Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 took effect in 2001 and provides encouragement for universal design and compliance requirements to the federal sector for purchases that are accessible by people with disabilities. A division of General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems (GDAIS) is located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and provides electronic and information technology solutions to federal customers in the defense, intelligence, and homeland security communities. The general lack of training is a major factor for low compliance to Section 508. Improving awareness is important at GDAIS in order to increase its federal sales market share, develop new products and services, transfer technology to other fields, and support a global market for users with different human conditions. The study aimed to implement a computer-based training program for design engineers and managers within GDAIS to foster universal design skills and increase accessibility awareness. The four-level model created by Donald L. Kirkpatrick was utilized to evaluate the training. Survey, test, and interview instruments were designed to evaluate the reaction, learning, and behavior of the participants. An expert panel provided validation and reliability of the instruments. A case study methodology was used to analyze Section 508 compliance in depth for four months. Also analyzed were the possible effects of the training on the engineering design, the organization both financial and cultural, and the individual. Learning of the standards and universal design concepts through better application of usability and accessibility features were improved. While the training did improve compliance slightly, there was a lack of Section 508 inclusion within solicitations. The organizational culture to support the disabled community showed a possibility of improving through awareness and education.

Submitted by Maria Aparecida (cidazen@gmail.com) on 2017-04-26T14:41:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Denisson Gonçalves.pdf: 2137540 bytes, checksum: 6d45b85c224614c1d0ac06f3d7d37728 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-26T14:41:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Denisson Gonçalves.pdf: 2137540 bytes, checksum: 6d45b85c224614c1d0ac06f3d7d37728 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-09 / Nowadays, the deficiency is a multidimensional thematic, approached by the most various areas of the Science, from the spheres of health, like medicine, to Social Sciences, such as Law and Politics. However, this plurivision is something recent, so that until the middle of the 21st century a purely biomedical perspective of the phenomenon of disability prevailed in a hegemonic way, considering it as pathology. The social model of disability emerges as an innovative paradigm, defining disability as the livingness in bodies with impairments in environments with barriers. In these terms, it becomes part of human diversity, not a stigma. In spite of this interpretative revolution, the deficiency is still governed by common standards, by charitable attitudes or even relegated to social invisibility. The Brazilian Law contains a vast number of protective norms for people with disabilities, however, they need enforcement. This misfortune is due in part to the lack of studies on this topic from a legal perspective. Furthermore, even within the sociology of health, the social model is still poorly diffused. Therefore, the objective of this work is to analyze the social model of disability from a Law perspective, showing "if" and "how" the internal legal system is adopting such archetype. The methodology used was the analysis of the content of national and international decisions and legislations, as well as the bibliographic review about the disability. The results found in this study show that the Brazilian State has a mechanism to enforce the rights of people with functional diversity, though, obstacles, such as invisibility, prejudice and socioinstitutional disengagement represent environmental barriers that generate and promote the exclusion of the disabled. / Hodiernamente, a deficiência é uma temática multidimensional, podendo ser abordada pelas mais variadas áreas da Ciência, desde as esferas da saúde, como a medicina, até as Ciências Sociais, como o Direito e Política. Entretanto, esta plurivisão é algo recente, de maneira que até meados do século XXI prevalecia de modo hegemônico uma perspectiva puramente biomédica do fenômeno da deficiência, considerando-a como uma patologia. O modelo social da deficiência surge como um paradigma inovador, definindo deficiência como a vivência em corpos com impedimentos em ambientes com barreiras. Neste sentido, ela se torna parte da diversidade humana e não um estigma. Apesar dessa revolução interpretativa, a deficiência ainda é governada pelos ditames do senso comum, por posturas caritativas ou mesmo relegada à invisibilidade social. O Direito brasileiro contém um amplo rol de normas protetivas das pessoas com deficiência, que contudo, carecem de densificação. Essa mazela deve-se em parte a carência de estudos sobre a temática pela ótica jurídica. Ademais, mesmo no âmbito da sociologia da saúde, o modelo social ainda é pouco difundido. Portanto, o objetivo deste trabalho é analisar o modelo social da deficiência pela perspectiva do Direito, demonstrando “se” e “como” o ordenamento jurídico interno está adotando tal arquétipo. A metodologia utilizada foi a análise de conteúdo de decisões e legislações nacionais e internacionais, bem como a revisão bibliográfica sobre a deficiência. Os resultados encontrados demonstram que o Estado brasileiro dispõe de mecanismo de efetivação dos direitos das pessoas com diversidade funcional, todavia, óbices, como a invisibilidade, preconceito e descomprometimento socioinstitucional representam barreiras ambientais que geram e promovem a exclusão dos deficientes.

