This thesis documents the everyday experiences of adults with disabilities living in a rural area of South Africa. Given South Africa’s tumultuous history, characterised by human rights violations incurred through cultural, political and racial disputes, and the country’s current state of socio-economic and political turmoil, violence has come to represent a core feature in the lives of many South Africans. This, together with the impact of unemployment, food insecurity and unequal power distribution, has significantly affected the ways in which many people make sense of their life experiences. Despite the fact that exposure to unequal power dynamics, violence, marginalisation and exclusion are documented to dominate the life experiences of people with disabilities, little is understood about the ways in which these aspects manifest in the interpretation and reconstruction of experiences. Previous research into the field of disability studies has depended primarily on quantitative measures, or on the reports of family members and caregivers as proxies, perpetuating the cycle of voicelessness and marginalization amongst adults with disabilities. Those studies which have adopted qualitative measures in order to explore the psychosocial experiences of disability have focussed largely on the limitations imposed by physical access, and have relied predominantly on the medical and social models of disability, or on the World Health Organisation’s International Classification on Functioning, Disability and Health (WHO ICF, 2001). These models consider the psychosocial experience of disability to be universal, and do not adequately take into account the impact of cultural and contextual variables. This has negatively impacted on the establishment of a research repository upon which evidence-based practice has been developed. This thesis aimed to explore and document the lived experiences of 30 adults with a variety of disabilities, living in 12 rural villages in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. A combination of narrative inquiry and participant observation was employed in order to examine the relationship between personal and social interpretations of experience. Data analysis was conducted using a combination of Clandinin and Connelly’s (2000) Three Dimensional Narrative Inquiry Space, Harré’s Positioning Theory (1990, 1993, & 2009), and Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Results revealed that narratives were plurivocal in nature, giving rise to a complex relationship between personal and social interpretations of experience. The findings highlighted the impact of cultural norms, values and roles on making sense of experiences associated with disability. Four new types of narrative emerged, none of which conformed to the current interpretations of lived experience as reported in the literature. All of the narratives were pervaded by the embodied experience of violence, including evidence of structural, physical, psychological and sexual violence, as well as violence by means of deprivation. This gave rise to a sense of moral decay and highlighted the ways in which abuse of power has become woven into lived experience. In this way insight was gained into the complex interplay between impairment, exclusion, high mortality rates, violence, and poverty in rural areas. Narrative inquiry proved to be a particularly useful tool for providing insight into disability as a socio-cultural construct, drawing attention to a variety of clinical, policy and theoretical implications. These gave rise to a number of broader philosophical questions pertaining to the role of memory, vulnerability and responsibility, and the ways in which all citizens have the potential to be complicit in denying the reality of lived experience amongst vulnerable members of society. These findings demand attention to the ways in which governments, communities and individuals conceive of what it means to be human, and consequently how the ethics of care is embraced within society.

Parenting is inherently stressful at times and several studies have shown that being a caregiver of a child who is disabled is even more stressful. A number of studies have tried to identify demographic and psychosocial variables which are predictive of parenting stress levels. It is obvious from these studies that parenting stress is complex as there is no general consensus as to what the factors are which exacerbate or mediate parenting stress in caregivers of children who are disabled. The aim of this study was therefore to assess the parenting stress levels of caregivers of children who are disabled and to try to establish whether the level of the child’s disability influenced parenting stress levels. Further objectives were to ascertain whether various psychosocial and demographic variables were predictive of parenting stress levels. In order to meet these objectives the Parenting Stress Index/Short Form was sent to caregivers of children with cerebral palsy who were attending Frances Voorweg School in Johannesburg. Caregivers also completed a demographic questionnaire. The severity of disability of the children was classified using the Gross Motor Function Classification System. Thirty-five parenting stress questionnaires were returned to the researcher. Means and frequencies were used to summarise the demographic data. T-tests were performed to establish whether there was any significant difference between the parenting stress levels of caregivers of children who were more functionally disabled and those whose children were less disabled. Pearson’s correlations were used to determine whether there was any correlation between demographic variables and parenting stress levels. The parents of the children in the sample showed clinically significant, and in many cases, pathological levels of parenting stress. This stress was however, not in anyway influenced by the severity of their children’s disabilities. The only variable that correlated strongly to the level of parenting stress was found to be the income level of the family (r=0.8). The results of this study confirm that parenting stress is complex and that it is not a simple matter to predict the parenting stress levels of caregivers of disabled children. Therapists should evaluate the needs of each family individually and follow a family centred approach when managing children with cerebral palsy.

