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Aesthetics and the perceived stigma of assistive technology for visual impairment

DOS SANTOS, Aline Darc Piculo
FERRARI, Ana Lya Moya
MEDOLA, Fausto Orsi
SANDNES, Frode Eika
2020

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Purpose: 

The aim of this study was to identify factors that influence the perceived stigma of two assistive devices for visual impairment, namely the white cane and smart glasses.

 

Method: 

Face-to-face semi-structured interviews with eight European students were conducted to probe their experiences and knowledge related to disability, assistive technology, visual impairment, as well as handheld and wearable devices.

 

Results: 

Close relationships with disabled people seems to have a positive influence on participants perceptions about stigma, disability, and assistive technology. Academic background seems to not have any influence. The aesthetics of assistive devices was observed as an important factor that influences the adoption or abandonment of the device.

 

Conclusion: 

Device without negative symbolism but with modern aesthetics (smart glasses) were positively accepted by the participants than the device with traditional aesthetics and symbolisms of visual impairment (white cane). Designers should, therefore, consider aesthetics in addition to functionality in order to avoid the perceived stigma, thereby reducing the chances of device abandonment.

Politically disabled: barriers and facilitating factors affecting people with disabilities in political life within the European Union

WALTZ, Mitzi
SCHIPPERS, Alice
2020

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Diversity is a current buzzword in politics, but in the EU, people with disabilities are not achieving the gains made by women and ethnic minorities. This research examined barriers and facilitating factors through a literature review and interviews with politicians and political activists in five European countries. Six categories of barriers and facilitating factors were found: networks, recruitment and mentoring, resources (money, time and energy), the “hierarchy of impairments,” accessibility of political spaces and activities, and laws and policies. Key recommendations include removing access barriers to political participation, from voting to holding office, including physical and procedural barriers in political spaces; ensuring that equalities legislation covers politicians; eliminating barriers imposed by benefits systems; promoting direct support for political activists, candidates and office-holders with disabilities, including access to necessary services and supports; encouraging parties to recruit and mentor disabled people with leadership potential; and considering quotas and job-sharing.

  • Not many disabled people are active in politics. In the EU, about 15% of people have an impairment, but only around 1% of politicians do.
  • Inclusion at school and in social groups makes it easier to get into political jobs or to try to get elected.
  • Some disabled political activists, volunteers, candidates and office-holders don’t get the support they need.
  • Political parties can help by finding disabled people, supporting them, and helping them get involved in politics.
  • Our article provides several ideas about how to make it easier for disabled people to run for office and work in politics.

The effect of school leadership on implementing inclusive education: how transformational and instructional leadership practices affect individualised education planning

LAMBRECHT, Jennifer
LENKEIT, Jenny
HARTMANN, Anne
EHLERT, Antje
KNIGGE, Michel
SPÖRER, Nadine
2020

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Fostering equity by offering the best education possible to all students is one of the main goals of inclusive schooling. One instrument to implement individualised education is individualised education planning (IEP). IEP requires cooperation between special and regular teachers. From research on school leadership it is known that leadership styles are connected to the way, school leaders use their scope of action with respect to fostering collaboration. However, little is known about the relationship between the leadership of a school, the provision of structures for collaboration, and the implementation of IEP in an inclusive context. The article focuses on the question to what extent transformational (TL) and instructional leadership (IL) are connected to the provision of structures for collaboration and how TL and IL as well as structures for collaboration relate to the implementation of IEP directly and indirectly. Based on data of N = 135 German schools, a path model was calculated. It revealed medium relations between TL, IL, and structures for collaboration as well as a medium effect from structures to collaboration on implementation of IEP. The effect from TL towards implementation of IEP was fully mediated by structures for collaboration, while the effect from IL persisted.

Promoting employment opportunities for people with disabilities: Quota schemes (Vol. 1)

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION (ILO)
December 2019

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Employment quotas represent one of the most frequently used policy measures to promote work opportunities for persons with disabilities. Slightly over 100 countries around the world currently provide for employment quotas in their national legislation. While some countries have had employment quotas for many decades, others have introduced them recently, revised them or are planning to introduce them. There is no standard approach.

 

This document (Volume 1) summarizes published information on quota schemes, to highlight elements of existing systems that are effective in promoting employment opportunities and making recommendations for approaches to take in introducing new systems or revising existing systems. In a further publication (Volume 2), an overview is provided of quota schemes by country and the extent to which quota schemes are in place alongside anti-discrimination legislation.

 

Case studies from France, Germany and Japan are provided.

