectual disabilities in rural communities, and conceptual models of social inclusion were reviewed. Seventeen young adults with intellectual disabilities (20 to 28 years of age), their caregivers (n=13) and other community members (n=20) from the three selected towns were interviewed. The interviews included quantitative tools and open-ended questions. Data from the Canadian census were also used to characterize the towns. The data collected led to quantitative (counts, median scores, proportions) and qualitative (significant statements, formulated meanings, themes) analyses for comparisons within and across towns in order to reveal the role of context in social inclusion. The results highlight the importance of context. While similarities exist among the small towns in the region, they each have unique features which impact on the experience of social inclusion for young adults with intellectual disabilities. Key lessons are learned. Attention needs to be given to the availability and proximity of spaces and structures for interaction. The role played by developmental service agencies needs to be examined critically as it may hinder social inclusion and sense of belonging. As community involvement is easier for those seen as similar and sense of community is stronger among those who see themselves as similar, the socio-demographic profile of a town can be an important factor mitigating for or against social inclusion efforts. Finally, since residents of a small town who have a greater need for supports derive more sense of community from knowing that other residents are willing to help those in need, fostering caring communities may be as important as creating services specific to persons with intellectual disabilities. The need for geographers, epidemiologists and other social and life scientists to study persons with intellectual disabilities within the places where they live remains a research area where there is still much to learn and be done. / Thesis (Ph.D, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2012-09-17 12:24:42.783

The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of students with intellectual disability (ID) and their teachers throughout the implementation process of an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device. Two students and three teachers at an arts-based school for adults with developmental disabilities were trained by a speech and language pathologist on how to use the device. The students were selected by the teachers because they had limited ability to produce speech, and it was thought that they would benefit from using the device. The three teachers made up the school’s faculty, and the speech and language pathologist was selected based on her expertise working with people with developmental disabilities. Self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) framed the study, and, it guided the observations and discussion of this thesis. Student experiences were explained through the lens of this theory, but teacher experiences were more applicable to Guskey’s (1989) model of teacher change. This framework was used to interpret the experiences of the teachers. Data were collected through direct observations and teacher journals throughout the implementation process, and semi-structured interviews, post-implementation. A total of 10, one-hour observations per student were conducted between January 15, 2013 and March 11, 2013; with one additional observation of an unplanned follow-up session that lasted one-and-a-half hours on May 8, 2013. The researcher observed student communication and engagement before, during, and after the device was brought into the class. The implementation steps included: introduction and experimentation with the AAC device in-class; teacher-only training; in-class student coaching and modeling; and withdrawal of SLP support. This study found that that there were practical and logistical challenges with AAC device implementation for both students and teachers. Limited time for in-class training, strategic planning, goal-setting, and financial resources, such as funds to hire supply teachers so that teachers could observe in-class training, were barriers to implementation. One student, more than the other, used the AAC device to communicate throughout the study. Recommendations emerging from the study included more purposeful advance planning, goal-setting, developing teacher pedagogical knowledge prior to implementation, and collectively-planned in-class training sessions for students and teachers. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2014-01-30 11:38:38.195

Work may be a potential source of physical activity for adults with ID, and therefore may be beneficial to their health. Using a cross-sectional descriptive research design this study examined the contribution of work to the overall physical activity levels of adults with intellectual disabilities. GT3X Actigraph accelerometers were used to measure the physical activity intensity levels of six employed adults with intellectual disabilities over eight consecutive days. Intensity levels were categorized into sedentary, light, or moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). The overall physical activity levels were determined to establish whether participants met the Canadian physical activity guidelines for adults. In addition physical activity levels during work were compared to physical activity during non-work. Five out of the six participants met the Canadian physical activity guidelines of 150 minutes of MVPA per week. There were no significant differences between the amount of sedentary, light or MVPA during participant’s work and non-work. There were, however, medium and large effect sizes for physical activity levels during work versus non-work, showing that work had a substantial impact on physical activity behaviours. / Graduate / 0566

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis analyses legislative and judicial responses to parallel importation, a practice that pits intellectual property rights against the freedom of trade. Parallel importation involves the sale of genuine products holding intellectual property rights which have been imported into a country without the authorization of the IP rightholder. This practice is opposed by those who claim that their rights are infringed. The author examines responses in Canada, the United States of America, and the European Union, and finds that they are not consistent. / The author questions the applicability of using intellectual property rights to stop parallel importation and whether such measures are necessary to protect intellectual property rights and consumer welfare. According to the author, it is more appropriate to address rightholder concerns contractually. Consumer welfare can be assured with a statutory requirement that products have sufficient labelling to prevent confusion as to their origin.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / ABSTRACT This thesis reports on a study which explored the sexual health needs of men and teenage boys with a moderate to profound intellectual disability. Qualitative in design, this study was exploratory in nature as it sought to develop theoretical knowledge in male sexual health as a broad concept as opposed to testing a theory or hypothesis related to sexual health. Literature on sexuality and intellectual disability was reviewed in addition to male-specific literature on intellectual disability. In addition, mainstream literature on sexuality, sexual health, masculinity and men’s health was also reviewed. The literature review highlighted that the intellectual disability specific literature had largely ignored mainstream literature and had failed to acknowledge emerging work in men’s health and masculinities. Moreover, the literature identified a problematised focus toward sexual matters and males with an intellectual disability. The topic of enquiry was explored via an ethnomethodological design. Data consisted of interviews with 17 paid support staff, over 100 hours participant observation in community group homes, and triangulated with relevant artefacts from the field. The constant comparative method was used to analyse the data. Participants described the notion of men and teenage boys with a moderate to profound intellectual disability as being Conditionally Sexual. Conditionally Sexual was framed by three interconnected themes: 1) sexual development, 2) conditionally masculine, and 3) gendered service delivery. Through consideration of the implications to theory, practice, research, and policy, a propositional framework for a masculine health environment has been outlined. This framework is based on a salutogenic notion of male sexual health and the development of a healthy masculinity.

