Thesis advisor: Mary Jo Iozzio / The Recognition of people with Disabilities (PWD) in Nigeria, Africa, and the world at large is imperative. As the world’s largest minority, and a marginalized group, social justice advocacy and recognition of their inherent dignity is necessary. African palaver’s claim of recognition and inclusion of all in the community and the need for a re-evaluation of African palaver as an ethics of Recognition is examined for its purported claims. I consider recognition as a social justice movement that advocates for the restoration of the dignity of PWD, a people whom the general population in Africa, and particularly in Nigeria, discriminate against and deny their inalienable rights. Moreso, the patriarchal past and present of African culture illustrates that women suffer the most from marginalization, especially women with disability. With its biblical roots, Catholic social teaching empowers the Church in Africa and beyond toward recognition of the inherent dignity of PWD as the Imago Dei. This dignity coheres with Jesus's recognition and inclusion of PWD in the New Testament; the Old Testament generally considered disability as a punishment for some wrongdoing by an individual, a group, or the community. Since the virtues are essential in advocacy for the recognition of PWD, the theological and the cardinal virtues, especially justice, promote fairness, inclusion, and involvement in all facets of the community. The virtues empower the agent into acts of love and justice, and the parable of the Good Samaritan typifies vulnerable love and justice in an instructive way for us. Therefore, while African Palaver is instrumental in African communalism as it uses the spoken word to proffer values in the community, the Palaver leads to recognition, inclusion, integration, and participation of people in the community for the common good. It is imperative to include PWD and especially the missing voices of women on the margins. Recognition of PWD is a justice issue in urgent need of address. Finally, the offer of friendship to PWD and other vulnerable populations would help eradicate the marginalization that PWD experience in our society and this study concludes with a suggestion that the Church in Africa should adopt Palaver Ethics as an ethics of recognition in order to guarantee authentic social justice for PWD. / Thesis (STD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

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Most extant studies on the relationship between workforce diversity and employment inequalities focus on the impact of a single disadvantaged identity on a single employment outcome such as pay or promotion at the organizational level. Thus, the relation between workers’ multiple identities and different dimensions of employment inequalities within the broader social context remains unclear. The goal of this thesis is to start filling this gap. I start with developing a multilevel model of employment inequalities for workers with multiple identities by integrating the social identity theory, double jeopardy hypothesis, intergroup contact theory, and theory of minority group threat. I test this model with two empirical studies using Statistics Canada’s nationally representative Canadian Survey on Disability (2012) linked with the National Household Survey (2011). Labour force participation, employment, and employment income are the dependent variables of this thesis. I examine the intersection of immigrant and disability identity dimensions by focusing on immigrants with disabilities (IwD) as compared to immigrants with no disabilities, Canadian-born with disabilities, and Canadian-born with no disabilities. Study 1 demonstrates that while immigrant and disability identities are independently negatively associated with employment and employment income, having both identities simultaneously has a positive effect on employment and employment income. Furthermore, with the increase of the residential area diversity (RAD), which is determined by the number of immigrants and people with disabilities in a community, IwD’s likelihood of employment increases but employment income decreases. Study 2 shows that the proportion of immigrants in a residential area (RA) is negatively associated with the likelihood of being in the labour force for IwD. Furthermore, perceived work discrimination is negatively associated with labour force participation for IwD. Moreover, perceived work discrimination mediates the relationship between the proportion of immigrants in an RA and labour force participation for IwD. This thesis contributes to theory by (i) developing a multi-level theoretical framework that demonstrate the complex relationship between individuals with multiple identities, organizations, and society, (ii) extending the intergroup contact theory and the theory of minority threat using empirical evidence from individuals with multiple identities rather than focusing on a single identity, (iii) examining multiple employment outcomes at once and demonstrating how employment outcomes might differ based on intersecting identities, and (iv) demonstrating the impact of societal context by incorporating RAD into analysis and showing how the employment outcomes of individuals with multiple identities differ by where they reside. I discuss practical implications of the findings for workers, employers, policymakers, and society. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis examines employment inequalities for workers with multiple identities, focusing on immigrants with disabilities. This thesis has three major findings. First, compared to those who were born in Canada and do not have disabilities, immigrants and people with disabilities are less likely to be on the job market and find a job. They receive lower employment income as well. However, immigrants who have disabilities are more likely to find a job than immigrants with no disabilities and those with disabilities who were born in Canada. Second, as the percentage of immigrants in a community increases, employment income for immigrants with disabilities decreases. Third, as the percentage of immigrants in a community increases, immigrants with disabilities’ chance of being on the job market decreases. Perceived work discrimination plays a role in being on the job market as well. Based on these findings, I provide suggestions for employers, workers, policy makers, and society.

In people with neuromotor deficits of trunk and lower extremities, maintaining and regaining balance is a difficult task. Many undergo rehabilitation to improve their movement capabilities, health, and overall interactions with their environment. Rehabilitation consists of a set of interventions designed to improve the individual’s mobility and independence. These strategies can be passive, active or task-specific and are dependent on the type of injury, how the individual progresses, and the intensity of the activity. Some of the common rehabilitation interventions to strengthen muscles and improve coordination are accomplished either by the manual assistance of a physical therapist, bodyweight suspension systems or through robotic-assisted training. There are several types of rehabilitation robotic systems and robotic control strategies.However, there are few robotic studies that compare their robotic device’s control strategy to common rehabilitation interventions. This dissertation introduces robotic strategies centered around rehabilitation ones and characterizes human motion in response to the robotic forces. Two cable-driven robotic systems are utilized to implement the robotic controllers for different tasks. Further details of the two cable-driven systems are discussed in Chapter 1. The validation and evaluation of these robotic strategies for standing rehabilitation is discussed in Chapter 2. A case study of a robotic training paradigm for individuals with spinal cord injury is presented in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 introduces a method to redistribute individuals’ weight using pelvic lateral forces. Chapter 5 and 6 characterizes how young and older groups respond to external perturbations during their sit-to-stand motion. This dissertation presents robotic strategies that can be implemented as rehabilitation interventions. It also presents how individuals’ biomechanics and muscle responses may change depending on the force control paradigm.These robotic strategies can be utilized by training individuals to improve their reactive and active balance control and thus reduce their risk of falling.

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Locus of control, age, and sex were examined to determine the relative amount of variance each contributed to three variables: Rational, Intuitive, and Dependent decision-making styles. Subjects (N=96) who had been identified as having a disability, who were receiving financial assistance through Vocational Rehabilitation Services, and who had volunteered to complete two scales and a demographic and personal data questionnaire, comprised the sample. One scale, the Adult Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Scale (ANSIES) was used to measure locus of control. The Assessment of Career Decision-Making (ACOM) was used to measure decision-making styles. The results of the study provided evidence that three independent variables (locus of control, age, and sex) contributed significantly to Rational, Intuitive, and Dependent decision-making styles. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to develop a mastery-based adapted aquatics program following an educational research and development model, and to ascertain the potential effectiveness of that program. Factors that were investigated in this study included student performance time, teacher feedback rate, and teacher perceptions of instructional effectiveness. The program was staffed by volunteers. The participants were mentally retarded individuals, and represented a moderate range of ability levels. Mastery sequences were developed for a wide majority of swim skills. Each sequence contained the skill to be learned, the tasks which combine to form the skill, and a criterion to be reached for mastery of each task. Instructors were provided with preliminary and on-going training in the utilization of the mastery sequence cards and the provision of feedback. Data were collected before and during inception of the mastery based program using a naturalistic observation system, and teacher surveys. The results showed a significant increase in the rate of teacher feedback provided, a significant decrease in the amount of off-task time, and an overall positive instructor attitude toward the mastery sequence cards. There was not a significant difference in the amount of performance time although a probable cause was determined to be a lack of sequence cards available. Possible modifications were discussed, as well as recommendations for future research. / M.S.

The traditional functional assessment techniques developed by medical, psychological and social care providers lack the quantitative precision of industrial engineering work descriptors. This study develops two models of disabled worker behavior for use in the vocational assessment and job design process. In addition to providing the rehabilitation engineer a usable assessment of the client's abilities the Worker Profile should aid in the sharing of information among the specialists on the rehabilitation team. Unlike previous efforts directed at modeling disabled workers' abilities, this study individually modifies the elements used to describe unique, specific jobs. The element by element Worker Profile approach encourages proper job selection and work station modification. This study uses both a traditional Motion Class Model and a novel Action Set Model. Both models use standard Available Motions Inventory test scores as inputs. Each of the models produces a Worker Profile which can be used to predict the worker's performance on any job for which an appropriate job standard has been written. / Master of Science