Summary Report. LEAVE NO CHILD BEHIND Invest in the early years

WALKER, Jo
BABOO, Nafisa
September 2019

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A summary overview of the findings of a study led by LIGHT FOR THE WORLD with its partners, supported by the Early Childhood Program of the Open Society Foundations. The aim of the study was to uncover the trends in aid for inclusive Early Child Development (ECD) for 2017. It further identified strategic commitments to ECD, as reflected in policy documents up until 2019. The research examined donors’ spending and commitments in three key areas: early childhood development; inclusive early education and pre-primary; and disability-inclusive early childhood development investments in the sectors of health, nutrition, education and sanitation.

 

This study presents a baseline on donor investment in ECD services in low- and middle-income countries for the children who are traditionally left behind. It draws lessons from six bilateral donor countries – Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) – as well as the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), European Union (EU) Institutions, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank. Donor advocacy briefs for each of these donors are provided.

 

The study focuses on donor contributions to scaling up ECD services in four African countries: Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe

How inclusive are the teaching practices of my German, Maths and English teachers? – psychometric properties of a newly developed scale to assess personalisation and differentiation in teaching practices

SCHWAB, Susanne
SHARMA, Umesh
HOFFMANN, Lisa
2019

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Within the current policy and legislative context of educating students with and without special educational needs (SEN) together in one classroom, the question that is frequently raised by educators relates to how best to implement inclusion and meet the different needs of their students in class. It is also important to understand all students’ perceptions about being included in regular classrooms. Therefore, the study examined secondary school students’ perceptions about the use of inclusive teaching practices by their different subject teachers. The main objective was to report on the psychometric properties of a newly developed questionnaire measuring students’ perceptions about their teachers’ use of inclusive teaching practices. A total of 665 secondary grade students rated the use of inclusive teaching practices for their two main subject teachers (German, Maths or English). The study found that the 14-item scale had high reliability (α = ranging 0.81 for German to 0.87 for English teachers) and consisted of two factors (‘Personalisation’ and ‘Differentiation’). According to the students’ perceptions, all subject teachers used some inclusive practices but they were not highly inclusive. A comparison showed that Maths teachers were more inclusive compared to their German counterpart. Implications for school educators and researchers are discussed.

The nation’s body: disability and deviance in the writings of Adolf Hitler

BENGTSSON, Staffan
2018

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This article takes its starting point in the Nazi ideology as it appears in the writings of Adolf Hitler, and discusses how disability and the body can be understood in the context of Mein Kampf. The article underlines how disability and bodily infirmities, alongside race, featured significantly in Hitler’s demagogic message. Although the overall image of disability was related to a sense of threat – and a culture gone wrong – Mein Kampf also contains a mixed interpretation of disability as a phenomenon, in which different and opposing disability narratives took part in the construction and the image of the body as a national property.

Disability and conditional social security benefits : Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, special issue, vol. 25, no.2, June 2017

GEIGER, Ben Baumberg
Ed
July 2017

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This special issue of the Journal of Poverty & Social Justice has two aims. Firstly to provide new evidence on the implementation and impacts of conditionality for disabled benefits claimants in order to provide an empirical foundation for the contested claims on both sides of this debate and secondly to prompt further research in this area. 

Article titles in this issue are:

  • Benefits conditionality for disabled people: stylised facts from a review of international evidence and practice
  • Does sanctioning disabled claimants of unemployment insurance increase labour market inactivity? An analysis of 346 British local authorities between 2009 and 2014 
  • Consequences of activation policy targeting young adults with health-related problems in Sweden and Denmark
  • Assessment of work ability in competing strands of social insurance: the German case 
  • Welfare conditionality and disabled people in the UK: claimants' perspectives
  • The bedroom tax in the Supreme Court: implications of the judgment 

What do I think about inclusive education? It depends on who is asking. Experimental evidence for a social desirability bias in attitudes towards inclusion

LÜKE, Timo
GROSCHE, Michael
2017

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Recently, research has focused on attitudes towards inclusive education, and the majority of studies use questionnaires to measure this vital variable. In two consecutive experiments, we showed that attitudes towards inclusive education are not stable but instead are significantly influenced by social context. We manipulated information on the organisation conducting a survey regarding attitudes of participants towards inclusive education. The results show that the attitude of the organisation conducting the survey – as perceived by the participant – outperforms well- documented variables (e.g. sex, age, and contact to a person with disability) in predicting the attitudes of the participant towards inclusion. This one variable explains as much variance as all other predictors combined. We argue that social desirability is a neglected issue in research on attitudes towards inclusive education. Our findings challenge the validity of numerous studies on this topic because they show a positive bias in the attitudes of participants when they were surveyed by a university. Thus, we outline the first steps to reduce social desirability-induced validity problems in research on attitudes towards inclusion.

