Since the inception of new museum theory, and the emphasis it places on the social purpose of museums within society, museum professionals and museum studies theorists have struggled to define what role museums must take in combating prejudices and fostering better understating of difference. Richard Sandell is one such theorist who writes about the importance of, and need for, greater inclusion of disabled artists and works of art containing themes of disability into exhibitions and display. This thesis examines Sandell’s scholarship, noting its foundation in new museum theory and disability studies, and then, employing a case study of the American Visionary Art Museum, illustrates the issues illuminated in Sandell’s writing. Finally, utilizing the case study, this thesis will offer aims for further research within museum studies not yet considered by Sandell, especially within educational goals and activities of the museum.

<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>

<p> This dissertation examines the special issue of peer harassment of students with disabilities through a legal lens, exploring the legal standards used in cases involving three federal statutes&mdash;Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (&ldquo;Section 504&rdquo;), the Americans with Disabilities Act (&ldquo;ADA&rdquo;), and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"). Using legal research methods, litigation trends regarding the number of cases and the legal standard used and applied were explored. There has been no Supreme Court case on the legal standard to be used under Section 504, the ADA, or IDEA in peer harassment of students with disabilities, and circuit courts of appeals have not reached consensus on which legal standard should apply. Instead, courts have applied several different legal standards, including the Davis standard, a modified <i>Davis</i> standard, bad faith and gross misjudgment, deliberate indifference, disability discrimination, intentional discrimination, and denial of a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). This dissertation synthesizes the relevant legal standards used in each federal circuit and identifies trends that might guide the future of this type of litigation.</p><p>

<p> The social behavior and stigma of epilepsy in Korean nationals and Korean Americans throughout California are studied. This study seeks to explore the cultural differences in the social behavior of participants, their thoughts about epilepsy, their familiarity, social order, stigma, and educational knowledge about epilepsy between the Korean national and Korean American society. It argues that Americanization has influenced a positive change in the portrayal of neurological disorder and disease. The method of data collections and analysis were done through convenience sampling with the use of mixed methods. 56 face to face semi-structured audio recorded interviews were done to collect data. The findings of my study came to be of little difference between the two cultures. My hypothesis of the more Americanized a person is the more understanding, less stigmatic with fair social behavior towards epilepsy was correct but only at a baseline level. The key findings that education, cultural outlook and time gap were the main reasons of these results. Link and Phelan&rsquo;s model of stigmatization holds strongly toward the outlook of stigmatism and Americanization in the Korean national and Korean American cultures. In this research paper my created hypothesis will be backed up by theories and history of epilepsy, the methods of how I approached the interviews, the questions asked, how the results came to be, and the conclusion of if my hypothesis was correct or incorrect.</p><p>

In this dissertation I historicize dominant discourses of disability and place my analysis of five published disability narratives in dialogue with those discourses in order to show how the authors of these narratives craft alternative rhetorics to resist representation that casts them as unsuited to public space. Critical to my dissertation is my belief that personal narratives by rhetoricians with disabilities are invaluable sites of rhetorical inquiry, especially in light of the marginalized subject position of people with disabilities in the larger culture. Because my dissertation connects rhetoric and disability studies, my purpose is two-fold. For rhetorical theorists, I argue that attention to dominant discourses of disability and the alternative rhetorics in disability narratives can expand our present understanding of rhetorics of the body to interrogate: (1) who has the authority to speak and who doesn't; (2) who the dominant culture grants the position of subject and who the dominant culture sees as inherently "Other" or an object; and (3) how differing intersections of identity as configured by the actual appearance of the body can often determine whether or not the body "speaks" or is "spoken of" and, in conjunction, whether or not that body is heard, ignored, or silenced. For disability studies scholars, I rediscover the disability narrative as a genre that provides people with disabilities an opportunity to make meaning of their embodied experiences and their material circumstances while simultaneously addressing the ways in which disability itself is also a social construction similar to race, class, and gender. Ultimately, I argue that disability narrative can be a vehicle for a "rhetoric of resistance" that I posit allows people with disabilities to: (1) move their bodies and their voices from the margins to the center of public space; (2) revalue the embodied experience of disability as a site for knowledge and meaning making; and (3) challenge dominant discourses of disability that cast the disabled body as inferior and thereby serve as justification for the cultural devaluation and social marginalization of people with disabilities.

