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Reducing albinism related stigma in Tanzania: an exploration of the impact of radio drama and radio interview

DE GROOT, T M M
VELDMAN, M
JACQUET, W
PETERS, R M H
VANWING, T
MEURS, P
2021

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Reducing stigma is key to improving the wellbeing of people with albinism in Tanzania. This study aimed to obtain more insight into the effects of two radio interventions with regard to albinism-related stigma: a radio drama and a radio interview. Assessment of the radio interventions was based on two attitude measurement instruments (The Albinism Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue Community Stigma Scale and the Albinism Social Distance Scale), an entertainment scale, and two informal (group) interviews. In total, 111 community members participated in the assessment prior to the radio drama, and 65 after. In the case of the radio interview, 123 community members participated in the assessment prior to the radio show, and 77 after. Following the radio drama, a significant reduction was found in terms of community stigma, and a reduction in social distance was found after both interventions. The entertainment score for both interventions was high, but significantly higher for the radio drama. The respondents indicated that they had gained more understanding of albinism as a result of the interventions, and were positive about this type of education. The current study shows that a radio show in which the listener interacts with someone with albinism can contribute to a reduction in stigma, and demonstrates that different types of radio intervention can have different outcomes.

COVID-19 blog series

SDDirect
April 2020

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The principal aim of this COVID-19 Blog series is to inspire and support the international community to identify, prioritise and respond to the needs of the most vulnerable individuals and nations as part of both the immediate humanitarian response and long-term recovery planning

Blogs include:

  • Recommendations for a disability-inclusive response to COVID-19 (Print and Audio)
  • Why people with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 (Print and Audio)

Aid Connect Inclusion Works (NIGERIA) Qualitative Formative Research

BBC Media Action
April 2020

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BBC Media Action is implementing a Department for International Development (DfID) funded project aimed at increasing action and investment from private, public and civil society actors to enable economic inclusion for women and men with disabilities through employment, with focus on FCT, Lagos and Kano states. The formative research provides insights to help (re)shape the design and implementation of media capacity strengthening activities on the project.

 

The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the UK government or members of the Inclusion Works consortium.

Tensions and unity in the struggle for citizenship: Swedish disability rights activists claim ‘Full Participation! Now!’

SÉPULCHRE, Marie
2018

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This article analyses the claims of contemporary disability rights activists mobilising in a context where de facto second- class citizenship co-exists with legal and political declarations about the rights of disabled people. As an empirical case, it focuses on the blog ‘Full Participation.Now’, which was initiated by disability rights activists in Sweden. Drawing upon citizenship research, the article points to the tensions and dilemmas featuring the bloggers’ demand for participation and equality, as well as the challenges relative to their struggle. Although the bloggers formulate contrasting arguments, the article highlights that the activists share a common aspiration for ‘full citizenship’.

Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2018, Vol. 5 No. 1

2018

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Articles include:

  • Inclusive Education in the global South? A Colombian perspective: ‘When you look towards the past, you see children with disabilities, and if you look towards the future, what you see is diverse learners
  • Services for people with Communication Disabilities in Uganda: supporting a new Speech and Language Therapy profession
  • Frida Kahlo and Pendular Disability Identity: A Textual Examination of El Diario de Frida Kahlo
  • Health Information-Seeking Behaviour of Visually Impaired Persons in Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria
  • Online Collective Identities for Autism: The Perspective of Brazilian Parents
  • Transnationalizing Disability Policy in Embedded Cultural-Cognitive Worldviews: the Case of Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Portrayal of Disabled People in the Kuwaiti Media

Online collective identities for autism: The perspective of Brazilian parents

ANTUNES, Debora
DHOEST, Alexander
2018

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The importance of online communities for parents of people with disabilities has been discussed by many scholars in the fields of Digital and Disability Studies, showing, for instance, the importance of social support and the formation of social ties. In order to contribute to this scholarship, this paper explores how collective identity models are built and circulated by parents of autistic people in one of the biggest Brazilian online communities about the subject, ‘Sou autista… conheça o meu mundo’ (I am autistic…get to know my world). The results were obtained through a digital ethnography, based on participant observation and an exchange of information with the members of the community studied. Based on the data collected, the study concludes that the collective identity models that circulate in this community can be grouped into legitimising, resistant, and project identities, as postulated by Castells (2010). The different views reflect how parents see autism and represent the ways it is treated in Brazilian society.

