The need to address poverty issues in the global South, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, provides a compelling rationale for promoting the inclusion and participation of disabled people in society. However, disabled people face difficulties to participate in society due not only to societal barriers, but also to particular impairments that they may have. This study explores disabled people's experiences in the domains of the family and wider community, including in education/training, economic activities and strategic decision-making processes in Ghana The study is based on qualitative, participatory techniques and workshops in both rural and urban areas in Eastern region and Accra Metropolis, Ghana Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 disabled men and women, 21 professionals working in NGOs and institutions, and nine strategic infrmnants. In addition, three focus group discussions involving 24 disabled people and two participatory road mapping workshops involving 12 disabled people were conducted between July 201 1 and September 2012. The findings revealed that the factors that influenced disabled people's everyday experiences were embodied, attitudinal, physical and institutional in nature. Barriers to disabled people's participation included the effects of impairments, such as pain and stigma, negative perceptions of disabled people's capabilities and an inaccessible built environment and public services. The emotional, material and financial support provided by family members and peer support groups were vital to disabled people's participation in society. Gender, rura1/urban residence and impairment type emerged as significant factors shaping disabled people's experiences. Development actors adopted a range of strategies and practices to promote the inclusion of disabled people in development processes. Development actors' interpretations of 'inclusion' informed the provision of 'segregated' or 'integrated' services, such as vocational training, income-generation businesses and leisure and recreational activities for disabled people. Factors that hindered the development and implementation of inclusion strategies and programmes included: negative attitudes among development professionals, limited capacity of development agencies, little political will and lack of multi-agency coordination in the disability-development sector. The thesis concludes that in order to tackle the multifaceted and deep-seated inequalities experienced by disabled people, there is the need for greater political commitment to disabled people's rights and building partnerships and multi-sectoral responses across the State, voluntary and private sectors. This would help to ensure that disabled people's rights are fulfilled and they are able to participate in society on an equal basis with others.

This study seeks to investigate how lifetime home standards (LTHS) and lifetime homes can become more inclusive of the needs of visually impaired people in the context of Northern Ireland (N!). The research aims to contribute to architectural knowledge and investigates the experiences of key stakeholders, including visually impaired building users, on the subject of lifetime homes. LTHS consist of sixteen design standards that aim to reduce the need to adapt the home as its occupants grow older. It has become apparent in the course of this study, that the requirements of building users with visual impairment are not sufficiently accommodated within LTHS, with the research instead suggesting that their focus to date concentrates primarily on aiding those with mobility impairment. A mixed method research approach is utilised comprising qualitative methodologies underpinned by Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and on-site surveys. The research demonstrates that lifetime homes in NI could become more inclusive of visually impaired people by improving the allocation process, the increased use of Post-Occupancy Evaluations (POEs) and the design of housing in NI. Although findings generally indicate that LTHS have a positive effect on occupants' lives, it is clear that there are also housing allocation and design challenges. Subsequently, changes are recommended for practice with a view to improving the inclusiveness of lifetime homes in the context of this thesis. The research establishes a requirement to revise existing space standards and current Department of Social Development policies which contradict L THS. This study also proposes future research to revise the existing Evolve-for Vision 9hecklist and to integrate it alongside current LTHS to introduce a more effective POE tool. The implications of these findings demonstrate the need for policy makers, sensory support teams and architects to make changes in practice to meet the needs of visually impaired people in the home.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the current Lebanese social policy and practices concerning disabled children in general and visually impaired children in particular on the social construction of disabling identities. This is relevant to current national and global disability rights movements, which infrequently take children and their specific issues into consideration. It is particularly pertinent to Lebanon which passed its first rights-based disability law in 2000 and continues to struggle with its implementation. This study was conducted through an organisational ethnography of a residential institution for children with severe visual impairments and was supplemented by interviews with the children, some members of their families, teachers, staff and alumni from the institution, as well as participant observation sessions at integrative settings, and interviews with parents and activists pursuing inclusion. The analysis focused on investigating the inclusionary versus exclusionary nature of policy and practice; the availability of mechanisms allowing for children's participation in these contexts; and the impact of these practices on the self-identities of disabled children. Theoretically, the analysis built on current literature in disability studies and the sociology of childhood, as well as drawing on Foucauldian ideas of power, control and surveillance and applying Goffman's concepts of stigma and the concept of a total institution. The findings show that rights based legislation cannot on its own result in inclusive changes of policy and practice. In the absence of implementation mechanisms, practices remain predominantly exclusionary, with no effective mechanisms for the meaningful participation of parents or children, eventually socialising the children into disabled identities. Children 8 - 12 years of age were not exhibiting any noticeable resistance to the systems of control, and had adopted the discriminatory values relating to disability exhibited around them.

