Media is considered as one of the most powerful tools in disseminating information thereby shaping people’s lives. While there have been various studies about the relationship between media and people with disabilities, much of the emphasis has been on the media’s representation of people with disabilities than accessibility of print content in formats friendly to people with visual impairments. This research is a qualitative study which looked at the accessibility of online published print media information to people with visual impairments in terms of format. This was done by analysing content in online newspapers and magazines to determine its accessibility to them. Online interviews were also conducted to find out how print media is accessible to people with visual impairments. The Uses and Gratifications and the Social Responsibility theories were selected to frame the study on how media satisfies their specific needs and desires as well as having certain social obligations to society respectively. The findings of this study were that print media was inaccessible to people with visual impairments both in terms of formats and content. There is no print media known to people with visual impairments producing information in Braille format. The electronic version of printed media proved to be inaccessible due to the lack of media adherence to the Web Accessibility Guidelines. The research also established the underrepresentation and lack of representation in some print media due to print media’s lack of interest to cover disability issues. To respond to these needs, a framework was developed to ensure that people who are visually impaired are able to access print media information. / Communication Science / D. Phil. (Communication studies)

This report portrays the findings of research on the experiences of inclusion/exclusion of people with disabilities in faith communities, from a social work perspective. It was a journey undertaken with a group of people with disabilities in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa during 2009 and 2010. In narrations on the journey, participants expressed their experiences of exclusion, not being considered and their personhood not always being respected in faith communities. However, the journey also revealed suggestions of how their inclusion could be enhanced by changing practices, developing understanding of the needs of people with disabilities, and raising awareness of these. The report concludes with recommendations for ways that people with disabilities and others in faith communities can journey together in faith communities to the benefit of all. / Social Work / M.A. (Social Science)

Thesis (MTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The United Nations (UN) declared the period 1983 to 1992 the “Decade of Disabled Persons”, and introduced the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. The Rules demonstrate a strong commitment to upholding human rights and provide guidance for policy formulation to improve the lives of persons with disabilities through their equal participation and maximizing their welfare. There is no consensus on a definition and measurement of disability (Altman, 2001; Mitra 2005:7). The study used the medical, social, and theological models to explore the theoretical, conceptual and theological meaning of living with disabilities; examine the respondents’ perceptions of the church’s influence on their spirituality and daily lives; describe the respondents’ socio-economic conditions with particular attention to civic participation, discrimination, employment, education and health, and make recommendations, based on the findings, to inform policy on people with disabilities in South Africa. The researcher adopted a qualitative and quantitative approach in the study. The population consisted of parents or caregivers to minor and adult children with varying degrees of disabilities, adults with physical disabilities, and family members with disabled persons. Data was collected by means of informal and semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and observation. The main barriers to participation were that the respondents did not feel well enough to participate owing to their disabilities; lack of money; lack of confidence, and the attitudes of others either in the community, at work or at service points. Choice and control in the respondents’ lives was established to be an important aspect of wellbeing and life satisfaction. The respondents who felt they had a choice were satisfied with the services they received. The respondents with mental health conditions reported the least positive experiences and outcomes. Many of the barriers they reported related to their lack of confidence and the attitudes of others in their communities. The study was limited to a relatively small sample of respondents in the greater Cape Town area in the Western Cape, comprising only Evangelical Christians. Consequently, the findings cannot be generalised to all areas of the country and all the Christian churches. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: "Geen opsomming"

M.A. (Social Work) / Assistance with a disability grant has made a number of positive contributions, especially to improving the life of its beneficiaries. In addition to the increasing number of job demands by a multitude of people in the country, there are also thousands of people living with HIV and AIDS who apply, especially those who have no income, for a disability grant to meet their basic needs and promote positive health. Throughout the study, it has been identified that the disability grant not only benefits individual beneficiaries in most instances, but also benefits their families and plays a major role not only in ensuring food security, but is extended in meeting other basic needs of the households. By its nature, the disability grant is not permanent social assistance as beneficiaries only qualify for a period ranging from six to 12 months. The cancellation of the grant also leaves the beneficiaries in a vulnerable condition as on cancellation, some beneficiaries are not in a position to provide for themselves financially. For the purpose of the study, purposive sampling was selected for its convenience in getting information relevant to the study. The study was guided by its goal which was to explore the need for developmental programmes for HIV positive disability grant applicants, with the purpose of improving food security and self-reliance. The objectives of the study included the interrogation of grantees on their desire, or not, to be self-reliant, to solicit their ideas for developmental programmes, to consult with social workers who are experienced in the field of Antiretroviral (ARV) intervention on alternative developmental programmes for disability grant re-applicants, and to make recommendations to social workers regarding appropriate developmental programmes for disability grant re-application. Practically, South Africa has no alternative assistance which will ensure continuous food security once the grant has lapsed. This raises a need for initiatives to address this situation as it was discovered that disability grant beneficiaries feel that they can participate in income-generating activities and thereby take more control of their lives and be economically sufficient. Other factors that were identified included a will to change and self-determination. These factors were therefore identified as better tools to be utilised and invested in to encourage them to do things for themselves, as meeting their basic needs is their individual responsibility, especially in cases where the individual‟s medical condition has improved. These interventions need to consider the socio-economic factors of the grant applicants as services provided to them should not treat other factors in isolation since the focus has been on medical aspects; hence assistance with disability grants is only provided when they cannot provide for themselves due to poor health and poor physical strength.

