Disability Studies Commons^™

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Publications

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Understanding The Effects Of Organizational And Individual Level Motivations On Impression Formation For Persons With Disabilities In The Workplace, Lauren Francesca Luchetti

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, organizations have begun paying more attention to hiring people with disabilities because of evidence supporting direct and indirect benefits to the organization. The business case for disability outlines the economic benefits for hiring those with disabilities, such as lower rates of turnover and absenteeism. Despite the motivations to hire those with disabilities, this population continues to suffer from higher rates of unemployment and underemployment. The current project attempts to shed light on the mechanisms that can improve the effectiveness of hiring motivations and disability hiring rates. In two experimental studies, the effect of the business case on …

Empowering Children With Special Needs (Cwsn) In Computer Science: An Interactive Hand Gestures Approach To Number Conversion Teaching, Renjith P.R., Jeeva Jose

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

It is essential for teachers to effectively address the diverse needs of students within the classroom environment, encompassing variations in IQ, communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and mathematical proficiency. Ensuring the inclusion of CwSN (Children with Special Needs) is imperative to prevent social division in the classroom. While the department offers accommodations such as scribes, interpreters, or extra time for examinations, these measures may not fully address the specific needs of CwSN. This study explores the efficacy of employing hand gestures as a teaching tool for CwSN in computer science, particularly in the realm of number conversions. A machine learning-based tool …

Disability Representation In Contemporary Playwriting, Caroline Hull

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Is it possible for a playwright to authentically capture the disabled experience without it becoming privy to stereotypes or utilized as a catalyst for the plot? The thesis aims to challenge the prevalent notion that making the disability intrinsic to a theatrical plot is essential for authentic representation, and instead asserts that authentic portrayal of the disabled experience can exist independently of making the disability a central plot device. To support this claim, In Chapter One, I engage with relevant work in the field of playwriting and narrative media studies, such as the workshop "Inaccessible: Writing Plays with Characters who …

Inclusifying The Rehearsal Room: Creating Accessible And Accommodating Theatrical Spaces For Young People, Christian Anderson

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

In youth theatre spaces, it is up to the facilitators to discover and create new ways to include more students, especially those who previously didn't have a seat at the table. Making rehearsal spaces inclusive and accessible to all starts by establishing inclusion as an innate practice integrated into every step of the process. This thesis focuses on creating inclusive and accessible rehearsal spaces outside of the traditional classroom for young people ages 8-22, specifically in community theatre and collegiate spaces. The director's role is explored in two projects: Home of the Brave, a Theatre for Young Audiences production …

Lessons From Critical And Transnational Disability Perspectives For Social Work, Katie Savin, Eunkyung Chung, Nev Jones, Paul Sterzing, Vandana Chaudhry

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper calls on social work to incorporate anti-oppressive paradigms in research, practice, education, and policy by developing a critical understanding of disability. Critical disability studies is an interdisciplinary field that challenges hegemonic framings that individualize and pathologize disability and recognizes the ways in which ableism intersects with other systems of oppression. Transnational disability studies provides explicit attention to the power dynamics between the Global North and the Global South. Adopting a perspective grounded in these two frameworks offers direction for social workers to apply the principles of disability justice in their choices for clinical interventions, policy goals, classroom strategies, …

The Potential Of Humor To Joyously Dismantle Ableism+: Considerations For Social Workers, Mia Ocean

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social workers are often well-positioned but not adequately equipped to disrupt, unsettle, or counteract ableism. Humor is one approach to disability justice work that can move the social work profession forward in a novel way. Within this practice brief, I use first-person narrative to illustrate the potential and limitations of humor to dismantle ableism+ in everyday interactions between social workers, clinical social work practice, and policy transformation. First, I share an example of how to use humor as a direct, call-in strategy to confront social worker-initiated ableist interactions. Second, I describe how a mixed disabled/abled couple can laugh together at …

Mandatory Supporting As A Radical Ethic Of Care: Supporting, Not Reporting, Black Disabled Mothers, Siobhan M. Pokorney