The aim of this thesis is to identify how a social citizenship for people with disabilities is shaped bythe normative structures in the Swedish, Danish and Norwegian law governing their right to transportin everyday life. The thesis deals with three types of transport provided by the public to private individuals: transport services, car allowances, and cash benefits for reimbursing transport costs forpeople with disabilities. For each provision, the focus of the study is directed by the followingquestions: – Is there a rights/duties relationship between the public and the individual? Who is eligible forprovision? How does public funding impact entitlement? Who is obliged to provide? What are thelegal guarantees for entitlement? Despite objectives within Nordic law and policy that people with disabilities should be compensated for their impairments, and allowed to lead independent and autonomous lives, the results from the thesis show that the various transport provisions do not fully realize this. The legal relations between the public and those with needs for transport in their everyday lives are characterized by control, scrutiny and questioning. In order to protect the public budgets from costs, the eligibility criteria in the law are so constructed as to ensure that only certain needs for transport, and only some impairments, can meet them. The national, regional and municipal governments, and the administrative courts, subject people with disabilities to intrusive inquiries regarding personal details and other circumstances in their lives, in order to be able to judge which needs for transport are to be considered legitimate and which are not. The thesis shows that the individual rights to, especially, Swedish and Norwegian transport provisions are poorly protected against political decisions to cut funding. Local and regional self-governance isan interest that always competes with individual legal rights and make them weaker, irrespective of whether these rights can be appealed in administrative courts. The conclusion in the thesis highlights how a social citizenship is shaped in the law governing the right to transport for people with disabilities, and that this social citizenship does not reinforce independence and individual autonomy for those who are dependent on the various provisions tomeet their needs for transport in their everyday lives.

Foucault's 'governmentality approach' developed the notion of 'dividing practices' (1991; see Seddon 2007) which recognises that how individuals and groups are categorised determines how they are governed. This thesis draws on critical disability studies and criminological literature on 'doing justice to difference' to develop a disability perspective in criminology, in order to analyse the governance of offenders with autism. It argues that there is descriptive and normative value in proactively categorising these groups as 'disabled' under the 'social model' of disability. The social model of disability is helpful in enabling us to distinguish between impairment and disablement. It allows us to comprehend the 'psy' literature, which explores the link between the 'symptomatology' of autism and criminality (the 'impairment branch' of the distinction) in combination with the 'interconnecting variables' (Browning and Caulfield, 2011) which lead offenders with autism into the criminal justice system and their inequitable experiences (the 'disablement branch' of the distinction). This is timely given the entrenchment of this model in the Equality Act 2010 and the inception of the Autism Act 2009, Statutory Guidance (DOH, 2010; 2015) and related policy. Using cross-method triangulation of qualitative data collected through interviews with elites and practitioners, textual analysis and court observation of eight adult defendants with autism through their court process, this thesis investigates why the status of this group as disabled under the Equality Act 2010 has been overlooked in criminal justice policy and criminal court decision-making. It examines the extent to which policy-makers and criminal justice decision-makers consider the defendant's autism in their decision-making about the defendant's case in the courts. Finally, it examines the impact of 'collateral' effects of the criminal justice process on family members who supported these defendants.

This study was designed to explore the implementation strategies and effectiveness of a sample of major employers from several small suburbs of Los Angeles, in Southern California, regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The intent of this paper is to discuss how the recent court rulings on the current workers compensation statutes will impact the rules to Florida’s workers compensation laws. Workers Compensation system is a social justice system that protects both the employer and employee. Employees that are injured while in the course and scope of their employment give up the right to sue, making workers compensation an exclusive remedy. In exchange for giving up that right, the injured worker receives statutory benefits in a no-fault system. This paper covers the legislative changes over the years that have impacted the constitutionality of the system and discusses how these changes have failed to uphold the legislative intent and design of the entire system. It covers the decisions rendered by the Florida Supreme Court and discusses the implications of those decisions.