Submitted for the degree of Masters of Arts in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. / Andrew Chakane 2019

Australia, like other Western liberal democracies, has undergone extensive social policy restructuring as a result of neoliberalism. While neoliberalism had its genesis with Australian Labor governments during the 1980s, it secured the status of orthodoxy under the radical conservatism of the Liberal Coalition government (1996 - 2007). Under the leadership of Prime Minister John Howard a widespread campaign was instigated to advance neoliberal social policy measures across all spheres of social life, leading to the dismantling of rights for a diverse range of social groups including women, refugees, people with disabilities and Indigenous Australians. The restructuring of social provisioning with the intensification of neoliberalism was largely driven by workfare – a key domestic social project of neoliberal global restructuring. The thesis examines the Australian experience of workfare and the primary areas of contestation and struggle that emerged in this environment for the Australian Disability Movement during the peak period of workfare restructuring for 'disability' (1996 – 2005). The thesis draws on the work of critical disability theory to discuss the bivalent social collective identity of disability as it cuts through the politics of recognition and the politics of distribution. From here, the thesis engages with sociological work on emotions, bringing together theories of disgust and disability. The thesis demonstrates that there is a synergy between disability and disgust that informs the moral economy of disability; framing, shaping and articulating able-bodied – disabled relations. Drawing on the policy process method the research involved extensive qualitative interviews with members of the Australian Disability Movement, disabled people involved in workfare programs, service providers and their peak organisations, families, as well as the policy elite charged with the responsibility of disability workfare restructuring. Additionally, the study incorporated a range of documents including parliamentary Hansards, key policy texts, government media releases, and publicly available information from disability specialist services and the disability movement. The analytical centrality of policy processes highlighted the strategic interrelationship between macro-structural policy discourses and practices and the role of policy actors as agents, including those collective agents engaged in mediating disability social relations. Three dominant themes emerged from the analysis of the data: movement politics, representation and participation; emotions and processes of moralisation; and finally, the role of temporality in inscribing (disabled) bodies with value. Each of the findings chapters is dedicated to explicating these mechanisms and the effects of these discourses and practices on disabled people involved in workfare programs and the disability movement's struggles for respect, recognition and social justice.

The author's Habilitationsschrift--Universität Heidelberg, 2006/2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [439]-480).

