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This essay analyzes the theme of “Otherness” in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein through three different lenses: queer readings, feminist readings, and disability studies, which will offer multiple perspectives of the “Otherness” present in the novel. The essay will engage with critics such as Benjamin Bagocius, Fuson Wang, and Colleen Hobbs. The aim of this essay is to utilize analyzed passages in Upper Secondary classrooms to cultivate critical thinking among students on issues of oppression and privilege in order to foster Anti-Oppressive education. The essay begins by introducing the concept of “Otherness” and its significance in Frankenstein. It then delves into the three different lenses and their perspectives on the theme of “Otherness.” Through these different readings, the essay demonstrates the complex and multi-layered nature of “Otherness” in Frankenstein. Furthermore, the essay argues that this analysis can be used to establish an Anti-Oppressive education in the Upper Secondary classroom. By critically examining how oppression and privilege operate in the novel, students can learn to recognize and challenge oppressive systems in society.  The essay then moves into a discussion of why an Anti-Oppressive education is necessary. Specifically, it briefly critiques the Swedish curriculum for addressing oppression in a way that increases tolerance towards marginalized groups, rather than recognizing privilege and challenging the systemic roots of oppression.

This study investigated the effects of an electronic visual activity schedule (eVAS; i.e., FIRST THEN Visual Schedule application) paired with the system of least prompts on the latency period and level of independence that a fifth-grade student with Intellectual Disability needed to transition throughout the day. Also investigated were the value that the teacher and student placed on the use of an eVAS to teach daily life and school routines instead of typical instruction (e.g., traditional visual schedule) and the student’s ability to generalize the use of the eVAS across instructors and materials (display). An ABAB single case design was used to investigate the effects of the eVAS app. Study research results indicated a functional relation between the use of the eVAS paired with the system of least prompts and the students correct responding and decreased latency. Limitations of the study and the suggestions for future research are discussed.

<p>  </p> <p>While the medieval lexicon did not include a comprehensive term for disability as we understand it today, images of impaired and disabled bodies proliferate in Middle English texts. This dissertation investigates textual representations of the material body across some of the most popular genres of the later Middle Ages (religious exempla, confessional literature, and hagiography) to demonstrate how medieval authors implement impaired bodies in service of spiritual exploration. I show how impaired medieval bodies that are often excluded from discussions of disability—for instance, personified sins, aging bodies, and martyrs’ bodies—are represented in distinctly material terms, drawing attention to medieval authors’ complex and nuanced explorations of bodily difference. Through sustained close readings and attention to medieval authors’ engagement with their source texts, I find that the impaired body operates as a generative site for engagement with significant ontological questions of the period —and that these textual depictions ultimately reveal the body’s resistance to easy or straightforward categorization. Moreover, my research demonstrates the utility of a more nuanced disability studies approach to medieval literature, intervening in current discussions about the ethics of applying the lens of disability to historical texts.</p>

Selon l’Organisation Mondiale de la Santé (OMS), la stigmatisation est une marque de honte, de disgrâce et de désapprobation, conduisant une personne à être évitée et rejetée par les autres. Cette stigmatisation crée des obstacles par rapport au traitement, à l’inclusion dans la société et à l’accès aux services des personnes ayant des troubles du développement. En tant que trouble du développement, l’autisme n’en fait pas exception. Les situations d’exclusion et de stigmatisation sont courantes dans la vie d’une personne autiste, aboutissant même parfois à des violences physiques et psychologiques. La lutte contre la stigmatisation à l’autisme est très importante, mais les interventions visant la réduction de la stigmatisation ne sont pas toujours efficaces. Cette thèse vise donc à explorer les enjeux liés à la stigmatisation envers les personnes autistes et à évaluer un outil technologique, une simulation de réalité virtuelle, pour en diminuer les impacts. La première étude a examiné l'influence de variables sociodémographiques sur les attitudes, les connaissances et l'ouverture envers l'autisme ainsi que les associations potentielles entre ces construits dans une population francophone. Dans l’ensemble, les résultats de cette étude indiquent des attitudes modérément positives, des connaissances modérées et des niveaux élevés d'ouverture à l'autisme dans notre échantillon de 53 personnes principalement composé d’étudiants au cégep. Les participants dans le domaine de la physique, la biologie, les mathématiques ou l'informatique ont montré une plus grande connaissance de l'autisme. De plus, les personnes qui connaissaient une personne autiste ont obtenu des scores plus élevés sur les échelles de connaissance et d’ouverture. Les analyses ont révélé une forte corrélation entre les échelles des attitudes et d’ouverture et une corrélation modérée entre les échelles des connaissances et d’ouverture. Ces résultats suggèrent que l’échelle des attitudes et de l’ouverture ont peut- être mesuré le même construit. Néanmoins, chaque échelle pourrait demeurer pertinente pour examiner les effets des programmes de sensibilisation à l’autisme. La deuxième étude visait à développer et évaluer une application de réalité virtuelle conçue pour mettre les participants « dans la peau » d'une personne autiste pendant une tâche de routine. Nous avons mené un essai contrôlé randomisé dans lequel 104 participants d’une communauté cégépienne ont répondu aux questionnaires utilisés dans la première étude. Avant de répondre à ces questionnaires, les participants du groupe expérimental ont également complété une simulation de réalité virtuelle de 8 minutes conçue par l'équipe de recherche en collaboration avec des personnes autistes. Les résultats ont montré que les participants qui ont complété la simulation de réalité virtuelle présentaient des attitudes plus positives, plus de connaissances et une plus grande ouverture envers l’autisme que ceux du groupe contrôle. Ensemble, les études effectuées dans le cadre de ma thèse doctorale soulignent que les simulations de réalité virtuelle sont des outils prometteurs pour sensibiliser à l’autisme. Les études futures doivent continuer à s’intéresser à l’efficacité des outils technologiques, mais également aux facteurs sous-jacents qui favorisent leur utilisation dans le cadre d’interventions de sensibilisation. / According to the World Health Organization (WHO), stigmatization is a mark of shame, disgrace and disapproval, leading to avoidance and rejection by others. Stigmatization creates barriers to treatment, inclusion in society and access to services for people with developmental disabilities. As a developmental disability, autism is no exception. Situations of exclusion and stigmatization are common in the life of an autistic person, sometimes even leading to physical and psychological abuse. Combating stigmatization in autism is important, but interventions designed to reduce stigmatization are not always efficient. Therefore, this thesis aims to explore the issues related to stigmatization toward autistic individuals and to evaluate a technological tool, a virtual reality simulation, to reduce its impacts. The first study of my doctoral thesis examined the influence of sociodemographic variables on attitudes, knowledge, and openness toward autism as well as the potential associations between these constructs in a French-speaking population. Overall, the results of this study indicate moderately positive attitudes, moderate knowledge, and high levels of openness toward autism in our sample of 53 junior college students. Participants in the fields of physics, biology, mathematics, or computer science showed higher knowledge of autism. Moreover, individuals who knew an autistic person displayed higher scores on the knowledge and openness scales. Statistical analyses revealed a strong correlation between the attitudes and openness scales, and a moderate correlation between the knowledge and openness scales. The results of the study suggest that the attitudes and openness scales may have measured the same construct. However, each scale may still be relevant for examining the effects of autism awareness programs. iv The second study of my doctoral thesis aimed to develop and evaluate a virtual reality application designed to put participants “in the shoes” of an autistic person during a routine task. We conducted a randomized controlled trial in which 104 participants from a college community completed the three questionnaires used in the first study. Prior to completing these questionnaires, the participants in the experimental group also completed an 8-minute virtual reality simulation designed by the research team in collaboration with autistic persons. Our results showed that the participants who completed the virtual reality simulation displayed more positive attitudes, higher knowledge, and openness toward autism than those in the control group. Together, the studies carried out as part of my doctoral dissertation highlight that virtual reality simulations are promising tools for raising awareness about autism. Future studies should continue to focus on the effectiveness of the technological tools and the underlying factors that support their use in awareness interventions.

