This thesis explores the experiences of emerging adulthood for men with an acquired impairment. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with four men with acquired impairments in an urban center of Canada. Through thematic analysis, three themes emerged: internal perceptions, dynamics of social relationships, and barriers and opportunities. Their stories illustrate many common emerging adult experiences as well as some divergent experiences, which may potentially be due to their acquired impairment. The main findings include the importance of friends and family and the fact that the timing for some of the developmental tasks of emerging adulthood may be delayed. Implications for professionals and researchers are presented, focusing on ways to best support men in emerging adulthood with acquired impairments.

The purpose of this study was to examine ideas about disability within social work education within three Bachelor of Social Work programs in Canada, and to identify and describe major perspectives and themes of disability. One important aspect of the study was to determine the extent to which critical disability studies perspectives were presented, explained, and discussed in the classroom within core social work theory courses, and specialized courses addressing disability. Three Bachelor of Social Work programs; St. Thomas University School of Social Work in New Brunswick, the Dalhousie School of Social Work in Nova Scotia, and the University of Manitoba Faculty of Social Work, Fort Garry Campus, were purposefully chosen for this multicase study based on a theoretical replication logic that predicted that social work education on disability within each of the schools would represent different points on a range of disability perspectives, as developed from the disability studies literature. Data collection and analysis included multiple methods, including a manifest content analysis of texts, a modified inductive analysis of transcriptions from interviews with key informants, and a critical discourse analysis of transcriptions from an audio-taped session of classes addressing disability in each case. Findings from the multicase study indicate that the original research suppositions were not supported. Based on the analysis of texts and interviews, the approach to disability followed by each Bachelor of Social Work program was found to incorporate a broad range of disability theory, particularly social pathology and critical disability perspectives. However, there was little evidence of classroom discussion and use of social work practice approaches supporting these perspectives. It was argued in the literature review to the study that anti-oppressive social work approaches, such as structural social work, were congruent with critical disability perspectives, but that there is also a need for an “infused” approach to integrating disability content into core curriculum. In conclusion, I also suggest that the Canadian Association for Social Work Education has an important leadership role to play in providing specific recommendations for disability inclusion in social work education.

Through the utilization of art-journaling, this participatory arts-based inquiry was completed with a small group of immigrant women with the intention of creating knowledge around the experience of communicating about disability. A focus on collaboration and sharing stories led to the emergence of a number of themes. These themes highlighted many of the barriers faced by immigrant women living with disabilities in accessing adequate medical care and social services. In addition to the identified barriers, this research highlighted the incredible strength and resilience of the participants through each stage of the research process. The findings point to a need for systemic changes, which were highlighted by art works, discussions, and recommendations of the participants in the study.

Support provision is a personal and important element of daily life for many people with disabilities. The study examines the ways in which organizational mandates and philosophies shape interactions between people with disabilities and support providers at two unique organizations: a L’Arche community for people with intellectual disabilities and a Independent Living Resource Centre. The project is framed with the social model of disability, the work of Titchkosky (2003) and human geography. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, including a scenario component, with administrators at each location, people with disabilities using the services and support providers. The findings demonstrate that both organizations have strongly articulated philosophies that the participants are familiar with. The L’Arche model creates an environment that determines certain ways of interacting and while the IL participants amend the philosophy to reflect the daily reality of support provision.

Historically, children with disabilities have been perceived as sources of stress, and disability has been portrayed in Western society as a tragedy to be avoided. This study used Appreciative Inquiry methodology and an integrated conceptual framework combining the Dynamic Ecological Systems Model, Cognitive Adaptation Theory, and components of the Affirmative Model of Disability. Qualitative interviews were conducted with ten children and sixteen parents to gain insight into their perceptions of the positive effects that a child with a disability has on the family. Findings suggest that children with disabilities can have some of the same positive effects on, and make some of the same contributions to, their families as any other child. They can also have unique positive effects and make unique contributions potentially unparalleled by their non-disabled peers. These findings may have implications for how disability is perceived by medical professionals, parents raising children with disabilities, and the public.

This report is the result of a field study conducted in the southern part of Zambia, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how self-help facilitation provided by the organisation Response Network can contribute to the empowerment of people living with disabilities in the context of rural Zambia. We interviewed four people working for the organisation as well as the principal responsible of youth with disabilities in a rural high school. We also conducted two focus group interviews with two disability support groups in a rural village. The results of this study were analysed using empowerment theory and systems theory. Our findings showed that self-determination, education and participation were contributing to the empowerment of people with disabilities. Level of attitudes, understanding and motivation were shown to be important factors which impact the empowerment of people with disabilities.