Enabling education review, issue 4

ENABLING EDUCATION NETWORK
December 2015

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This newsletter contains a variety of articles about inclusive education in several countries around the world. The topics focus mostly on funding, managing and sustaining inclusive education; engaging and empowering beneficiaries in finding solutions; facilitating parental and child involvement and early childhood education

Enabling Education Review, issue 4

Human Rights

www.macao-tz.org
December 2014

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Malezi AIDS Care Awareness Organization (MACAO) is a non-profit organization reaching out to neglected Indigenous people in Ngorongoro District, Arusha Region of Northern Tanzania.  Macao founded in 2003, Macao is a humanitarian organization that provides assistance to approximately 200,000 Indigenous Maasai community in Ngorongoro district for addressing needs of water and sanitation, food security, health Care Research, Education, Research environment, Maasai Traditional Research, Human Rights and sustainable economic development by strengthening their livelihoods.  In addition to responding to major relief situations, MACAO focuses on long-term community development through over 4 Area Development Project. We welcome the donors and volunteers to join us in this programs, we are wolking in ruro villages.

Access to services for women with disabilities who experienced violence

MANDL, Sabine
et al
October 2014

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This final short report summary encompasses the main findings of the Daphne III project “Access to Specialised Victim Support Services for Women with Disabilities who have experienced Violence.” The project aimed to assess the range of different experiences of violence against disabled women and their use of support structures. In addition specialised victim support services were interviewed about their experiences and capabilities in terms of counselling and accommodating disabled women. The project focused on three components: (1) Assessing the legal and policy framework (2) Generating extensive empirical data by surveying disabled or Deaf women (focus group discussions, in-depth-interviews) and service providers (online survey, interviews with staff members) and (3) Developing good practice examples and recommendations. For each component national reports and an associated comparative report was prepared, identifying the most prominent issues including the commonalities and differences between the four countries issues.

 

 

The role of Germany’s National CRPD Monitoring Body in implementing Article 29

PALLEIT, Leander
March 2013

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"This article aims to briefly describe the actions taken by the National CRPD monitoring body in Germany (Monitoring-Stelle zur UN-Behindertenrechtskonvention) in order to promote the implementation of Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)"
IDA Human Rights Publication Series, Issue 1, The Right to Vote and to Stand for Election

Web accessibility policy making : an international perspective

G3ICT
THE CENTRE FOR INTERNET AND SOCIETY
January 2012

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This report reviews of a number of countries policies on web accessibility to share good practice. The internet and ICT have become increasingly accessible with the introduction of electronic screen readers, close-captions video viewers and personally tailored assistive technology readers. Despite this, the authors maintain that there are still 1 billion disabled people who could have better access to the internet and ICT and there is great potential for improvement

From car park to children's park : a childcare centre in development

WUNSCHEL, Gerda
July 2003

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This working paper illustrates the "Situationsansatz" pedagogical framework, as implemented at Kita, a childcare centre in Berlin. The emphasis is on children's environments, children's participation and optimal learning. The key principles of the "Contextual Child Development Approach" include: recognising the learning potential of diverse cultural heritages and intercultural interaction, developing close relations with the social environment and adopting an open planning process, with the contribution of children, parents and other adults. Includes an appendix, which briefly outlines the guidelines for working with the Contextual Child Development Approach in childcare centres

Disability rights are global human rights : combining disability and development

February 2003

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These minutes of a workshop held during 8th European Regional Conference of Rehabilitation International focus on disability as a global human rights issue. The needs-based approach, which informs current development co-operation, fails to put a clear obligation on anyone to fulfil the needs and to encourage people with disabilities to participate in the development process. The workshop made an attempt to assess policy and practice of development co-operation in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, discussing their capacity to promote the rights of people with disabilities and the participation opportunities offered to them

Definition of disability in Europe : a comparative analysis

MABBETT, Deborah
September 2002

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This resource provides an overview of the definitions of disability found in anti-discrimination laws and social policies of member states of the European Union. The aim is to show how different definitions of disability are relevant to different policies and the importance of specificity to avoid poorly targeted programs. This resource would be useful for anyone with an interest in legislation, advocacy and policy development. It is also available in French and German

Child friendly cities initiative

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF)

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This website is a knowledge base for the global Child Friendly Cities (CFC) Initiative. It contains the CFC Database, which collects information on the role played by local governance systems in the areas of child rights, child participation and services for children; a CFC toolkit, which offers a definition of a CFC, examples of good practice and successful methods from around the world, a framework for action and key references

International disability rights monitor (IDRM) regional reports

CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL REHABILITATION

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These regional reports are the primary focus of the International Disability Rights Monitor (IDRM) project and have been compiled by local IDRM researchers. Each report focuses upon several key areas such as legal protections, education, employment, accessibility, and health and housing services for people with disabilities. The reports include a detailed report on each country and a report card that compares the progress made by countries across the region. Reports are available on the Americas, Asia and Europe, as well as two thematic reports, in downloadable pdf format. They are useful for people interested in research on disability and development

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