Education is a key component of empowerment and has a significant impact on the economic and social development in any country. People who have intellectual disabilities are usually marginalized because they are considered limited in their abilities to contribute to the enhancement of the social and economic development in a country. The purpose of the research study was explore the perceptions of teachers and primary care-givers regarding strategies for empowering children with intellectual disabilities. The research design was qualitative in nature and a phenomenological methodology was adopted. Purposive sampling was used to recruit research participants from two primary schools for children with special needs in Katlehong on the East Rand. The sample size was twenty research participants; ten teachers and ten primary care-givers. The data gathered was analysed using Thematic Content Analysis. Results indicated that both teachers and primary care-givers are experiencing challenges empowering these children. Teachers require support, equipment and training to develop skills needed to address the educational needs. Primary care-givers need to be educated regarding how to support the educational programmes presented to their children, and encouraged to become personally involved in the educational lives of their children. The conclusion reached is that teachers’ efforts to empower children with intellectual disabilities are being obstructed due to many factors. Their voices need to be heard by the Department of Education on what strategies they perceive as being effective to empower children with intellectual disabilities. The primary care-givers need to gain a better understanding of concept ‘intellectual disability’ so that they can stimulate and support efforts made by the school to empower them.

A research report submitted to the department of Development Studies in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Development Studies September 2016. / This study aimed to explore the challenges experienced by women with disabilities in a rural setting, and the coping strategies they adopt in a time of economic crisis in Zimbabwe. The study made use of a qualitative exploratory design which necessitated the use of interviews (in-depth and semi-structured) and focus group discussions (FGDs) conducted in Insiza District, Matabeleland South Province in Zimbabwe. The study consisted of two different categories of participants which were: key informants (community leaders, government officials, non-governmental officials) as well as the subjects of the study who are women with disabilities. The study aimed to explore the experiences of rural women with disabilities. In this endeavour the study also illuminates how the economic crisis in Zimbabwe further constrains the already disadvantaged women with disabilities in a rural setting, who have to contend with multiple identities: being persons with disabilities, being poor women and inhabitants of a rural setting where resources are scarce, and being citizens of a country experiencing an economic downturn. The findings from the study were understood through the explanatory framework of the Capabilities Approach (CA). The study argues that the approach to disability in Zimbabwe is unsystematic, individualistic and paternalistic, thereby imposing upon women with disabilities multiple levels of oppression / GR2017

Thesis advisor: Richard Jackson / This study examined organizational change in science museums toward practices that are inclusive of people with disabilities. Guided by two overarching frameworks, organizational learning and the social model of disability, this study sought to answer the following: What are the contexts and processes that facilitate, sustain, or impede a science museum's change toward practices that are inclusive of people with disabilities? The research orientation was a qualitative, multiple case study. The cases featured three science museums that varied in size and location, but shared a documented history of efforts to include people with disabilities. Data were collected through observations and interviews with people with disabilities, interviews with staff members, observations of museum work, and documentation. Data analysis focused on generating descriptions and interpretation of the individual cases and the collection of cases. Findings demonstrate that change toward inclusion in these three museums is an on-going process that is embedded within the work of a broad range of organizational areas. Findings also suggest actions science museums can take to facilitate change toward inclusion, including involving people with disabilities in organizational work, engaging in experimentation and reflection, promoting the idea that practices that benefit people with disabilities also improve the museum for others, and embedding information about inclusive practices into internal communication, professional development, and large projects. These actions appear to promote organizational learning and sustainment of inclusive practices by concretizing the purpose of inclusion, developing staff who serve as internal resources, providing mechanisms for on-going feedback, and raising staff awareness of the importance of inclusion. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Thesis advisor: Peter N. Ireland / This dissertation consists of two chapters. The first chapter: Does going to prison increase the chance that one eventually applies for U.S. disability insurance (DI)? Since the 1980's, there have been substantial increases in both the number of people who have been incarcerated and the number of people applying for DI. Both increases have caused higher costs to taxpayers. While several studies have explored the causes of the increased DI applications and several others have looked at the labor outcomes of ex-inmates, no study has yet asked whether prison itself has any effect on the DI application process. Prison, with its harsh conditions, could cause physical and mental disabilities that increase the chance of a DI application. Properly measuring this, however, requires considering any endogeneity that predisposes ex-inmates to a DI application prior to incarceration. To do this, I use the instruments of states' minimum wages and legal high school drop-out ages to explore the effect of increasing incarceration numbers on state-level DI applications. I find that prison does have a significant effect on DI applications; a 1.0% increase in incarceration causes approximately a 0.5% increase in DI applications six years after the initial increase in incarceration numbers. I find that prison's effect is especially strong for a means-tested group who also concurrently applies to Supplemental Security Income (SSI); here a 1.0% increase in prison leads to a 0.9% increase in people who apply for both DI and SSI after a six year lag. This suggests lower income groups are more sensitive to incarceration. Also, the cost of imprisonment should take into account the cost of subsequent DI applications and awards. The second chapter: This paper assesses the specific case of when a monopolist manufacturer producing two types of goods is allowed to bundle the goods when selling to retailers who are allowed to re-sell the goods individually, have territorial market power and have heterogeneity in the resale demand functions. While the literature covers bundling in a variety of forms, no paper has considered the effect that the presence of multiple retailers may have on an upstream manufacturer who bundles and how benefits to bundling may accrue to consumers, retailers, and manufacturer in the presence of retailer heterogeneity. It is shown that under plausible circumstances, the ability of a retailer to retain profit in the face of bundling may prevent consumers in other markets from realizing greater welfare-enhancing effects although bundling in these cases at least weakly improves consumer welfare and never diminishes it. It is also shown by example, that in the case of three retailers, some retailers may actually profit more when the upstream manufacturer bundles while other retailers may profit less. This suggests that in certain cases some retailers may even favor upstream bundling as their interests align with that of the manufacturer. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