My dissertation expands on recent work in literary studies that has emphasized the significance of autobiographical narratives of disability for both identity construction and the establishment of narrative authority. It adds to this recent scholarship with the critical understanding that letters are often a significant part of the stories that persons with disabilities tell about themselves. I concentrate on the letters of three Victorian writers—Harriet Martineau, John Kitto, and Helen Keller—whose deafness or hearing impairment have been subjects of much scholarship, but whose familiar letters have not been completely recognized as vital resources for insight into their disability narratives. I examine how each author uses the implied or imagined community inherent in the exchange of familiar letters in specific yet different ways to write their disability narrative and I explore the ways that conceptions of disabled embodiment are constructed, deconstructed, and re-written. I explore ways in which Harriet Martineau uses letters to blur the lines between the private and the public and to publish an illness/disability narrative that allowed her to maintain both personal and public authority over her illness and disability; I examine Helen Keller’s early letters and the ways in which writing about her body enabled her, through a significant epistolary community, to explore her own existence and to develop a concern with philanthropic work; and I consider John Kitto’s familiar letters in comparison with his work The Lost Senses and I explore his self-construction in that work as a solitary “overcomer” and the manner in which these letters contradict this construction to provide a fuller picture of his life leading up to the book’s publication. I also discuss several of Kitto’s poems as critical additions to his disability narrative. Building on the work of my previous chapters, I conclude this dissertation with an examination of the familiar letters and poetry of Amy Levy. My inclusion of Levy’s letters and poetry builds on and complicates my work in the preceding chapters and makes a case for the recognition that disability narratives are multifaceted and cannot always be restricted to a single concern.

For people with motor disabilities unable to control a pointing device, there is a need for an efficient keyboard Web navigation method. The current state of keyboard navigation tools is surveyed and discussed. The standard tab key navigation system is widely regarded as insufficient for practical keyboard access to the Web. Other techniques, such as identifier navigation --- where links are activated by entering their numeric code --- are found to be much more efficient, but possibilities remain for improvement. A technique based on selecting links by text search provides an alternative method of keyboard navigation, but does not minimize the number of required keyboard inputs, which is important for individuals not capable of fast typing input. A new technique called KeySurf is proposed, which aims to make text search navigation more efficient and intuitive by estimating which elements are more likely to be selected by the user, and then allowing those elements to be selected with fewer keystrokes. Web page elements without text associated with them are assigned labels based on algorithms that make generated labels predictable to the user. Various constraints on the searching algorithm are implemented to decrease the keystroke cost of selections, such as selecting visible elements first, matching the first characters of labels, and prioritizing visually prominent elements. In addition, the user's browsing history is used to calculate a measure of page and element interest in order to make interesting elements easier to select. KeySurf performance is examined in three experiments: an automated analysis of keystroke cost of element selection on randomly selected Web pages, a small study involving four individuals with motor disabilities to compare KeySurf and mouse use, and a study of 11 individuals browsing the Web with KeySurf collecting data passively in the background. The automated selection test calculates the number of keys necessary to activate each link for 48,182 links, resulting in a mean of 2.69 keystrokes. The study involving individuals with disabilities shows that KeySurf can be faster than mouse use if the user is able to type 2 or 3 keystrokes faster than pointing to a target using their pointing device. The study with 11 non-disabled individuals shows that for 4,601 recorded clicks, KeySurf would have required 2.38 keys per selection. Comparing mean keystroke cost for pages containing similar numbers of elements, we find that for real Web sessions KeySurf can decrease keystroke cost by 15\% compared to the simulation results by anticipating which elements a user is likely to select. A keystroke level model of tabbing, ID navigation, and KeySurf indicates that the predictability of ID navigation makes it more efficient for faster typists, while KeySurf is likely to be faster for slower typists. / Graduate

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Background: Arthritis affects 53 million U.S. adults, more than two-thirds of whom are younger than age 65. Approximately 1/3 of working-age (18-64 years) U.S adults with arthritis report arthritis-attributable work limitation. Objectives: First, to take a population-based perspective to evaluate the association of arthritis with employment participation among U.S. adults. Next, to examine whether this association differs by sex, age, or other characteristics. Finally, to investigate effects of the Great Recession (December 2007 to June 2009) on employment and to determine if arthritis status moderated its effects. Methods: All three studies were conducted using the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The third study also used longitudinal data from the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS) linked to NHIS. Results: These manuscripts are under peer-review for publication; limited results are presented: Study 1- Employment participation was always statistically significantly and substantially lower (e.g., >10 percentage points) among adults with arthritis compared with those without arthritis. Study 2- Overall, 20.1 million adults (10.4% [95% CI=10.1-10.8] of the working-age population) reported work disability. Study 3- During the period of the Great Recession, people with arthritis stopped work at higher rates and started work at lower rates than those without arthritis, suggesting at least some differential effect among those with arthritis. Conclusion: This work contributes new knowledge by establishing long-term patterns and benchmark information for employment participation, work disability, transitions, and macro economic effects among adults with and without arthritis in the U.S. A population-based, non-condition-specific approach of this type has not been previously reported.