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Introduction: Postural control and locomotion deficits can be observed during the early years of childhood development and throughout life. For those with disabilities, these deficits can advance past the development years and into adolescence and adulthood while affecting the quality of life and daily activity. Finding interactive rehabilitative activities to delay or limit these deficits is essential for people with disabilities to improve their quality of life, inclusion, and overall movement. Adapted physical activity/sports like badminton and virtual reality could promote improvements in postural and locomotor status for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities like cerebral palsy (CP), intellectual disability (ID), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Purpose: These studies aim to assess the postural and locator status of young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities after participating in a 12-week badminton and intensive virtual reality programs. Methods: Study A will follow a multiple baseline approach to access postural control, locomotion, and areas of physical fitness in young adults with IDD utilizing the immersive virtual reality game Fruit Ninja™ while study B will follow and repeated measures design accessing static postural control for students in a comprehensive transition program for intellectual disabilities at a southeastern university.

This is a time of expanding futures for transgender youth who are able to “buy time” by blocking puberty and transitioning young. Twenty years of clinical literature indicates that suppressing puberty can be lifesaving for trans youth, allowing them to avoid the distress and harm associated with transgender lives writ large. A growing number of “gender affirming” clinics now offer young trans people greater autonomy over their bodies, their futures, and their future bodies. Yet there remain troubling disparities, with indications that clinics are primarily serving white middle class trans youth and that autistic trans youth face delays. This thesis is a discourse analysis of 18 interviews with international health and mental health clinicians and 10 interviews with key stakeholders. Drawing from the literature of queer temporalities, sociological work on time and social power, queer and trans of colour critique, critical disability studies, critical autism studies, and transgender studies, I use an “interpretive repertoire” analysis to ask: How have puberty suppression and early gender transition become thinkable futures for trans youth? This thesis finds that the conditions of possibility that make early transition possible for some, are the same that foreclose it for others. The discourses of maturity and cognitive age, the expected “chrononormative” narrative, and the discourses of crisis and the “race against time”, each work to make outsiders of autistic and racialized trans youth in particular. While there is much to celebrate in the new futures available to trans youth, I argue that puberty blockers currently function as a “switchpoint” moving privileged trans youth onto a track toward even greater privilege, and widening the gap in life opportunities. This thesis introduces the concept of “the temporality of privilege” and calls for greater attention to the political implications augured by the contemporary scene of gender-affirming care for trans youth. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / We are in a time of expanding futures for transgender youth who are able to “buy time” by blocking puberty and transitioning to a new gender while young. Clinical research and literature suggest this as a lifesaving option for trans youth, allowing them to avoid distress and harm. Yet there remain troubling disparities with this treatment. Many clinics report they are primarily serving white middle class trans youth and there are some indications that autistic trans youth may be stalled or delayed in the process. I report on a discourse analysis of 18 interviews with health and mental health clinicians across six countries, in addition to 10 interviews with community level experts. I draw on a range of theory and an “interpretive repertoire” analysis to theorize how these futures become thinkable and possible for trans youth, while considering the political implications and unforeseen consequences for those youth unable to benefit.