Workers with disabilities in sheltered employment centres: a training needs analysis

The work presented is part of a study that the research group CIFO (Research Team in Training for the Labour Market, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona) has carried out, relating to the training needs analysis and basic competences and skills in the environment of sheltered employment centres (SECs) in Catalonia (this study was undertaken in collaboration with the Coordination of Workshops for People with Mental Disabilities in Catalonia). The analysis and assessment of needs is useful from the perspective of training, as a starting point for planning adapted to the reality of disabled workers in SECs. To do this, various elements such as skills, knowledge and attitudes of individual and social nature have been considered from a systemic approach. By placing ourselves in clearly defined contexts (SECs), we bear in mind the characteristics of workers, the features of the job context, the types of activities performed, the skills related to work activities carried out, the definition of competence profiles required on the basis of the essential skills and the real training needs, through the characteristics of workers and those skills related to the labour activities that are performed as well as the needs for training perceived by workers. Identifying training needs in relation to basic skills and job requirements allows us to meet the challenge, as a trend that supports a competence basis for any worker, of raising general actions that may govern and underlie the training proposals, yet without undermining the specific competences. The importance acquired by what workers themselves have considered about their positioning is understood from the standpoint of its validity, so as to assume conclusions through triangulation processes.     

Perspectives on the Contribution of Social Science to Adapted Physical Activity: Looking Forward,Looking Back

ABSTRACT

In this article, we reflect on the contributions of the social sciences to the field of adapted physical activity by examining the theories and methods that have been adopted from the social science disciplines. To broaden our perspective on adapted physical activity and provide new avenues for theoretical and empirical exploration, we discuss and evaluate broad ideas/tensions arising from the social science literature—the individual versus social/ecological, and social science of adapted physical activity versus social science in adapted physical activity. We intentionally focus discussion on the application of specific lines of inquiry in the social sciences that have not yet emerged (or have done so only in limited applications) in the field of adapted physical activity. Such untapped areas of scholarship in the social sciences can lead to broader understanding, innovations, and new lines of inquiry when applied to an adapted physical activity context.     

Inclusive Education in India: International concept,national interpretation

This article examines education of children belonging to marginalised groups, with particular reference to children with disabilities, within the Indian context. Based on an analysis of post‐independence Government documents, various educational provisions made available for children with disabilities are discussed. It explores the Indian Government’s focus on the development of special schools, its efforts towards integration, and the more recent emphasis on inclusive education. Furthermore, it attempts to elucidate “inclusive education” as understood in various official documents. The article concludes by arguing for a need to develop a contextual understanding of inclusive education that is reflective of current educational concerns in India.     

Disrupting the carceral state through education journey mapping

The School-to-Prison Pipeline is an alarming trend of funneling children of color out of schools and into incarceration. Yet the focus on the Pipeline neglects the ways society is imbued with a commitment to criminalizing unwanted bodies. In this empirical article I foreground a spatial analysis, making connections to the socio-spatial dialectic, exploring the nature of the Pipeline within a carceral state, and establishing who is vulnerable to state violence. Next I frame the work through Disability Critical Race Theory and the methodological tool of Education Journey Mapping, investigating both the social and spatial processes through the dimensions of mapping. Finally I document findings, making visible the socio-spatial education trajectories of incarcerated young women of color. The purpose of this article then, is to explore the social and spatial mechanisms that funneled girls of color with disabilities into the carceral state, and ways the girls resisted the state violence.     

The mainstreaming of disability cricket in England and Wales: Integration ‘One Game’ at a time

Disability sport in Great Britain has, since its genesis over sixty years ago, gained greater public profile with each passing decade. Arguably, this is a result of a more direct, interventionist approach from the British government and the Sport Councils into the field of disability sport over the past twenty years. In this paper we highlight a case of integration within sport by examining the process of mainstreaming disability cricket within England and Wales. Following a review of the extant literature in this area we will draw upon Bourdieu's practice theory in order to examine the impact of the implementation of policy on the management of issues of disability in mainstream cricket. Longitudinal ethnographic data (including participant observation and semi-structured interviews) was collected on the organizations involved in this mainstreaming process. Informants were either involved in the delivery of disability cricket or in the management of disability sports partnerships. Preliminary findings suggest that true integration is still unrealized. Whether the policy seeks true integration or whether mainstreaming is simply another modernizing process seeking greater efficiencies from sport organizations is unclear. Nevertheless a number of institutional pressures from the proximal and distal external environments have provided support for generating mainstreaming initiatives at management levels. In addition to these findings we argue that an additional outcome of this research is to demonstrate the suitability of a relational approach for conceptualizing policy, its interpretation by sport managers and the implementation strategies that follow.     

The ‘inclusion’ of elite athletes with disabilities in the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games: An exploratory analysis of British newspaper coverage

The XVII 2002 Commonwealth Games held in Manchester, England, was the first major international multi-sport event to include elite athletes with disabilities (EADs) in its main sports programme and medal table. In this exploratory article we seek to examine some of the complex issues surrounding the inclusion of EADs in the Manchester Games by analysing the coverage afforded those athletes by six national British newspapers. The results suggest that: (1) there was a tendency by the British media to discuss the performances of EADs in terms more-or-less consistent with a medicalized understanding of disability; (2) the inclusion of EADs in the Games signalled the ‘end of a sporting apartheid’ between ‘able-bodied’ athletes and EADs; and (3) that the participation of EADs in the Games was said to reflect the alleged growing ‘inclusion’ of people with disabilities in the wider society more broadly. The paper concludes by discussing some of the unintended consequences of including EADs in the Games, including those brought about by the classification system used to group athletes into events according to their particular impairment. Those which were associated with the supposed need for greater media coverage of EADs in ‘able-bodied’ sports competitions such as the Commonsealth Games.     