 

Disability and the Global South, 2018 Vol.5, No. 1

Portrayal of disabled people in the Kuwaiti media

ALENAIZI, Hussain Mohammed
2018

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This paper explores the views of 10 participants on how the Kuwaiti media represents disabled people. Participants expressed their views through focus groups and interviews. The findings show that, generally, disabled people in Kuwait are shown in a negative light in the media. The media depicts disabled people as ‘pitiable’, ‘violent’, ‘sinister’, ‘tragic’, and as a ‘tool of ridicule’. The findings, however, witness some positive examples of media representation regarding how some TV shows portray deaf people in a positive light. On the other hand, the study suggests that learning disabled people are the most negatively depicted group in Kuwaiti society. There are also indications of implicit endorsement or internalisation by the participants of views of disabled people as ‘extraordinary’ despite the presence of their impairments. The study concludes that it is more important that the media shows the everyday lives of disabled people before showing their abilities and achievements.

 

Disability and the Global South, 2018, Vol.5, No. 1

A world without Down’s syndrome? Online resistance on Twitter: #worldwithoutdowns and #justaboutcoping

BURCH, Leah
2017

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Presented by actress and comedian Sally Phillips, A World Without Down’s Syndrome has brought important ethical debates regarding prenatal screening into the public domain. By talking to people with Down’s syndrome, family members, and professionals, Sally has presented a nuanced and thorough examination of the type of world we are living in. Following the documentary, Twitter users have continued to engage with debates and have created a resilient platform for challenging public attitudes. This paper explores the ways in which Twitter hashtags have provided a space for such important and long overdue conversations. While it would not be possible to provide a full overview of the topical conversations that the two hashtags have provoked, I aim to focus on some of the most prominent topics. The following, then, will explore the potential of alternative narratives that resist, and disrupt, normative notions of the human using the hashtags #worldwithoutdowns and #justaboutcoping.

Labeling albinism: language and discourse surrounding people with albinism in Tanzania

BROCCO, Giorgio
2015

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This article is based on a qualitative study that set out to analyze the labels and terms attached to 28 people affected by albinism in villages in Kilolo district, Tanzania. Even though national and international attention to killings of people with albinism has attempted to improve general knowledge of albinism and reduce discrimination, most of the community members within the study had lit- tle knowledge of the (bio)medical explanations for albinism and tended to marginalize people with albinism. Framed within a wider moral discourse on ill- ness, disability and socially appropriate behavior, albinism is mostly considered to be God’s will or the consequence of past misdeeds within the family, and many of the existing labels for people with albinism express such ideas.

Project Re•Vision: disability at the edges of representation

RICE, Carla
CHANDLER, Eliza
HARRISON, Elisabeth
LIDDIARD, Kirsty
FERRARI, Manuela
2015

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The representational history of disabled people can largely be characterized as one of being put on display or hidden away. Self-representations have been a powerful part of the disability rights and culture movement, but recently scholars have analysed the ways in which these run the risk of creating a ‘single story’that centres the experiences of white, western, physically disabled men. Here we introduce and theorize with Project Re•Vision, our arts-based research project that resists this singularity by creating and centring, without normalizing, repre- sentations that have previously been relegated to the margins. We draw from body becoming and new materialist theory to explore the dynamic ways in which positionality illuminates bodies of difference and open into a discussion about what is at stake when these stories are let loose into the world.