This study explored the level of involvement of school social workers in the 504-Plan process as it relates to the administrative culture of school administrators, collaboration with school personnel, training on the 504-Plan process, and finally knowledge of Section 504. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder affects over six-million children in the world today that may benefit from the use of a 504-Plan. A total of 147 school social workers participated in this study. A self-administered survey was used, and data analysis was conducted on two levels: descriptive which employed frequency and percent distributions of respondents and analytical procedures. The Kruskal-Wallis H test utilized for this study which indicated a statistically significant relationship which rejected the null hypotheses of all four research questions. A second test was then performed, Mann Whitney U test, to determine where the significance of the hypotheses lied. Findings revealed that overall there is a low level of involvement of school social workers in the 504-Plan process of 64.8%. Twenty-nine and a third percent reported a moderate level of involvement. There was a low to moderate level of administrative culture, moderate level of collaboration, training and knowledge among the school social workers.

This research thesis is a policy assessment of the factors that contribute to the current status in treating autism. The policy assessment begins with a description of the key components that that influence policy outcomes in regard to autism. After developing a policy model that outlines various components of issues and approaches to the policy has on Autism, the paper examines several issues with regard to Autism policy, including the lack of insurance coverage, state legislation, waiting lists, evidence vs. non evidence treatments, and the high price for treatments. The paper also examines current approaches to Autism, and potential solutions. Solution analysis on current policy alternatives is provided and, this suggests that increasing knowledge and awareness of the affects of autism on society needs further attention along with proper funding for early treatment.

Selecting employees for hire and promotion is one of the most essential functions of an organization. Many companies that have positions which contain a physical component rely on physical ability testing as part of their selection procedure. The establishment of both the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) had a profound impact on the manner in which selection testing may legally be conducted (Gutman, Koppes, & Vodanovich, 2011). The current study sought to analyze court cases involving physical ability testing. Results revealed that pure ability tests did not significantly differ from work sample tests with regard to whether court cases found for the plaintiff or defendant. Additionally, rulings did not significantly differ in ruling in favor of the plaintiff or defendant with regard to whether the position in question involved public safety. Finally, the ADA related cases did not significantly differ in their rulings in favor of the plaintiff or defendant after the 2011 modifications to the interpretation of disabled, as compared to before 2011. Future research should focus on the difference between court rulings involving physical ability tests in comparison to other forms of testing such as cognitive tests, and further investigate the role of the ADA in physical ability testing.

Old age – and particularly the increasing numbers of older people globally and within the United Kingdom - is becoming a social and political phenomenon. Yet despite this, very little has been written on how the law – and especially mental disability law – intersects with old age. This is notwithstanding the fact that many older people may encounter conditions that impact their mental or cognitive abilities, and proportionally, may therefore be greatly affected by this area of law. By drawing on a number of theories – sometimes termed ‘relational’ theories – which are derived predominantly from feminist theory, this thesis seeks to explore the adequacy of mental disability law for safeguarding health and welfare-related decision-making of older adults in three areas; where an older person has been subjected to ageism, where they have been the victim of interpersonal abuse, and where they have dementia and may lack mental capacity. Within this broader goal, this thesis has two specific aims. First, to explicitly critique and challenge the adequacy of the law as it is applied in these circumstances. It is suggested in particular that a deeper analysis of the law in both its previous and current forms betrays the liberal and unduly individualistic roots of the legislative framework. These are roots that are predicated on non-interference, and an idealistic paradigm of the rational, autonomous, and healthy bodied individual. This – it is contended throughout – is an unsuitable philosophy to underpin the law, particularly where the law engages with older adults. Second, this thesis aims to navigate a more suitable pathway within the law as it currently exists. While operating as a tool to critique the legislative framework and its underpinning philosophy, it is argued that the theories drawn upon throughout the thesis also have the potential to highlight how the law could be implemented in such a way so as to emphasise the importance of the realities of the lived experiences of old age, and particularly the experience of ageism, abuse, and dementia. Crucially, it is also suggested that such theories can help the law pay greater attention to the complex web of relationships – both positive and negative; personal and societal – that an older person may find themselves embedded within, and that frequently take on an added significance in old age.