Peer reviewed resources

Often located far apart from each other, deaf and hearing impaired persons face a multiplicity of challenges that evolve around isolation, neglect and the deprivation of essential social services that affect their welfare and survival. Although it is evident that the number of persons born with or acquire hearing impairments in later stages of their lives is increasing in many developing countries, there is limited research on this population. The main objective of this article is to explore the identities and experiences of living as a person who is deaf in Uganda. Using data from semi-structured interviews with 42 deaf persons (aged 19–41) and three focus group discussions, the study findings show that beneath the more pragmatic identities documented in the United States and European discourses there is a matrix of ambiguous, often competing and manifold forms in Uganda that are not necessarily based on the deaf and deaf constructions. The results further show that the country’s cultural, religious and ethnic diversity is more of a restraint than an enabler to the aspirations of the deaf community. The study concludes that researchers and policy makers need to be cognisant of the unique issues underlying deaf epistemologies whilst implementing policy and programme initiatives that directly affect them. The upper case ‘D’ in the term deaf is a convention that has been used since the early 1970s to connote a ‘socially constructed visual culture’ or a linguistic, social and cultural minority group who use sign language as primary means of communication and identify with the deaf community, whereas the lower case ‘d’ in deaf refers to ‘the audio logical condition of hearing impairment’. However, in this article the lower case has been used consistently.

Purpose: The attitudes of support staff towards people with intellectual disability can greatly impact upon an individual’s quality of life and level of social inclusion. However, there are few studies that examine how perceptions and beliefs have changed within one organisation over the past few decades; a period during which there have been major social and government policy changes including deinstitutionalisation, inclusive education and the introduction of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In conjunction with a 25th anniversary review of a community-living project in rural Australia, the current research replicated a study from 1987 that examined attitudes of staff with respect to people with intellectual disability, and thematically compared the findings of the two questionnaires.

Method: In 1987, a purpose-designed questionnaire was developed and completed by 15 direct care staff. This 10-item tool asked for basic demographic information and for the participants’ perceptions of people with intellectual disability and their own work roles in the disability sector. This tool was replicated in 2013 and was again completed by 15 direct care staff from the same organisation.

Results: The thematic analysis indicated a number of differences between the 1987 and 2013 cohorts in regard to their attitudes. The wide acceptance of the rights of people with intellectual disability was one key change. There was an age separation found within the 2013 cohort, with older participants (> 50 years of age) more likely to display similar attitudes to the 1987 group than the younger participants (<30 years old). Dealing with the problem of ageing-related issues, something that was not obvious 25 years ago, was now considered of major importance. There was evidence that disability support was increasingly recognised as a valid career choice, with a substantial difference in motivation found between the two age groups. Across both cohorts, direct exposure to the realities of the job was seen to be the best training for new employees.

Conclusions: The past 25 years have seen positive developments in both social acceptance and expectations for people with disabilities. Individuals are now viewed in a realistic but more positive light. As an exemplar of this change, concerns about individuals entering a consenting sexual relationship have changed dramatically, and what was once an issue of major concern is now no longer raised. While the training provided to staff has changed significantly over the past 25 years, on-the-job exposure to people with intellectual disability, combined with support from peers, is still perceived as vital for developing a quality support network.

Purpose: To study the role of traditional leaders (Sarakuna) who provide a form of social welfare for persons with disabilities in the Hausa society of Northern Nigeria. From the results of this study, lessons are derived for cooperation with Sarakuna in (emerging) Community Based Rehabilitation programmes.

Methods: A literature study was done using different (non-)electronic sources. In addition, 26 semi-structured interviews were conducted with different stakeholders (e.g., non-governmental organisations, disabled people’s organisations), and 8 focus group discussions were held with (leaders of) persons with a disability. Question-led analysis was utilised by considering 4 dimensions: rehabilitation outcomes, rehabilitation services, involvement of beneficiaries, and social acceptability.

Results: Not much literature is available on the role of traditional leadership in rehabilitation programmes and social welfare. Nevertheless, this study found indications that traditional leadership is still present in contemporary NorthernNigeria. Some Sarakuna improve the socio-economic position of persons with disabilities by functioning as mediators and by their ability to provide social insurance. Their cooperation with multiple stakeholders enables them to distribute food and clothes. Also, since they possess essential information, NGOs are helped to access the community of persons with disabilities. Sarakuna are in a position to promote the inclusion and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities, but often lack necessary skills and training; yet, Community Based Rehabilitation programmes often ignore them.

Conclusions and Implications: Community Based Rehabilitation programmes should take better note of social contexts and therefore should also work in the specific context of traditional leadership. In this way, rehabilitation programmes are more likely to meet the expectations of persons with disability.

Purpose: Emotional Intelligence is a set of abilities which enables people to understand emotions more accurately and solve problems in their emotional lives. The present study attempted to identify variables influencing emotionalintelligence (EI) of visually impaired students studying in higher educational institutions.

Method: A survey method of descriptive research design was adopted. 60 visually impaired students pursuing higher education were selected through purposive sampling. Their emotional intelligence (EI) was measured using ‘Mangal Emotional Intelligence Inventory’ (MEII). The collected data was analysed using differential and descriptive statistics to identify the influence of selected demographic variables on EI.

