M.A. / The study is based on the social model of disability focusing on issues of human rights for people with intellectual disabilities. Disability is defined as the social restriction confronted by people with disabilities living in a society that is not organized to take account of their needs. Disability is not an individual condition but rather an issue of equal opportunities. Self-determination for people with intellectual disability should be respected as it is a central aspect of personal well being based on the understanding that disability is a result of social attitudes, architectural, and legal barriers that confront people with disabilities. The research was aimed at the acquisition of information on the knowledge of people with intellectual disabilities about sexuality and if that knowledge is appropriately linked to HIV and AIDS. The study uses research as a scientific tool that will assist policy makers and programme developers to dispel the myths on issues affecting people with intellectual disabilities. Self-advocacy of people with intellectual disabilities in research was key to the research method that was applied. People with mental retardation, head injury, other or any type of actual or perceived mental or cognitive disability are often marginalized by society. The HIV/AIDS global epidemic has greatly exceeded earlier predictions. About 95% of all people infected are living in developing countries, which have to cope with poverty and health problems. HIV and AIDS prevalence can remain undetected for long periods, particularly in local groupings and settings. HIV remains localized before the epidemic spreads to involve the wider population. These localized groupings can be classified as having no known cases. It is during this period that the proactive interventions should be implemented. It is for these reasons that this study was undertaken to address HIV and AIDS among the grouping of people with intellectual disabilities.

Master of Public Health - MPH / This research investigated the availability and nature of the rehabilitation service at primary health care level rendered by rehabilitation staff in the Metropole district health services. The aim of the study was to determine the extent to which selected elements of the rehabilitation components of the primary health care service package are currently being implemented. In doing so, the study aimed to identify obstacles within the district management as perceived by rehabilitation therapists that hinder the implementation of the rehabilitation programme, so as to make recommendations for future planning. / South Africa

Magister Scientiae - MSc / Clinical research has shown that patients experience difficulty in adjusting to their pre-morbid worker roles after they have been through a back rehabilitation programme. The pressure and competitiveness of modern day society to achieve competence and to survive has proven to be stressful, both for the injured and uninjured, the unemployed and employed. Back rehabilitation and the successful return of the injured worker to the workplace have been of great interest to industry for the last decade, due to the ever-increasing support of legislature for the injured. There is a range of medical interventions available but few of these achieve successful outcomes due in part to the fact that many intervention strategies do not take the patients perspectives into consideration. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to explore back rehabilitated clients perceptions and experiences of the challenges they face in adapting to their worker roles. / South Africa

This study examined: the features and extent of the gait velocity decrement following stroke; the nature of the balance disorder and; investigated relationships between gait and balance. Twenty, fully-ambulant, hemiplegic subjects (12 men and 8 women), with a mean age of 57.2 years (± 10.7), were compared with 20 age- and sex-matched controls. Spatiotemporal gait kinematics were measured at five walking speeds ranging from "very slow" to "very fast". Balance was then measured while subjects maintained a variety of weight shift postures both with feet parallel and then in diagonal positions similar to those assumed during the double support phases of gait. Location and variability of centre of pressure (CP) were measured and the ranges over which CP could be shifted were calculated. Stroke subjects walked very slowly with their "fastest" walking speed (0.5 stat/s ± 0.23) no different from the "slowest" speed (0.38 stat/s ± 0.11) of the controls (p > 0.05). Differences between the other parameters were also found, many of which could be attributed to the differences in walking speeds. However, where the subjects walked at similar velocities, the hemiplegic sample walked with quicker and shoner strides suggesting a "cautious" gait pattern. The single support asymmetry of the strokes decreased with increasing walking speed. The positions of CP in the hemiplegic sample were found to be significantly displaced towards the unaffected leg and deficiencies were found in posterior shifts (p < 0.05). Postural sway was significantly greater in the hemiplegic sample implying less stable balance and the ranges over which the hemiplegic sample shifted weight were significantly less than the controls. The diagonal weight shift tests revealed the difficulty the stroke subjects experienced in shifting CP posterolaterally over the affected leg. Significant correlations were detected confmning the presence of relationships between static balance performance and gait. However, these correlation findings left considerable percentages of variance unexplained. These findings suggest that future rehabilitation should address the poverty of range of walking speed possessed by hemiplegic subjects as well as the reduced ability to weight shift over the hemiplegic limb, particularly posterolaterally. Further study to test these proposals is indicated.