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Racism and ableism are intricately linked in the United States. Since the antebellum period, disability has been weaponized against the Black population. As the overriding punitive institution of white supremacy has shifted from slavery to mass incarceration with time, the experiences of Black disabled people within this institution have changed little. Black disabled individuals are at greater risk of harm at every step of the criminal legal system. Furthermore, the prison system exacerbates and creates debilitation and disability for those who are incarcerated. The family regulation system is the adjacent punitive system to mass incarceration, disproportionately impacting Black disabled women …

The Experience Of Growing Up Deaf In A Hearing-Abled Family: A Phenomenological Study, Alison B. Wetmur

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

d/Deaf Americans constitute a cultural and linguistic minority in America. Most d/Deaf people, 90–95%, are born to hearing-abled parents. By a wide margin, hearing-abled families prefer that their d/Deaf children learn spoken English and enroll their children in oral-education programs. Existing literature must highlight the unique struggles d/Deaf people face when growing up in hearing-abled families. By interviewing 14 d/Deaf adults born into hearing-abled families, this study explored the lived realities of growing up different in ability than other family members. These d/Deaf adults spoke about their childhood feelings of shame and isolation and ongoing frustrations. Respondents also often spoke …

Re-Imagining Neoliberal Ideologies In Social Work Education Using Critical Feminist And Disability Theories: A Phenomenological Autoethnographic Account, Stephanie L. Baird, Ami Goulden

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This brief commentary paper provides a phenomenological autoethnographic account of our personal and reflexive experiences of re-imagining dominant neoliberal ideologies in social work education. We draw upon our involvement as instructors of an individual and families social work practice course to illustrate how we problematized and disrupted traditional bio-medicalized and ableist practice approaches by adopting an intersectional crip lens. Our reflections are organized into four areas of consideration: 1) the theorization of an intersectional crip lens, 2) re-envisioning course content and traditional frameworks of practice, 3) examining and disrupting ableism within social work education, and 4) centering the voices of …

Action Steps Toward Dismantling Ableism In Social Work Education, Laura J. Wernick, Rose C. B. Singh, Natasha M. Lee-Johnson, Shanna K. Kattari, Brendon Holloway

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Despite social work’s commitment to social justice, ableism remains rampant among social work programs. Students and faculty often have to fight in order to have their basic accommodations and access needs met, disability is frequently missing from social work education’s discussions of diversity, and it is often implied that disabled people will be our clients, while social workers themselves are non-disabled. There is a glaring gap in our profession when it comes to engaging with and supporting disabled individuals. More than that, basic access is not enough; rather, we must work towards active inclusion and affirmation in order to be …

“Everyone Else Gets To Have The American Dream:” How Social Security Disability Policy Shapes Disability Identity, Katie Savin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In the United States welfare state, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is the primary institution that shapes the disability experience through its disability benefit programs. This study used qualitative methods to explore 33 disabled adult beneficiaries’ experience with SSI/SSDI policy administration and the impact on their sense of worth, self-concept, and identity. Critical Disability Studies and a constructivist grounded theory approach drove data analysis. What emerged from the data was a negative disability identity experience referred to as the Social Security model of disability. Capitalist ideals that assign morality to formal work meant that disabled participants faced exclusion and stigma …

Filipina American Mothers’ Experiences Obtaining Services For Their Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Nina Chelle Boling

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a multifaceted developmental condition that manifests in early childhood, affecting various aspects of neurologic, biological, adaptive, social, linguistic, and cognitive functions. A timely and accurate diagnosis of ASD is crucial for effective intervention, promoting personal and social growth, and fostering independent adulthood. However, obtaining this diagnosis can pose challenges, particularly for people of color, who often encounter disparities in healthcare access compared to their White counterparts. This study aims to investigate the experiences of Filipina mothers raising children with ASD, specifically focusing on their journey to access appropriate autism services.

