Staff in residential care are key support people for young adults with mild to moderate intellectual disability in everyday life. The aim of this study was to identify how staff members work with young adults with mild to moderate intellectual disability to enable their independence and participation through Information and Communication Technology (ICT). A narrative approach was...
Socio-materialist theories of education highlight the importance of material practices alongside social practices within learning experience. Little is known about inclusive pedagogy for autistic pupils, but this theoretical approach is of relevance since autistic people describe meaningful connections to material things. The aim of this study was to explore the nature of...
Social media is often seen as an arena for negotiation of power, where marginalized voices can be given influence in the public debate. This study focuses the use of Twitter for discussions related to disabilities and disability policy in Sweden. The empirical material is gathered through the hashtag (#) “funkpol”, the primary hashtag used to discuss such topics. Empirical data...
In Norway, very few people with intellectual disability (ID) are employed, and most of them receive a disability pension. This suggests that they may not face a financial need for employment, but participation in the labor market may provide persons with ID with other benefits, such as social inclusion and self-realization. This article explores what motivates Norwegian adults...
Denmark, internationally known for its high level of welfare and solidarity with vulnerable groups, has been in the forefront promoting the ‘normalisation principle’ regarding people with intellectual disability (ID). Formulated in the 1950s by Niels Erik Bank-Mikkelsen to ensure people with ID have equal rights to live and participate in the community, social policy has since...
In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis many countries embarked on a prolonged period of public sector ‘austerity’ which for some included seeking dramatic reductions in social security spending. It is in this context that the research investigates the negative impacts of interactions with the UK disability benefits system on the lives of disabled people. The research uses...
The concept of access has remained an important organizing logic within the education of students with disabilities. In this paper, we use spatial theory to explore the capability of technology to make spaces accessible for Maria, a high school user of assistive technology, who is labeled intellectually disabled. In investigating her technology as a means for greater access, we...
This article aims to analyse characteristics of collective and authentic literacy practices within a group of people with aphasia attending an aphasia course at a Swedish folk high school. The group included 12 individuals with aphasia who were studied during a period of 3 weeks. Ethnographic data consists of video and audio recordings, photos and field notes. Two main...
This article uses aspects from Institutional Ethnography to explore how both clinicians and young adults with mental health problems use different adaptation strategies to overcome the diagnostic uncertainty in psychiatry. The article illustrates the connection between the local production of diagnoses in Norwegian psychiatric outpatient clinics and the individual experience of...
This study contributes to the existing literature on peer support and complexities in peer support practices by exploring and describing service users’ perspectives on challenges in developing helpful relationships with peer support workers. Twenty-six service users with mental health and/or substance problems who had collaborated with one or more peer support workers on five or...
Undertaking narrative research with children with intellectual disability is a practical, ethical and methodological challenge. Rather than the traditional focus on how this challenge can be overcome, this paper takes up an alternative position by focusing on the relationship between disability and the wider narrative research environment. The focused commentary on the literature...
A critical social sciences perspective, critical race and disability studies, media studies, lived experience, and the neurodivergence movement shape a conceptual framework in this paper to critique and resist popular media tropes of autistic people and their families. ‘Normal’ and its modern meanings are presented, followed by a theoretical re-framing. Then, an irreverent and...
This is a study on the prospect of long-term employment for former special educational needs (SEN) students. It focuses on how the qualifications and selected life course changes in early adulthood influence the probability of maintaining employment in adult life. The life course perspectives provide the theoretical foundation for the study. The data refers to a longitudinal...
In 2016–2017, a living conditions survey was conducted among people with intellectual disabilities in Sami areas in Norway. The aim of this article is to discuss methodological aspects of carrying out living conditions studies where people with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities answer the questions themselves. What kinds of methodological challenges related to the...
Background: The aim of this review is to identify and analyse the research findings in the field of young people with intellectual disabilities and social media.Method: Twelve peer-reviewed papers published in well-established and recognized journals between 2001 and 2017 were identified from electronic database searches (Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar), the Internet...
This paper explores the participation of residents with intellectual disabilities in their encounters with staff by focusing on the relationship between residents’ engagement in activities and the occurrence of shared excitement that is a collective arousal establishing solidarity. The methods used included participant observations and interviews with eight residents and 12 staff...
This paper discusses youth and the significance of age in the lives of persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. The analysis is based on an ethnographic research project that explores what makes a good life for this group of people. The findings indicate that whilst the meaning and significance of youth and age were discussed often by care workers and family...
This article uses an historical perspective to explore how constructions of disability influenced policy and services for people with intellectual disabilities in Western Australia (WA) from the time of British colonisation until the present day. The authors approach the discussion from a critical disability perspective in the analysis of disability constructs, political...
Sami people experience a wide range of challenges in their dealings with health and social services (Blix 2016). However, little is known so far about the circumstances for disabled people of a Sami background (Huuva 2014). Since previous research has shown that people with disabilities have poorer living conditions and fewer opportunities for social participation than the...
One goal of disability policies in Sweden and other countries is to ensure that people with disabilities are afforded an equal level of daily life participation as other citizens. However, few studies have examined this in adults with profound intellectual disabilities (PID) or profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). This study used a phenomenographic approach to...
The emerging discipline of fencing for the blind and visually impaired is a distinct practice that calls for the unconventional employment of perceptual affordances and bodily doings. This paper explores the meaning of ability and agency in narratives of blind and visually impaired fencers’ lived experiences. By focusing on narratives of risk taking, active handling, and...
In 2008, Ireland was impacted by global economic recession. Recession in Ireland was exceptionally severe and contrasted starkly to extraordinary prosperity immediately before. A comprehensive field of statistical data has since emerged indicating that children were particularly socio-economically impacted. Within this, children with disability and their families were shown to...
There is a paucity of research exploring the experiences of mothers of a young adult with intellectual disability sharing the family home. A case study using a phenomenological life story approach was conducted to gather and analyse data from 11 in-depth interviews held with a mother, Linda, about her experiences. Linda’s story yielded three main themes, 1) an intense struggle...
Understanding disability remains a challenge. Although the international community has largely embraced the idea that disability is the product of social and environmental practices, society still lacks good conceptual frameworks. In an era when the rights of persons with disabilities have been enshrined in international and national laws, such frameworks have become a necessity...
The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of Swedish social workers’ experience of disabled children’s participation, to discover in what ways their knowledge about impairment and disability, combined with legal literacy and local context influence children’s participation in formal meetings and decision making. Seven focus-group interviews were conducted with 35...