This thesis is a historical investigation of how British governments in the late twentieth century defined and responded to disability. It uses official records and publications, the archives of prominent voluntary organisations and some oral histories. The period between 1965 and 1995 saw the rise of pan-impairment organisations campaigning for the recognition of disabled people’s financial needs and, later, for civil rights. It was therefore a time of great political change, resulting in extensive reforms to both social security and anti-discrimination legislation. Examining Deborah Stone’s ‘distributive dilemma’, I argue that government policies towards disabled people centred on their poverty rather than encouraging their equal participation in society. Although voluntary organisations successfully brought public attention to, and concern for, the needs of disabled people, they were unable to secure legislative change to the extent that they had hoped. Internal bureaucratic momentum in the British government resulted in the extension of disability benefits in the 1970s and their retention in the 1980s and 1990s. However, such reforms were piecemeal and constrained by the economic problems during the period. Within these confines, governments did take on board arguments by disability groups, but understood and reinterpreted them within their own political traditions. Existing histories of this period are either incomplete or written by the very activists involved. A concentration on the “social model” of disability has led to highly politicised accounts which both obscure the context of government policy and the motivations and constitution of lobbying organisations. I argue that existing ideal types for voluntary groups are problematic in the field of disability. Further, while there may appear to have been “consensus” of disability policy at various points, understanding the difference between social democratic, liberal and neo-liberal approaches to disability allows us to construct a more nuanced history of the period.

Dwarfism is a medical condition which results in a person being no taller than 4ft 10” (Adelson, 2005a). Academic research and literature relating to the lives of dwarfs remains limited and thus this thesis aims to create a broader understanding of the social and spatial experiences of dwarfs whilst attempting to respond to some of the misconceptions about dwarfism, including its lack of recognition as a disability. This study is based within Social Geography, and the sub-fields geographies of disability and geographies of body size. Using qualitative methods, in the form of semistructured interviews, and the incorporation of visual methods, this thesis aims to bring to light the views and experiences of 22 dwarfs living in the UK. Disability can be understood as a product of society as opposed to a person’s bodily difference. Using the social relational model of disability this study aims to show how public spaces can be disabling for dwarfs, through the creation of both socio-spatial barriers and social restraints which can affect how they negotiate spaces. The study demonstrates how socio-spatial barriers are created by inaccessible spaces and facilities, which are designed and implemented for people of average stature, and the different ways participants deal with them, including through resistance and avoidance. Building upon socio-spatial barriers, in this study I also question the suitability of disabled spaces and facilities, including whether or not they are accessible and if participants are challenged when using them. The study also considers how cultural representations of dwarfs affect how they are perceived and treated by other members of the public. I argue that cultural representations of dwarfs encourage social restraints which in turn affect a dwarf’s use of public spaces. Overall this study contributes to both geographies of disability and geographies of body size, through showing how a body difference, which is predominately about height, is disabled by a ‘one size fits all’ built environment and social attitudes.

No description available.