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“Putting On Our People Lens”: Lived Experience As Pedagogy, Tessa Zoe Milman, Sarah Bream, Celso Delgado, Erin Mcintyre, Tristan Scremin, Leslie Moreno, Maggie Yeo, Deborah Pitts

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

In the professional education of mental health practitioners, including occupational therapists, there has been a lack of meaningful inclusion of people labeled with mental illness into curricula, beyond guest speaker panels and presentations. This study explored the experiences of students, faculty, and ‘Experts by Experience’ within a mental health occupational therapy course that incorporated Experts with lived experience as co-facilitators of weekly fieldwork debriefs. The study utilized focus groups and interviews to understand the experiences of students, mental health faculty, and ‘Experts by Experience’. Key themes that emerged from the qualitative data analysis were organized under three broad categories: 1) …

Exploring The Relationships Among Adhd, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, And Emotion Regulation, Anna S. Hall

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This study investigated the relationships among Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms and common comorbid struggles for clients, including Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) symptoms, and executive functions, especially emotion regulation. ADHD and GAD are prevalent mental health conditions, are commonly comorbid with each other, and are both correlated with relative deficits in executive functions. Executive functions comprise higher-order cognitive processes like planning, inhibition, initiation, and monitoring, as well as emotion regulation. Prior research established connections among ADHD symptoms, GAD symptoms, and emotion regulation but did not examine which specific facets of emotion regulation were most relevant. The current study aimed to …

Identifying Accessibility Improvement Opportunities For Global Environmental Communication Websites, Alicia Mason, Josh Compton, Sakshi Bhati

Faculty Submissions

Digital environmental information presented with low web accessibility reduces parti-cipation in environmental advocacy and information seeking behaviors for many people with disabilities, creating a consequential digital divide. We use WEB AIM computer automated analysis of web accessibility to assess the general accessibility of online environmental communication messages. Results show 95.3% of the popular websites in our sample had indicators of potentially critical accessibility errors. Our findings highlight the importance of addressing digital environmental information accessibility shortcomings so that educational, informational and persuasive environ-mental messages can increase environmental literacy of vulnerable populations and help to bridge the digital divide.

The Essence Of The Image Of The Fool In The Context Of The Orthodox Teachings In Eastern Europe, Olga Polumysna, Valeriy Bulatov

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article explores aspects of the image of the holy fool in the context of Orthodox teaching in Eastern Europe. The phenomenon of people who are called holy fools in the thinking and teaching of the Orthodox religious tradition is a controversial issue and still causes conflicting opinions, because the actions of people called holy fools are difficult to understand both for simple observers and for Orthodox researchers. The contrast of opinions in the formation of the holy fool's gestalt is of particular interest to this study. Is the life of holy fools directly connected with sacred life and Orthodox …

Expect: A Speculative Documentary Filmed In Vr Utilizing The Role-Playing Method To Explore Disabilities And Ableism In Science Fiction, Leilei Xia

Theses and Dissertations

Expect is a speculative documentary filmed in Virtual Reality (VR) that features Chinese actors with disabilities to explore, challenge and reimagine the conventional ableist Sci-Fi tropes and the transhumanistic tendency to “fix” or eradicate disabilities through technological enhancement. I invited people with disabilities who are interested in Sci-Fi to do a Role-Playing with me in Virtual Reality (VR), in which they imagine themselves to be living in a future civilization, an alien planet, or an alternate universe. The participants came up with their own fictional characters and built their own world views. I interacted with them by asking questions and …

Life After Discharge: Predicting Longitudinal Trajectories Of Community Integration And Global Functioning In Black Individual With Traumatic Brain Injury, Chimdindu Ohayagha

Theses and Dissertations

The onset of traumatic brain injury (TBI) begins a chronic health pathway that contributes to various impairments and comorbidities across the lifespan. Common consequences of TBI include mental health issues, cognitive impairments, and reduced functional independence, all of which impact how an individual integrates into their community. Community integration is a primary goal for rehabilitation after TBI. Studies show that racially/ethnically minoritized individuals have a higher incidence of TBI, higher rates of mortality, and report poorer functional and community integration outcomes. Limited studies have explored longitudinal outcomes of community integration in a Black-only sample of individuals with TBI. Additionally, no …