This study explored the level of involvement of school social workers in the 504-Plan process as it relates to the administrative culture of school administrators, collaboration with school personnel, training on the 504-Plan process, and finally knowledge of Section 504. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder affects over six-million children in the world today that may benefit from the use of a 504-Plan. A total of 147 school social workers participated in this study. A self-administered survey was used, and data analysis was conducted on two levels: descriptive which employed frequency and percent distributions of respondents and analytical procedures. The Kruskal-Wallis H test utilized for this study which indicated a statistically significant relationship which rejected the null hypotheses of all four research questions. A second test was then performed, Mann Whitney U test, to determine where the significance of the hypotheses lied. Findings revealed that overall there is a low level of involvement of school social workers in the 504-Plan process of 64.8%. Twenty-nine and a third percent reported a moderate level of involvement. There was a low to moderate level of administrative culture, moderate level of collaboration, training and knowledge among the school social workers.

In Mainland China, a national education policy called ‘Learning in Regular Classrooms’ (LRC) has been implemented for over 25 years to support the inclusion of disabled children in regular schools. Although the LRC policy framework has been gradually adapted in response to the global movement for inclusive education, little is known about what is happening in classrooms and schools. In particular, disabled children’s views and experiences of their school lives remain unknown. Drawing on perspectives from inclusive education, pupil voice, disability studies and childhood studies, this research is driven by a theoretical stance that positions disabled children as active and competent social actors whose voices should be valued and heard. This exploratory inquiry adopted an ethnographic approach. I conducted the fieldwork in 4 state primary schools in Shanghai, with 11 disabled children (designated as LRC pupils and labelled as having Learning Difficulties), 10 class teachers and 3 resource teachers. The Framework for Participation (Florian & Black-Hawkins, 2011) was used to inform data collection and analysis. Multiple methods were utilised including participant observation, interviews and participatory activities. Rich, in-depth and contextual data were collected and thematically analysed. This research highlights several key findings. First, the necessity of listening to pupil voice is reaffirmed. Children’s views of schooling revealed hidden knowledge that had been unknown to teachers. The child participants were sensitive, observant and reflective, exercising their agency to negotiate the circumstances in which they were living. They offered informative comments on school practice and shared aspirations for improvement. Second, it was found that the meaning of inclusive education failed to be addressed in everyday schooling process, although there had been rhetorical change in LRC policy, and its implementation helped to secure disabled children’s access to regular schools. Disabled children were still facing forms of marginalisation and exclusion, such as limited participation in decision-making, restricted opportunities to access extra-curricular activities and spaces, lack of support for academic learning, and negative experiences of bullying from peers. The existing special educational provision such as the ‘resource classroom’ was found to interrupt children’s sense of togetherness and generate negative labelling effects for them. Third, facilitators of and barriers to disabled children’s learning and participation were identified. The exclusionary process affecting disabled children was strongly fortified by the introduction of special educational thinking and practice, which not only marked out these children as incompetent and in need of protection, but also underrated the existing inclusive practice in regular classrooms. The process was further reinforced by the charitable model of disability in Confucian society and the prevailing competitive and performative school culture. Nevertheless, teachers could play important roles in negotiating all pupils’ learning and participation. Among the insights gained into teachers’ practice, a connection between teachers’ attentiveness to children’s worlds and their demonstration of inclusive practice was noticed, on the basis of which I discussed the implications of pupil voice for developing inclusive practice, and explored a working model for moving towards inclusive education in China with pupil voice as a core starting point. In China, there is still a long way to go before realising all children’s learning and participation. This research calls for a paradigm shift within the country to encourage new ways of thinking and researching, in which children must be seen as essential partners in the process of transforming and imagining possibilities for inclusive education.