Background: Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) is the strategy promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other United Nations (UN) agencies as an effective way to improve the lives and wellbeing of people with disabilities in underserved regions. During the last decade CBR has undergone major reconceptualization, and is now a multi-sectorial approach, as reflected in the new CBR guidelines. Evaluation of Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR) is considered important for developing good practice. However, evaluations remain scarce and as a consequence very little is known about how CBR benefits persons with disabilities and their families. Consensus is lacking about appropriate evaluation methods in CBR. Leading international frameworks such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the WHO CBR Guidelines have participation as one of the core principles in their human rights based approach to disability, including participation in programme evaluation. The WHO CBR Guidelines strongly recommend the application of participatory evaluation (PE) approaches in CBR. However, while there are many models of PE in mainstream development, it is unclear which may be appropriate for use in CBR. The aim of this research is to identify, field test, adapt and assess an existing model of Participatory Evaluation (PE) in a real world environment. This thesis, rather than researching the impact of CBR on people with disabilities, focuses on the evaluation process itself and the variables that affect changes in stakeholders thinking and behavior as a result of engagement in the evaluation. Methodology There were two research components: 1. Selection of PE model to be adapted to CBR: Three steps were taken to provide background for an expert group to select one model for field-testing: An online survey of current evaluation capacities and practices within CBR programmes internationally; A systematic review of PE models used in international development; A Delphi study with CBR experts to derive criteria for good PE models for CBR. The expert group used the research findings and selected Outcome Mapping (OM) as PE model to be implemented and field-tested in a CBR programme in Jamaica. 2. Field testing of the PE model in a Jamaican CBR programme: This research component consisted of three main elements: The implementation and adaptation of PE (OM) in a Jamaican CBR Programme; Interviews and focus groups collecting narratives about the evaluation process from stakeholders were undertaken to explore the usability of the adapted PE model in this programme. Changes in “process use”, i.e. how the stakeholders in the evaluation learned from and acted upon their involvement in the PE processes, were explored; The participatory development of a framework that participants felt could guide PE in CBR, one that can be locally adapted to different situations. Conclusion: The evaluation participants felt there were significant limitations of the OM approach in their setting and therefore proposed a substantially modified model. They favored a more fluid PE framework, which was flexible, adaptive and iterative, rather than a rigid approach, and one that focused on creating a safe space for sharing, learning and taking action. The thesis concludes with a call for more critical and bottom-up approaches of evaluation that move away from control-oriented approaches towards a more experimental and adaptive problem and process-orientated mindset of evaluative thinking.

From war-wounded soldiers' stories of heroic sacrifice, to disability rights activists' calls to action, practices of disability defy definition. The current World Health Organization definition of disability centres on the lack of ability; but there is more to disability than that. While activists have tried to move our understandings of disability away from bodies into the social realm, I would suggest that disability is better understood as a convergence between the body and the socio-political cum religious discourses which inform 'normal' bodily presentation. Therefore this thesis examines the intersection between a plurality of disability discourses and the ways that persons with disabilities engage or disengage themselves from these discourses according to their religious and political inclinations. My research is based on two years of fieldwork in Lebanon where I conducted unstructured interviews and engaged in participant observation with individuals and groups working with disability. I worked with disability rights activists, and residents at "rehabilitation" hospitals, as well as people outside any type of group or organization who did not always define themselves as 'disabled'. Situated at the cross-roads of the Middle East and Europe, Lebanon's Muslim, secular and Christian communities identify with decidedly different ideologies. Twenty years after the civil war, many of these communities remain antagonistic. Disability in Lebanon serves as an alternative lens through which to view these competing ideologies, therefore exposing the tension between traditional versus cosmopolitan concepts of the body and individual, the fissures between different communities, and also between these communities and the state. By tracing personal narratives of disability I show how disabled men and woman actively engage with discourses of disability. I found that disabled people discarded negative beliefs about bodily deviation, and utilized more enabling discourses in order to craft themselves as good and "functioning" citizens of the state. The struggle between different disability groups showed that they are fighting for more than a place for disabled people in society, but also sought to claim the image of the nation itself. Those disability groups which were oriented toward Lebanon's structure of sectarian governance were more successful than those based on alternative structures of plurality and self-asserted non-sectarianism. By placing these competing narratives of disability within a historical frame my research bridges ethnographic analyses of the body with the social and political discourses, which imbue these bodies with meaning. Further, by examining the ways in which Lebanon's different communities negotiate their relative positions within the current "disabled" state, my research adds to an understanding of how not only people, but communities re-imagine, re-create and re-enable the nation.

No description available.