Mothers of children with multiple disabilities have unique and important things to tell us about their children's schooling. In this work, the overarching question asks: How do the mothers of children with multiple disabilities narrate their experiences with their children's schooling, and what insights can their stories provide? Within a feminist framework that acknowledges participating mothers as “expert witnesses” (Traustadottir, 1991, p. 216) with important insights, this study employs a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach to develop the themes that, taken together, can be said to describe these participants' experiences. Four mothers of children with multiple disabilities were interviewed in an open-ended qualitative manner, and their experiences are thematized in this thesis. It is my hope that the stories so generously offered by the participants, and the themes which arise from them, can play a part in guiding those involved in the education of students with multiple disabilities, in changing our practice and policies in order to truly include children with disabilities and their caregivers in our schools.

Over the last 25 years geographers, amongst other social scientists, have become increasingly interested in the lived experience of childhood (Cloke and Jones, 2005). One area of interest has been children’s environmental access, with a focus on independent access, mobility and play (Thomson and Philo, 2004). The dominant narrative of this work has been focused on the decreasing quantity and quality of children’s natural environment experiences (Valentine and McKendrick, 1997), positioned primarily as a result of changing approaches to risk perception and management, in both families and schools (Malone, 2007). This thesis explores children’s own perspectives, specifically looking at the lived experiences of learning disabled children, a group largely absent from geographical research (bar Goodfellow, 2012; and Holt, 2010). A mixed qualitative methods approach is used, borrowing from participatory geography techniques and using a range of media including video diaries. The thesis finds that learning disabled young people experience stigma in their interactions with outdoor spaces that are characterised by being highly structured and supervised. As a result learning disabled young people struggle to develop skills and interests in accessing outdoor spaces, and do not utilise outdoor green spaces as sites of peaceful solitude or landscapes of socialising. This research contributes to children’s geographies through the interpretation of new empirical data and the development of methodological approaches for including learning disabled young people in research.

Please note: creative writing theses are permanently embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted for these. To request private access, please click on the locked Download file link and fill out the appropriate web form. / This is the Master's thesis of Jessica Suzanne Stokes. This collection of poems addresses disability, eugenics, and life. / 2031-01-01

specialcollections@tulane.edu / Wheelchair Life: Disability and Black Survival in the Afterlife of Gun Violence is about how gunshot survivors in New Orleans manage their lives and shape their identities after being shot and paralyzed. Following a group of wheelchair users with gunshot induced spinal cord injuries who self-organized into a social network around their devotion to New Orleans parading traditions, this ethnography explores how disability identities are mobilized within the existing stakes of Black survival in the United States. In the racially segregated city of New Orleans, urban gun violence and the wider traumas that are experienced in its aftermath are an immeasurable disruption to Black lives and Black futures. A focus on gun homicides has ignored the life worlds of the injured, particularly those of young Black men, whose experiences are obscured by the legacies and continued violence of anti-Black racism and criminalization of the urban poor, which renders gunshot survivors as guilty or deserving of the violence that happened to them. What does it mean to survive when your survival is a problem both in the sense that you were not expected to survive and your status (as a survivor and a victim) is unacknowledged? “Wheelchair Life” details the varied ways spinal cord injured gunshot survivors contend and contest these realities of social neglect and invisibility, by claiming new forms of mobility and disabled embodiments in public space and forging new modes of caretaking and relationships that enable the “wheelchair life” to be about more than just surviving. / 1 / Daniella Santoro

Magister Commercii - MCom / There is an increase in the number of people with disabilities entering, and in the workplace. Industrialised countries are encountering a workforce that is ageing, which makes the prevalence of disability, due to chronic illness amongst employees, more evident. However, even with legislation and policies that support people in the workplace, such as the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act 53 of 2003 and the Code of Good Practice on Disability in the Workplace, many people still choose not to disclose their disabilities. Therefore, the main purpose of the study is to identify the perceived factors that could possibly prevent the disclosure of disability in the workplace. The study was conducted at one of the universities in the Western Cape. The study was qualitative in nature and made use of semi-structured interviews. Ten participants took part in the study and comprised of two academic staff members from each of the faculties on the main campus. Content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data where various themes and subthemes emerged.