Ethnomethodology at Play

Writing over a decade ago, Penney and Harris examined extra-curricular physical education (ECPE) provision in state schools in England and Wales and focused, in particular, on issues of inclusion, equality and equity. They concluded, among other things, that ECPE provision was highly gendered, characterised by a disproportionate emphasis on traditional team games and competitive sport and provided a limited number of opportunities to only a minority of pupils. Although Penney and Harris were less concerned with reflecting upon how the content, organisation and delivery of ECPE may come to impact the involvement and experiences of young disabled people and those with special educational needs (SEN), their analysis nevertheless has important implications for understanding this largely under-explored and neglected aspect of research. In this paper, therefore, we draw upon some key aspects of Penney and Harris's analysis to examine the extent and ways in which physical education (PE) teachers have endeavoured to incorporate disabled pupils and those with SEN in ECPE. In particular, by drawing upon the findings of a study conducted with 12 PE teachers working in five secondary schools in north-west England, the central objectives of this paper are to: (i) examine the ways and extent to which teachers have endeavoured to incorporate young disabled people and pupils with SEN in ECPE; and (ii) explore the extent to which the content, organisation and delivery of ECPE impacts on pupils’ involvement and experiences. The findings suggest that the trend towards including disabled pupils and those with SEN in mainstream schools has not radically altered the content, organisation and delivery of ECPE which, according to PE teachers, continues to be heavily dominated by competitive team sports that retain a strong emphasis on performance, excellence and skills. This provision, it is claimed, appears to have done more to reduce, rather than enhance, the opportunities for pupils to participate in the same activities and to the same extent in ECPE than they might have done in the special school sector. Indeed, when compared to their non-disabled peers, some disabled pupils and those with SEN typically tended to be provided with a limited and somewhat narrow range of sports and physical activities in which to participate. Teachers also suggested that some pupils rarely participated, if at all, in ECPE and, in some cases, they were often taught separately from other pupils in clubs and teams that were developed specifically for them in an effort to cater more adequately for their needs and abilities. It is concluded that until PE teachers and schools are willing and/or able to bring about desired change in the content, organisation and delivery of ECPE, rather than developing more inclusive and non-segregated forms of provision, teachers in many schools will be constrained and/or inclined to continue providing programmes that, in effect, continue to provide what Penney and Harris call ‘more of the same for the more able’ pupils in ECPE.     

Effect of student-related factors on their attitudes towards peers with disabilities in physical education: evidence from elementary schools in China

ABSTRACT

This study aims to examine the general and sport-specific attitudes of elementary school students towards including students with disabilities in physical education and identifying student-related variables that determine such attitudes. A total of 872 students ranged from eight to 13 years old (461 boys and 411 girls) from six elementary schools in Shanghai participated in the study. The Children’s Attitudes towards Integrated Physical Education – Revised Scale (CAIPE-R) was utilized to measure students’ general and sport-specific attitudes. The Chinese students showed unfavourable general and sport-specific attitudes towards PE inclusion. Several student-related variables, such as being female and having a student with disabilities in PE classes, were positively associated with the general attitude of students, whereas being competitive was negatively related to the general attitude. These variables explained 13.2% of attitude variance. Being female, having a student with disabilities in regular classes, and having a student with disabilities in PE classes were positively related to the sport-specific attitude of students and explained 4.7% of attitude variance. The study has important implication for PE teaching, such as providing inclusive cooperative PE settings and opportunities of positive interaction for students with and without disabilities.     

Perceptions and Concerns about Inclusive Education among Students with Visual Impairments in Lagos,Nigeria

This article examines the perceptions of inclusive education in Lagos, Nigeria, based upon in-depth interviews conducted with students with visual impairments during the month of July 2013. The results and discussions are situated within critical disability theory. Despite decades of inclusive education policies, the findings of the study show that Nigerian students with disabilities continue to face a lack of instructional support and discriminatory attitudes. Often, students with disabilities are compelled to rely on their peers rather than teachers for instructional support, potentially reinforcing their subordinate status in these schools. The findings suggest that inclusive education programming in Nigeria must attend to the school environments and extend to communities where these children live. The article makes recommendations for policy.     

From the voice of a ‘socratic gadfly’: a call for more academic activism in the researching of disability in postsecondary education

Abstract

In this article, I use the lens of voices and silences to frame my review of research in the field of disability and postsecondary education. I argue that we need to view research in this field as a necessarily political act that seeks to turn voices of silence into voices of change. Researchers therefore need to rethink their role in order to understand how they can use and direct their political voices. In order to persuade researchers to heed my call for more academic activism, adopt the role of a ‘socratic gadfly’ to identify six political areas of research where I argue that voices and silences need more critical examination. In discussing these six areas, I hope to illuminate the implications for ‘genuinely investigative’ research in the future.