This thesis explores differences in the ways that intellectually disabled people are perceived, interpreted and related to within a Western context. Through a comparison of familial and institutionalised forms of relatedness, it examines the interrelation between these differences and the consequences that they have for either denying or acknowledging severely intellectually disabled people's capacities for sociality. Drawing on Carrithers' (1992) concept of sociality and mutuality, and Wittgenstein's (1953) notion of language games, the thesis analyses the means by which a meaningful and shared existence with intellectually disabled people can be negotiated and developed. Although limited and restricted in their capacities for symbolic expression, such people do have modalities of symbolic life upon which sociality can be built. By analysing the symbolic practices utilised by my three profoundly intellectually disabled siblings, I seek to show how relationships across the difference of intellectual disability are able to be symbolically mediated and negotiated. I argue that it is necessary to engage in relations of mutual interdependence in order to even recognise and perceive these practices as purposeful and meaningful. The mutuality that ensues requires a level of intimacy, empathy and commitment that is not easily sustainable, but which is necessary for the maintenance of intellectually disabled people's existence as social beings. These intimate relations are contrasted with clinical and institutional forms of relatedness, both of which have been informed and shaped by a symbolic scheme of reason and normality. This symbolic scheme associates a capacity for reason with normal humanness, where reason is identified as particular abstract, linguistic, mental practices that are then deemed necessary for sociality. These are what intelligence tests measure, and it is through such assessments that intellectually disabled people are rendered asocial. The pathologising of intellectual disability as an abnormal embodiment, and the clinical tendency to search only for deficits in functioning and ability, has led to a denial or ignorance of intellectually disabled people's abilities to be the independent sustainers and authors of mutuality and sociality. I draw on my family's medical notes, records from the institution where two of my siblings were sent to live, as well as observations made during twelve months of fieldwork with a group of intellectually disabled people attending an activities centre, and either living in community group homes or with their families, to elucidate the ways in which such interpretations of intellectual disability become instituted into daily practice. The instituting of training and management practices within day centres, group homes and institutions for the intellectually disabled are a consequence of the perception that intellectually disabled people have no capacity for sociality as they are. So too are the legal and structural obligations that inform the forms of relatedness that staff have with the intellectually disabled people with whom they work. These relations are based on separation and disengagement rather than mutuality and intimacy. The aim in these institutionalised environments is to instil in such people a range of normative social, domestic and vocational skills as though it is upon these that their capacity as social beings are dependent. As a result, the symbolic practices and dispositional behaviours through which intellectually disabled people express themselves are not recognised as such, nor are they engaged with. This undermines intellectually disabled people's capacity to be joint contributors to social life in a way which incorporates their differences rather than trying to transform them.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / ABSTRACT This thesis reports on a study which explored the sexual health needs of men and teenage boys with a moderate to profound intellectual disability. Qualitative in design, this study was exploratory in nature as it sought to develop theoretical knowledge in male sexual health as a broad concept as opposed to testing a theory or hypothesis related to sexual health. Literature on sexuality and intellectual disability was reviewed in addition to male-specific literature on intellectual disability. In addition, mainstream literature on sexuality, sexual health, masculinity and men’s health was also reviewed. The literature review highlighted that the intellectual disability specific literature had largely ignored mainstream literature and had failed to acknowledge emerging work in men’s health and masculinities. Moreover, the literature identified a problematised focus toward sexual matters and males with an intellectual disability. The topic of enquiry was explored via an ethnomethodological design. Data consisted of interviews with 17 paid support staff, over 100 hours participant observation in community group homes, and triangulated with relevant artefacts from the field. The constant comparative method was used to analyse the data. Participants described the notion of men and teenage boys with a moderate to profound intellectual disability as being Conditionally Sexual. Conditionally Sexual was framed by three interconnected themes: 1) sexual development, 2) conditionally masculine, and 3) gendered service delivery. Through consideration of the implications to theory, practice, research, and policy, a propositional framework for a masculine health environment has been outlined. This framework is based on a salutogenic notion of male sexual health and the development of a healthy masculinity.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Capella University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-115).