Submitted by Aelson Maciera (aelsoncm@terra.com.br) on 2017-06-28T18:10:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DissMAG.pdf: 1418412 bytes, checksum: f60e4f8a4895083b4ee5735422059d6a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2017-08-07T18:02:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissMAG.pdf: 1418412 bytes, checksum: f60e4f8a4895083b4ee5735422059d6a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2017-08-07T18:02:51Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissMAG.pdf: 1418412 bytes, checksum: f60e4f8a4895083b4ee5735422059d6a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-07T18:08:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissMAG.pdf: 1418412 bytes, checksum: f60e4f8a4895083b4ee5735422059d6a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-08 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / In the problematization of the insertion of the desire by disability, as sexual or identity pathologies, this project proposes an incursion into the terminology and biomedical configurations on the subject in order to understand which discourses are triggered when it is sought to discriminate as ‘sick’ those and those who seek to relate erotically to the disabled or who want to cause disabilities in their own bodies. For this, the intention is to investigate the clinical bibliography produced on devotees, pretenders and wannabes, aiming to systematize to the maximum historically the continuities and discontinuities in the creation of these 'pathological types'. Concomitantly, aiming to establish a critical dialogue with the biomedical knowledge on sexuality and disability, I propose a more theoretical theoretical incursion into one intersection between disability studies and queer theory, the so-called crip theory. / Ao problematizar as colocações do desejo pela deficiência como patologias sexuais ou identitárias essa pesquisa propõe uma incursão nas terminologias e configurações biomédicas sobre o tema a fim de compreender quais discursos são acionados quando se busca discriminar como ‘doentes’ aqueles e aquelas que buscam relacionar-se eroticamente com deficientes ou que querem causar deficiências em seus próprios corpos. Para isso, a intenção é investigar a bibliografia clínica produzida sobre devotees, pretenders e wannabes, almejando sistematizar ao máximo historicamente as continuidades e descontinuidades na criação destes ‘tipos patológicos’. Concomitantemente, almejando estabelecer um diálogo crítico com o conhecimento biomédico sobre sexualidade e deficiência, proponho uma incursão teórico bibliográfica mais pontual na intersecção entre disability studies e teoria queer, a chamada teoria crip.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:46:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4232.pdf: 1551823 bytes, checksum: a87c9e5d544c747ef8ee86dd48b08355 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-28 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / In this research aim systematize stories and theories associated with the Sociology of Disability, and identify, voices to rethink the meaning of disability and practices of Special Education aimed at people in situation disabilities. For this, we developed theoretical research, based on bibliographical research and documentary developed based on 48 publications (articles, books and documents) compiled primarily from the journal Disability and Society, of Association Spanish of Sociology of Disability and the database of the Centre of Disability Studies, University Leeds. The works were compiled analyzed by reading, annotated elements, dismemberment of these annotated elements in parts (passages, phrases, quotes) categorization, meeting these parts separate units with common characteristics and the naming of these units under a name that characterizes. The first of the units identified in the main focuses interpretations adopted by the Health Sciences (Medical Paradigm) to think about disability; the second, in stories associated with the formation of the Sociology of Disability; and the third in the multiple faces of theoretical Sociology of Disability. The process of systematization of units allowed us to unveil a sociological paradigm of interpretation of disability, and this paradigm provides voices for more inclusive practices. / Nesta pesquisa objetivamos sistematizar histórias e teorias associadas com a Sociologia da Deficiência, e identificar, nestes elementos sistematizados, vozes para repensar o significado da deficiência e as práticas da Educação Especial voltadas às pessoas em situação de deficiência. Para tanto, desenvolvemos pesquisa teórica, pautada em pesquisa bibliográfica e documental, desenvolvida a partir de 48 obras (artigos, ensaios, livros e documentos) compiladas primordialmente da revista Disability and Society, da Asociación Española de Sociología de la Discapacidad e da base de dados do Centre of Disability Studies da Universidade de Leeds. As obras compiladas foram analisadas por meio de leitura, fichamento de conteúdo, desmembramento dos elementos destes fichamentos em partes, categorização, reunião e nomeação destas partes em distintas unidades com características comuns. A primeira das unidades identificadas centra-se nas principais interpretações adotadas pelas Ciências da Saúde (paradigma médico) para pensar a deficiência; a segunda, em histórias associadas com a constituição da Sociologia da Deficiência, os movimentos sociais que, em resposta às interpretações da deficiência adotadas pelas Ciências da Saúde, (re)significaram a deficiência e fundaram os Estudos da Deficiência (Disability Studies); e, a terceira, nas múltiplas faces teóricas da Sociologia da Deficiência e nos novos modelos de compreensão da deficiência. O processo de sistematização destas unidades nos permitiu desvelar um paradigma sociológico de interpretação da deficiência, que, reunindo as histórias e teorias da Sociologia da Deficiência, apresenta vozes por práticas e significados mais inclusivos, tanto no que se refere à deficiência quanto à Educação Especial.

This report portrays the findings of research on the experiences of inclusion/exclusion of people with disabilities in faith communities, from a social work perspective. It was a journey undertaken with a group of people with disabilities in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa during 2009 and 2010. In narrations on the journey, participants expressed their experiences of exclusion, not being considered and their personhood not always being respected in faith communities. However, the journey also revealed suggestions of how their inclusion could be enhanced by changing practices, developing understanding of the needs of people with disabilities, and raising awareness of these. The report concludes with recommendations for ways that people with disabilities and others in faith communities can journey together in faith communities to the benefit of all. / Social Work / M.A. (Social Science)