Educating for an Inclusive World: Lessons Learned From A Globally Networked Human Rights and Disability Course for Social Work and Law Students

This article examines an innovative model of online international education regarding disability through a human rights perspective piloted through a collaboration between Universidad LaSalle, Mexico, and University at Buffalo, United States. The course is organized around a pressing global human rights and development issue. Its objective is to promote effective practice with persons with disabilities through cross-national, cross-disciplinary, human-rights based education; strengthen students’ sense of global engagement; and foster cross-cultural expertise and competence with diversity. The implications for effective professional education in law and social work are discussed. The article also examines pedagogical strategies and presents case study materials, identifies key disability rights themes common to both nations and cultures, and explores how distance learning technology is implemented in the course. A preliminary assessment of this newly piloted approach is also presented, based on data from students, as well as the implications for teaching and practice.     

The disease burden of childhood adversities in adults: a population-based study

Objectives

There is much evidence showing that childhood adversities have considerable effects on the mental and physical health of adults. It could be assumed therefore, that the disease burden of childhood adversities is high. It has not yet been examined, however, whether this is true.

Method

We used data of a large representative sample (N = 7,076) of the general population in the Netherlands. We calculated the disability weight (DW) for each respondent. The DW is a weight factor that reflects the severity of a disease or condition on a scale from 0 (perfect health) to 1 (equivalent to death). We used an algorithm based on the SF-6D to estimate DW. Because the DW indicates the proportion of a healthy life year that is reduced by the specific health state of the individual, it also possible to calculate the total number of years lost due to disability (YLD) in the population. We calculated the years lived with disability (YLD) for 9 different childhood adversities (in the areas of parental psychopathology; abuse and neglect; major life events), as well as for major categories of mental disorders and general medical disorders.

Results

All 9 adversities resulted in a significantly increased DW, except death of a parent before the age of 16. Adversities in the category of abuse and neglect are associated with the highest DWs (0.057), followed by parental psychopathology (0.031) and life events during childhood (0.012). All adversities (46.4% of the population reports one or more adversity) are associated with 20.7 YLD/1,000, which is more than all mental disorders together (12.9 YLD/1,000). The category of abuse/neglect has the highest YLD/1,000 (15.8), which is also higher than all mental disorders together. Adjustment for the presence of mental and general medical disorders resulted in comparable outcomes.

Conclusions

Childhood adversities are more important from a public health point of view than all common mental disorders together, and should be a priority for public health interventions.     

Accessibility of U.S. federal government home pages: Section 508 compliance and site accessibility statements

U.S. federal websites are required to be accessible for people with impairments. However, despite the existing regulations and guidelines, many federal websites continue to be inaccessible, and accessibility policy statements available on federal websites often do not provide any useful information. This paper provides three contributions to the research literature: (1) an accessibility evaluation of 100 federal home pages using both human and automated methods, (2) a content analysis of existing website accessibility policy statements, and (3) a discussion of the relationship between actual Section 508 compliance and the existing accessibility policy statements on a website. The paper concludes with recommendations for improving policy related to Section 508 compliance for websites.     

试析高校残障学生的体育教学

本文采用文献资料法、逻辑分析法、比较研究等研究方法,运用教育学、教育心理学、运动生理学、体育教学论和特殊教育理论与方法,通过分析残疾对身体存在一定缺陷的大学生的生长发育、心理和行为、学习以及参加体育锻炼等各方面所造成的影响,认为在高校针对具有残疾的学生进行特殊体育教学应遵循缺陷补偿原则、学用结合原则、安全锻炼的原则等十余条原则与方法。     

Fred outdoors: An initial report into the experiences of outdoor activities for an adult who is congenitally deafblind

Abstract

Outdoor Education has long been used with groups that could be described as having “special needs”. Research in this particular area has in the past concentrated on adaptations to equipment and activities, allowing access for people with physical disabilities, and expanding the learning and development opportunities available to those with learning difficulties. This article documents the initial observations made of the experiences of a man, who is congenitally deafblind, when given the opportunity to experience outdoor activities. The article highlights a number of areas, which appear particularly relevant to this specific target group, and may be worthy of further investigation. The use of video technology is also demonstrated to be a valuable research tool when working with people who have multisensory impairments.     

Higher education provision for students with disabilities in Cyprus

Internationally, the number of students with disabilities entering higher education institutions is on the rise. Research estimates that 8–10% of students attending higher education are registered with disability, with learning difficulties being the most commonly reported disability. Widening participation in higher education has been supported by legislative changes, inclusive education practices, the use of ICT and accessible facilities and programs and, ultimately, an increasing belief among students with disabilities that higher education maximizes their opportunities for employment and independent living. Within the Cypriot context, research on disability, access and provision in higher education is limited. This study was a part of a large-scale study (PERSEAS) funded by the EU. From the original sample, 15 students attending private higher education institutions in Cyprus reported disability (i.e., sensory impairment, dyslexia, physical disabilities) and were selected for focus group discussions. Also, interviews and focus groups were conducted with the Headmasters and teachers, respectively, in 10 private higher education institutions. This study yielded interesting results regarding the current state of provision (e.g., concessions for exams and assignments, infrastructure, teaching modification, counseling services) as well as issues of social inclusion, equality of opportunity and entitlement to education.     

Intersecting barriers to adolescents’ educational access during COVID-19: Exploring the role of gender,disability and poverty

This article explores the social determinants of adolescents’ access to education during the COVID-19 pandemic in three diverse urban contexts in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Jordan. It provides novel empirical data from the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence longitudinal study, drawing on phone surveys (4441), qualitative interviews with adolescents aged 12–19 years (500), and key informant interviews conducted between April and October 2020. Findings highlight that the pandemic is compounding pre-existing vulnerabilities to educational disadvantage, and that gender, poverty and disability are intersecting to deepen social inequalities. The paper concludes by reflecting on policy implications for inclusive distance education in emergencies.     

In search of a middle ground: the dangers and affordances of diagnosis in relation to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Developmental Language Disorder

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we draw on the ‘dilemma of difference’ to discuss the dangers and affordances of diagnosis within two of the most prevalent, yet under-supported, disabilities affecting school-age children: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). The dilemma that exists between denying and thereby ignoring difference on the one hand, versus recognising and potentially stigmatising difference on the other, will be explored and the consequences outlined. Our aim is to achieve a middle ground that conceives of diagnosis as a helpful starting point to enable educators to address barriers to access and participation through appropriate adjustments to curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.     

The intra-active production of normativity and difference

Drawing on memory stories told in a collective biography workshop about children’s encounters with schooling, this paper experiments with re-imagining the child-student-subject as an ‘emergent intracorporeal multiplicity’ [Fritsch, K. 2015. “Desiring Disability Differently: Neoliberalism, Heterotopic Imagination and Intra-Corporeal Configurations.” Foucault Studies 19: 43–66, 51]. From the feminist new materialist perspective that the authors work with, the child is configured not as an entity prior to, or separate from, encounters with education systems, but emergent with-in them. This paper focuses on difference in human relations, and in particular on the intersections of disability and gender. It does so not in terms of essential characteristics of individuals, but as emergent, in-the-moment, with others. In focussing on the detail of lives-in-their-making, the authors ask, with Barad [2007. Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Durham: Duke University Press], if we are interested in justice, how we are to ‘understand our role in helping constitute who and what come to matter?’     

儿童学习障碍的矫正模式评介

根据前人的研究,本文介绍了儿童学习障碍矫正的五种模式,即行为于预模式、认知—行为干预模式、同伴指导模式、神经系统功能训练和生化与药物治疗