Challenging perceptions of disability through performance poetry methods: the ‘Seen but Seldom Heard’ project

HODGES, Caroline E M
FENGE, Lee-Ann
CUTTS, Wendy
2014

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This paper considers performance poetry as a method to explore lived experiences of disability. We discuss how poetic inquiry used within a participatory arts-based research framework can enable young people to collectively question society’s attitudes and actions towards disability. Poetry will be considered as a means to develop a more accessible and effective arena in which young people with direct experience of disability can be empowered to develop new skills that enable them to tell their own stories. Discussion of how this can challenge audiences to critically reflect upon their own perceptions of disability will also be developed.

Benefits stigma in Britain

BAUMBERG, Ben
et al
November 2012

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This report presents the results of a research study assessing the impact of stigma and other social influences on applying for benefits in the UK

Advocacy : key information sheet 4

WASSENAAR, Nicolien
January 2012

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"In development processes, participation of civil society organisations (CSOs) is a critical factor for the promotion of sustainable development. In a democratic society there are many different groups, often with competing interests. In order to make the voices of a group heard - and to bring specific opinions and needs to the attention of policy makers and development organisations - advocacy can be an effective tool." This key information sheet explores the importance, purpose and goals of advocacy and outlines ten practical steps to successful advocacy
Key information sheet 4

Miss landmine Cambodia pageant : provocative art or pejorative ‘project’?

MOMAYA, Masum
2012

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In 2007, a Norwegian theatre director Morten Traavik arrived in Cambodia to stage a beauty pageant, with funding from the government of Norway, for girls and women who had lost limbs in landmine explosions. This opinion article analyses the project which "continues to raise questions about what it means for a foreign project to offer 'freedom' and 'opportunity' to women with disabilities in Cambodia and stoke debates about the sexualisation of women with disabilities from the global South"

Promoting Prosocial Beliefs and Behavior Toward People with Disabilities in Nepal through a Children’s Entertainment-Education Program

STRONG, D A
BROWN, W J
2011

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Purpose: This quasi-experimental field study examines the prosocial influences of a children’s entertainment-education television programme, Khushi Ko Sansar, on children’s beliefs and intended behaviour towards people with disabilities in Nepal.

 

Method: Pre-test and post-test survey data were gathered from 357 Nepali children from nine communities that took part in the study. The children were shown two television episodes in which the star of the programmes, a dog named Khush, befriends and visits people with disabilities.

 

Results: Post-test results show that children developed strong identification with Khush and adopted his prosocial beliefs and behaviour towards people with disabilities.

 

Conclusions: The authors conclude that the entertainment-education television programme, Khushi Ko Sansar, provided a positive role model for children who encounter people with disabilities. Implications of these findings suggest that entertainment- education media can improve the treatment of people with disabilities and can promote beneficial health beliefs and practices.

Advocacy toolkit : guidance on how to advocate for a more enabling environment for civil society in your context

TOMA, Costanza D
2011

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This toolkit aims for civil society organizations (CSOs) to continue advocating for a more enabling environment for their work, capitalizing on the global momentum to improve their effectiveness as development actors. "This toolkit encourages advocacy among and between CSOs and towards external stakeholders. The toolkit is divided into three sections. Section 1 is an overview summarising the main points and key steps in advocating for a more enabling environment for CSOs. Section 2 provides essential information and documents on CSO development effectiveness and enabling environment. Section 3 provides step-by-step guidance and tools on activities and logistics to assist CSOs develop, implement, monitor and evaluate their advocacy for an enabling environment. A variety of advocacy tools are included throughout the toolkit and templates are available in the annexes. Each section also includes practical tips, case studies and quotes representing Open Forum members’ voices"

Disability and the media : how disability is dealt with in the West African media - Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo

MANDRILLY-JOHN, Aline
December 2010

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This document presents the results of surveys analysing the portrayal of disability in national media in the 6 countries of the DECISIPH project: Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. It contains recommendations for disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) on how to ensure disability is better portrayed in the West African media, and a questionnaire for readers to complete about examples of disability portrayal in the media

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