Jiggs is a documentary that explores how Jiggs Gaffney serves despite his mental disability. By observing Jiggs’ involvement at Pine Cove Christian Camps, and revealing his past, the documentary shows how anyone can be used for a greater good, and reveals how God can be served and glorified by anyone, no matter the individual circumstances.

Rezension zu Markus Dederich: Körper, Kultur und Behinderung. Eine Einführung in die Disability Studies. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2007

Given the critiques by many Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) scholars who argue that Disability Studies is really White Disability Studies, this dissertation explores the challenges of teaching critical Disability Studies at the undergraduate level. At the heart of the challenge of teaching Disability Studies is the conflict between disability scholars, some of whom argue against politics of desirability, pointing to the disabling/debilitating processes that make rights-based analyses inadequate. While Canadian university institutions use discourses of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and claim to follow state recommendations for accessibility and reconciliation, universities themselves still often are disabling. Indigenous and Black students, facility, and staff still experience inaccessible study and work spaces, including carceral logics that represent Indigenous and Black knowledges as inherently intellectually inferior. I argue that these logics are not separate from ableist practices that limit disabled participation in university spaces; disability must be examined through an intersectional—and explicitly race-based—lens. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this dissertation takes on the problem of teaching Disability Studies in two parts: the first part gives a more theoretical examination of the conflicts within Disability Studies, the problems of accessibility/reconciliation according to university Teaching and Learning websites, and the accessibility issue of anti-Blackness in university. The second part aims to give a more pragmatic and practical examination of the same issues, pointing to a failure-based self-reflexive classroom, and giving two mock assignments for educators and students to consider their place in ableist white supremacist institutions.

Transportation plays an essential role in social inclusion and participation, subjective well-being, and overall quality of life. A lack of private transportation options may make individuals with disabilities more dependent on public transportation systems. Despite increased use, people with disabilities continue to report barriers accessing public transportation services. Interestingly, little is known about these barriers at the regional transportation district level. The purpose of this study was to better understand the barriers and perceived accessibility of the Utah Transit Authority’s (UTA) public transportation system for individuals with disabilities living within the UTA service area. Using an online survey, data were collected from 327 individuals with disabilities, family members of individuals with disabilities, or others who work with individuals with disabilities. This study found that individuals with disabilities generally have neutral to somewhat positive (accessible) views of UTA’s transportation services though there are differences based on disability type, modes of services used in general and specifically regarding fixed route service modes, and frequency of ridership are considered; that despite these neutral to somewhat accessible perceptions, barriers to accessing UTA’s fixed route and paratransit services exist, though there are differences based on disability type, modes of fixed route services used, and ridership frequency; and local and national policy changes may be necessary to resolve these barriers. The findings of this study have implications for UTA, other regional transportation districts, local and national transportation policy stakeholders, and the research community. For example, additional research is necessary to fully understand the specific system components which make UTA’s public transportation more accessible than has been indicated in previous studies, including an understanding of how these accessible practices could be generalized to other public transportation providers. Findings from future research could, in turn, be used to improve access to public transportation for individuals with disabilities. It is recognized that this study’s focus on electronic data collection and the potential influence of small subsamples underscores the need for additional research on the topics of perceived accessibility of public transportation and barriers to using public transportation services for individuals with disabilities.

What makes a person disabled is a much-debated topic with some focusing on the individuals impairments (putting the onus of disability on the individual) while others focus on how the environment (both architectural and social) exacerbates an individual’s impairments and creates the conceptualization of disability (putting the onus of disability on society). No matter how a person with a disability (PWD) is categorized, they are met with healthcare, education, and work disparities that are perpetuated both unintentionally and intentionally. This paper examines the various ways disability and subsequently stigma arises from a variety of viewpoints both within and outside the tradition of behaviorism. Given an overview of behavioral research, much of which is line with non-behavioral conceptualizations track well on to, the author points to how Relational Frame Theory (RFT) and Contextual Behavioral Science (CBS) may offer potential applications for the reduction of stigma towards PWDs. Three studies were detailed across relevant relational frames and their potential roles in the formation and defusion of stigma thereby extending the prior behavioral research on utility for potential, computer-based societal interventions.