<p> The rate of the inclusion of students with high-incidence disabilities in general education classrooms are increasing across the nation. The perceptions of general education teachers on this inclusion have limited revelation within research. More specifically, the perceptions of urban elementary general education teachers on the inclusion of students with high- incidence disabilities is limited. Three significant problems contributed to the need of this dissertation research. The first problem is the limited research used to explore this concept. Most of the literature include methods that have been quantitative studies, which provides a range of responses with little depth to understand the perceptions of teachers. The second problem is the samples that are included in such studies. Samples often include teachers without differentiating between what kinds of teachers (high school, middle school, elementary school, etc.). These samples would provide little depth to understand the perceptions of how participants really feel about the inclusion of students with high-incidence disabilities in their classrooms. The third problem is the targeted population of teachers that are included in studies. Urban, rural and suburban school districts all have different needs and issues. There is limited research that differentiate between the areas of schools and its impact on the perceptions of teachers in these school districts. </p><p> The results of a basic qualitative study surrounding the perceptions of urban elementary general education teachers on the inclusion of students with high-incidence disabilities is presented. Twenty urban elementary general education teachers of students with high-incidence disabilities in the general education classroom setting from one school district in the mid-Atlantic region were interviewed to evaluate the perceptions of the inclusion of students with high-incidence disabilities in the general education classroom with their non-disabled peers. </p><p> The purposes of this study were to be able: 1) to investigate urban general education teachers&rsquo; perceptions and beliefs about the inclusion of students with high-incidence disabilities in their classrooms with their non-disabled peers; 2) to give these teachers an opportunity to share their perceptions on the supports received to meet the demands and challenges of their profession; and 3) to provide recommendations for policies and practices for the inclusion of students with high-incidence disabilities in general education classrooms that can contribute to the preparation and professional development for general education teachers. </p><p> The results of the interviews with study participants are outlined in this study. Themes answering three research questions were: described, defined, and supported using quotations from study participants to ensure that themes were grounded in the data. Eight themes emerged from the data that answered three research questions. These themes are: 1) &ldquo;It was a disservice;&rdquo; 2) being &ldquo;set up&rdquo; for failure both academically and socially; 3) impact of behavior; 4) issues of being stranded; 5) feeling inadequate; 6) reluctant acceptance; 7) flaws in identifying students who need help; and 8) issues of support. Two additional themes emerged from the data that did not answer a research question, but became salient across all participants. These theme addressed the issues and influence of race and socioeconomic status and its influence on perceptions. These two themes are 9) impact of socioeconomic status and privilege, and 10) impact of race. Findings are revealed and discussed. Recommendations for practice, policy, and future research are provided.</p><p>

Magister Artium - MA / There is a theoretical gap in scholarship pertaining to masculinity and disability in dance. Existing scholarship on masculinity, disability and dance respectively, seldom bring these three themes into conversation with each other, missing opportunities to examine the nuances of masculinity. Through an ethnographic study, I endeavoured to capture the narratives of three professional disabled male dancers from different contexts and backgrounds. The phenomenological approach was selected in order to enhance understanding of my participants’ experiences in an attempt to illuminate how these dancers negotiate and embody their masculinity in dance spaces. The nuances of masculinity, disability and dance are therefore interpreted through a phenomenological framework and seek to foreground the intricacies of negotiation and subjectivity. Through face-to-face in-depth interviews, watching performances and rehearsals as well as less formal conversations, this project aims to illuminate the lives of Marc Brew (Scotland), David Toole (England) and Zama Sonjica (South Africa) as disabled male dancers. I am particularly interested in disability’s ability to challenge normative ideas around dance, identity and masculinity. I argue the need to change limiting perceptions of hegemonic masculinity and the male dancer’s body to advance the artistic medium of dance and allow for constructive dialogue around issues of access and inclusivity. Furthermore, like Roebuck (2001), I am interested in the ways in which contemporary dance works "contributes to the development of a more sensitive understanding of the ways in which dance articulates masculine identity" (Roebuck, 2001: 1).