The ADA definition of disability reflects an historical shift from defining disability within the individual (the medical model) to constructing disability within the social environment (the socio-political or interactional model). Further, this shift reveals a movement away from paternalistic to empowering rehabilitation policies and service delivery systems. Similarly, academic programs in Rehabilitation are updating their undergraduate curriculum in ways that reflect changes that have taken place in public policy and service delivery related to disability, knowledge emerging from the field of disability studies, and a changing student demographic. Disability related rehabilitation research has not yet fully reflected this shift, and this has resulted in data and knowledge that are of limited utility. It has been well researched that negative attitudes toward individuals with disabilities held by rehabilitation professionals will limit the scope of services generated and provided by professionals and, ultimately, have a detrimental effect on a successful rehabilitation process. Knowledge about the ways that undergraduate students conceptualize disability may illuminate the content and origin of positive and negative attitudes and beliefs.The present study was a phenomenological examination of the framework students employed in conceptualizing, understanding and making meaning of the concept of disability. The study utilized in-depth interviews and students' course assignments in order to answer the question, "How do undergraduate students in disability related majors construct disability?" Data revealed six common themes which were: participants had difficulty defining the category of disability; disability was understood as an individual problem, requiring special accommodations, assistance and services; there was an altruistic desire among participants to challenge stereotypes surrounding disability, alongside limited self-awareness of the application of stereotypes in their own construction of disability; the meaning of disability was a reflection of participants' own identities; Concepts of opportunity, restraint, power and privilege had limited relationship with disability; and, motivation for professional practice was related to a desire to help those who need assistance. Suggestions were made relating to the undergraduate curriculum and future research.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of people living with the human immunodeficiency virus who underwent a physiotherapy rehabilitation programme, with the aim of informing and improving future physiotherapy rehabilitation interventions. Methodology: Design: A qualitative research design was adopted, using the International Classification of Function, Disability and Health as a guiding framework. Population: All adult HIV positive patients who were referred for physiotherapy rehabilitation at a public-funded South African hospital during the course of a five week clinical block. Sample: Fourteen participants were eligible for the study. Eight of these participants, who were able to attend the post-rehabilitation interview, were considered for final analysis in the study. Study setting: A public-funded hospital within the eThekwini district of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Research procedure: All eligible participants were requested to complete a questionnaire, the World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule, prior to commencing a physiotherapy rehabilitation programme. After the period of rehabilitation, participants were interviewed using 14 open-ended questions designed to explore their experiences of this programme. Results: The questionnaire data described the participants’ demographics and illustrated the varying cognitive and physical challenges faced by these eight individuals. Content analysis of the eight interviews revealed the following themes: the participants’ knowledge of their health conditions and their prescribed medication, the impact of their illness on their impairments, activities and participation in their daily lives, the context in which these factors exist, the participants’ experience of physiotherapy rehabilitation and the barriers they faced in accessing continued rehabilitation. Conclusion: While participants reported mostly positive experiences related to physiotherapy rehabilitation, they face a number of barriers that limit their access to continued rehabilitation. It is hoped that the results of this study will assist in informing the development of future physiotherapy interventions, which are better designed to suit the needs of PLHIV in a South African public health context. / Thesis (M.Physio.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2012.

In this dissertation, I examine discourses on disability and the body in three German Expressionist dramas written directly after WWI both for the discursive work they do in this context and for their relevance today: Ernst Toller’s Die Wandlung: Das Ringen eines Menschen (1918) and Der deutsche Hinkemann (1923) as well as Karl August Wittfogel’s Der Krüppel (1920). I analyze how these plays draw on ideas about disability in post-WWI Germany in the midst of a broad-ranging critique of the violence inherent in nationalistic, militaristic, economic, and rehabilitationist discourses. The analysis contributes to the current discussion on how to dismantle what are referred to in disability studies as “disabling discourses,” that is, those discourses that lend support to discrimination against bodies marked as disabled. I contend that the use of representation to subvert bodily norms and resist “the medical model of disability” did not begin only after the emergence of the disability rights movement. I demonstrate how these three Expressionist plays indeed resist disabling discourses in ways that were both feasible and intelligible in their context. I argue that not only was the discourse on disability in this time and place multiple, but also that the primary texts use of a variety of (literary) strategies to resist normative paradigms that privilege able-bodied, aesthetically-pleasing, and economically-productive bodies. The analysis shows how these representations pose a challenge the medical mode of understanding the body, critically engage the social stigma that often accompanies the presence of disability, and offer alternative ways of reading and valuing the body. I argue that literary representations of disability can serve to de-naturalize ideas about ability and other ideals of embodiment, and that even the hyperbolic bodies one encounters in these Expressionist dramas can help readers to better understand processes of disablement. This project will also demonstrate that literary representations of disability are of importance for disabled and non-disabled persons alike because they reveal and critically engage various techniques that are used to categorize and assign value to all bodies in a society in which ideals of ability, beauty, and utility are used to assess the value of life.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2003. / Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 196 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 181-196). Abstract available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center; full text release delayed at author's request until 2006 Jun. 4.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2006. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-92). Also available on the World Wide Web.