Results: The study results revealed that demographic variables did not have significant impact on the EI of students with visual impairment studying in higher educational institutions, except at the onset of visual impairment. Those who had lost their vision later in life seemed to have more EI than those who were congenitally blind.

Conclusion: Suitable training programmes should be planned to promote the emotional intelligence of those who are visually impaired since birth, because most behaviour is learnt through visual clues.

Explore the cultural beliefs that affect the utilisation of rehabilitation services in a rural community in South Africa from the therapists’ perspective.
 

Purpose: Inclusive education, widely acknowledged as an alternative method of making education accessible to children with special needs, has been piloted for 10 years in selected districts of Ghana. This article aims to discuss the feasibility of implementing it throughout the country, by assessing the inclusive education programme piloted in Ghana’s Ashanti and BrongAhafo regions.

Method: One round of in-depth interviews was conducted with 31 participants, to collect data on the issue under study. Participants were officials of Special Education at the national Head Office, District Special Education Coordinators, Resource Teachers, Headmasters and Classroom Teachers of inclusive education.

Results: The study findings indicated that the pilot programme did not live up to expectations when faced with challenges such as inaccessible environments, lack of resources, lack of funds, lack of qualified teachers, poor teaching methods and negative attitudes of teachers towards children with disabilities.

Conclusion: It is very unrealistic to commence inclusive education programmes unless practical measures are put in place, such as adequate funding from the government and provision of sufficient resources for inclusive schools.

Background: One of the most popular means of public transport within South Africa is mini-bus taxis.

Objectives: As South Africa is made up of diverse cultures, religions and beliefs, the aim of this study was to explore Johannesburg based taxi drivers’ experiences of beliefs about, and attitudes towards passengers who have a communication disability.

Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 mini-bus taxi drivers.

Results: Interviews revealed that almost all the taxi drivers had encountered passengers with a communication disability, and had an awareness of passengers with a hearing disability as opposed to a speech disability. Furthermore mini-bus taxi drivers generally held a positive view of their passengers with a communication disability.

Conclusion: Study findings contribute to existing literature within the fields of speech pathology and audiology, advocacy groups and policy makers, particularly research studies on participation experiences of persons with communication disabilities related to transportation access. The results of the study should also provide a foundation for disability policy development initiatives with the aim of increasing levels of public awareness.

The vast majority of the world’s displaced people are hosted in the global South, in the poorest countries in the world. This is also a space with the highest numbers of disabled people, many of who live in extreme and chronic poverty. This poverty, alongside deprivation, wars, conflict, and environmental disasters is what drives people to flee, in search of security. This includes disabled people. In spite of this, this population (disabled forced migrants) continues to be cast in a shadow, of epistemological, ontological and practical invisibility. It is hardly theorised in forced migration studies and rarely contemplated in humanitarian intervention. The lives of disabled forced migrants are cast aside in a Eurocentric disability studies that remains global North-centric and focused, while Southern contexts and histories and the geopolitics that envelope them, are forgotten or never known. Migration theory grows without the disabled person, disability studies without the migrant, and practice without the disabled migrant. In this paper, we explore the disability/forced migration nexus with a view to understanding some of the critical intersectionalities that emerge, and their implications for theory and practice. We trace elements of the forced migration trajectory, from exodus, to crossing international borders, to life in protracted refugee camps, the use of networks and smugglers, to those related to national and human security. We argue that forced migration studies, as well as humanitarian practice continue to be premised on and adopting an ableist approach focused on heteronormative productive bodies, while disability studies, with a corpus of work premised on an assumption of citizenship, has failed to critically engage with issues of sovereignty, borders and bodies that lie beyond the protection of the Nation State. In this paper, we also question and contest dominant and hegemonic frames that are historically contextualized, alongside discourses and structures that not only produce forced migration, but also serve to perpetuate the global divide and inequalities. We conclude by calling for a critical interrogation of theoretical perspectives in both forced migration and disability studies, in policy and humanitarian action, and to work towards a praxis geared towards social justice for disabled forced migrants.

Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2015, Vol. 2 No. 1

Persons with disabilities remain one of the most vulnerable and socially excluded groups in any displaced community. Barriers to accessing humanitarian assistance programs increase their protection risks, including risk of violence, abuse and exploitation. Women’s Refugee Commission has been supporting the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and implementing partners to translate guidance on disability inclusion into practice at field levels through the provision of technical support to eight country operations. In the course of the project, WRC has consulted with over 600 persons with disabilities and care-givers and over 130 humanitarian actors in displacement contexts. Key protection concerns identified include a lack of participation in community decision making; stigma and discrimination of children and young persons with disabilities by their non-disabled peers; violence against persons with disabilities, including gender-based violence; lack of access to disabilityspecific health care; and unmet basic needs among families of persons with multiple impairments. Suggested strategies to further advance disability inclusion in humanitarian programming include: strengthening identification of protection risks and case management services for persons with disabilities; facilitating contextspecific action planning around key guidelines; and engaging the disability movement in advocacy on refugee issues.

Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2015, Vol. 2 No. 1