Many countries in the world have in recent years developed measures to increase accessibility to the built environment for persons with disabilities. Of particular concern are facilities such as roads, railways and public premises. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD) confers accessibility as a right and gives responsibility to state parties to ensure to persons with disabilities (PWDs) a barrier free environment. The Constitution of Kenya (2010) states that PWDs have a right to facilities including educational that integrate their needs. The Person With Disabilities Act (2003) provides for mechanisms through which such enforcements can be enacted. The body responsible for implementing the Act has developed minimum accessibility guidelines to inform this endeavor as part of Kenya‟s dream of becoming a middle income economy by the year 2030. This research report/treatise details the findings of a pilot baseline survey study conducted in Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa Cities.

There is presently an increasing trend towards deinstitutionalization of several different populations, including physically disabled adults. Although a variety of staffed resources provide for alternative care, 'home' and 'family' remain the primary resource in the community based care system. Given that the family of the 1980's has a decreased capacity to care due to such factors as increased mobility and loss of extended family networks we must be concerned with the continued viability of this resource. And, given that 'family’ is often a euphemism for 'nearest female relative' and that women's role in society has changed markedly in recent years the issue of women as caregivers is one of particularly urgent concern. This study is based on extensive interviews with eight women caring for disabled husbands. The interview schedule and methodology facilitated descriptive data regarding caregiving tasks as well as a comprehensive exploration of what was problematic about the day to day reality of caregiving for these women. The data analysis identified struggling with the 'role' of wife-caregiver, isolation and a changed marital dynamic as primary themes in the process of caregiving. This study provides some insight into what is problematic about caregiving for these wives and some suggestions for improving social work practice and providing more effective services in relation to this population. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This thesis deals with the issue of persons with disabilities in the labor market in the Czech Republic. The theoretical part explains the concepts related to persons with disabilities in terms of the labor market and their employment legislation and also explain all the tools employment aid these people. In the practical part of the thesis deals with the comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of persons with disabilities and through its own research among employers are trying to determine what the position of these persons in the Czech labor market and attempts to suggest changes to improve the current situation.

The thesis is aimed not only to clarify the concept of disabled in the international and Czech law, but mainly on the analysis of the rights granted to such persons. It deals in detail with international legislation in the employment of people with disabilities, different ways of their protection and their application. The development of the Czechoslovak legislation, social policy and the rights of disabled people is described in the second part, as well as a review of existing legislation and possible suggestions for improvement. The practical part of the thesis is focused on the unemployment of people with disabilities in the district Most.

The purpose of this exploratory investigation was to investigate how self-identified gay or bisexual (GB) men with developmental disabilities managed their complex identities. Through various profiling strategies and snowball sampling techniques, seven such GB men volunteered. These key participants resided over a wide geographical area, from the coastal US to the southern part of British Columbia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each person, three of whom identified a caregiver as being a particularly important part of his "coming-out" process. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with these supporting participants, as well as a few other relevant professionals. Key participants' life stories were framed within several theories: namely; Goffman's (1963) stigma, Lave and Wengers' (1991) legitimate peripheral participation, disability theory, queer theory and Smith's (1987) institutional ethnography. Similarly, the supporting professionals' responses were analyzed. The results present rich kaleidoscopic narrative descriptions, and provide many implications for special education practice and queer activism. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

Social capital refers to material and symbolic resources that are accessed through social relationships and used for purposive actions. Conceptualising social capital as having four archetypal forms provides planners with an analytic and heuristic tool for considering the different resources that community and government actors bring to various projects and social endeavours. These forms of social capital are called bonding social capital (based on intra-community relationships), bridging social capital (based on extra-community relationships), institutional social capital (based on relationships established by the formal and informal institutions of society) and synergistic social capital (based on relationships between state and civil society actors). This quadripartite model of social capital was found to be useful in analysing the different socially embedded resources which were applied to housing initiatives for two distinct communities of people in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. One case looked at a seniors care home established for elderly Chinese people by a community-based organisation (CBO) known as the United Chinese Community Enrichment Services Society (S.U.C.C.E.S.S.). The second case examined community housing for adults with developmental disabilities that was supported directly by family members and a CBO called Mainstream Association for Proactive Community Living (MAPCL) and indirectly by an informal group known as the Parents Support Group for Families of Mentally Handicapped Adults. In both cases, the housing initiative relied on resources that were accessed through the intra-community ties of people united by a common ethnicity or interest in supporting adults with developmental disabilities. Necessary inputs for developing and sustaining the housing initiatives were also found in extra-community ties with the wider community and internationally-based professional associations; relationships with government actors at the municipal, provincial and federal levels; and predictable societal relationships established by legislation and norms of behaviour. A four-part model of social capital additionally serves as a planning tool to identify a broader range of resources and possibilities for policy intervention and to remind planners they work with multiple publics, must adopt a critical approach to community involvement and coproduction and should encourage governments to be active in shaping the institutional environment and engaging with individuals and community groups. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate