Despite the important benefits of physical activity, many people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulty participating long enough to reap the rewards. Poor motor skills, difficulty planning movements, problems functioning in open environments, and low motivation combine to make sustained participation a challenge. This dissertation is a series of three studies designed to develop and assess intervention, based on self-determination theory, which promotes sustained physical activity for adolescents and young adults with ASD functioning at the low end of the spectrum. The studies were carried out at a high school for students with intellectual disabilities over three consecutive years. The results of studies and 2 were used to adapt the intervention to meet the needs of this population. Recent research has shown that when people act in a self-determined manner they become more engaged in what they are doing. The intervention for study I included one self-determination skill, self-monitoring. Goal-setting was added during study 2, this resulted in participants setting goals and self-monitoring as they walked and jogged. The intervention for the third study included 3 self-determination skills: goal-setting, self-monitoring, and self-reinforcement. The self-determination attitude of self-efficacy was measured during study 3 to better understand the relationship between self-efficacy and physical activity for individuals with ASD. Distance walked, jogged, or cycled, increased during studies 1 and 3. Visual methodologies were used during studies 2 and 3 to provide these participants with severe communication problems the opportunity to share their experiences during the physical activity with the researchers. Participants and teachers interpreted the facial expressions, which were captured with photographs, in terms of affect but their interpretations did not always match. The participants indicated that enjoyment of the activity increased over the duration of the physical activity program but this was not always obvious to the teachers. It was concluded that interventions which include self-determination skills increase engagement and enjoyment during physical activity for adolescents and young adults with ASD.

The wheelchair is an unmistakeable sign of bodily damage. It is the universal symbol of disability. How then do wheelchair users feel about themselves? How do they manage their relationship with others? How do people maintain a satisfactory self-image in the face of the highly visible chair and its associated symbolism? Some people will always see the wheelchair as a tool, just like any other piece of equipment that they may use to get a job done. However, for other people, wheelchair is more than just a tool; it becomes embodied, it becomes a part of them.

This thesis explores the citizenship rights of people with disabilities and their experience in relation to one activity and industry - tourism. It is proposed that people with disabilities living in Australia have been excluded, oppressed and disadvantaged by government, tourism authorities (TA) and tourism industry (TI), practice and discourses. This exclusion, oppression and disadvantage has been perpetrated by the government, tourism authorities and tourism industry, whose practices and discourses do not provide an equality of service provision for the group. From this position the central question addressed is: To what extent are the tourism patterns and experiences of people with impairments in Australia unduly constrained by tourism authorities and tourism industry practice and discourse? In taking direction from the social model of disability (Oliver 1990), the proposition deliberately uses the word impairments rather than disabilities as both a definitional and conceptual approach to the research. This is because the question tests whether the social relations produce the constraints that people with impairments face in negotiating tourism experiences and, hence, create disabling journeys. In other words, the disabling social relations transform the impaired person to the person with a disability in the tourism context. 'Unduly' means that people with disabilities were not provided with an equality of service provision in comparison to the non-disabled. The research design and methodology involves inductive inquiry utilising both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. This includes a multiple methodological approach involving secondary data analysis of major national and regional surveys, content/discourse analysis, in-depth interviews and a focus group. The secondary data sources involved the Disability, Ageing and Carers Survey (ABS 1993; 1998 n=42,000), National Visitors Survey (BTR 1998 n=78,000) and Anxiety to Access (Tourism NSW 1998 n=2647). A content analysis is undertaken of the HREOC (2002) complaint cases, public hearings, public inquiries, disability action plans and disability Standards projects relevant to tourism. A content analysis is also undertaken of tourism authorities' disability tourism initiatives from 1990-2000. In depth interviews are undertaken with three separate populations that include people with disabilities (n=15), accommodation managers (n=10) and responsible officers from tourism authorities (n=3). A focus group of accommodation managers (n=23) is also undertaken. The data are analysed and interpreted using binary logistic regression, ordinal logistic regression, phenomenology, grounded theory and discourse analysis. The central argument to emerge from this thesis is that disability is a social relationship - or rather a complex set of social relationships - between people with disabilities, and the organisations that control and administer the institutional and social environments in which they live. Tourism represents an important arena for social and cultural participation. Given the commitment by governments to 'reduce disability' it is thus critical to consider whether the relationships in the area of tourism are disabling or enabling. The thesis shows that the practices and discourses of tourism authorities and the tourism industry unduly constrain the tourism opportunities and experiences of people with impairments in Australia and create disabling journeys.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Texas, Aug., 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Vita. Includes survey instrument. Includes bibliographic references (ℓ. 146-172)

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (B.A. Hons. ) -- University of Adelaide, Department of Psychology, 1975.

Thesis (D. App. Psych.)--Victoria University (Melbourne, Vic.), 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2004. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Arts. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 347-368).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Sociology Program, Dept. of Political Science, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 198-219).