Implementation Of Disability Policies Research Articles

An exploration of voluntarily abandoned free health services among children with disabilities in China: An ideological conflict perspective

In terms of protecting children with disabilities, healthcare rights are a crucial issue that cannot be ignored. In China, although the government provides generous health services, children with disabilities abandoning those services is a common phenomenon. Few scholars have directly and systematically studied this important issue. Using a qualitative method, we investigated the experiences and feelings of six service providers and twelve primary caregivers. From an ideological conflict perspective, we have found that China is a social context in which the state-led ideology of egalitarianism and the ideology of developmentalism co-exist but clash at the level of local governments and organizations. We produced two themes: (a) Governance methods arising from developmentalism produce invisible institutional exclusion in the form of non-client-centered tasks, constraints surrounding service costs, competitive welfare development models, and “good” performance chasing; (b) parents operating under developmentalism treat children with disabilities as abnormal, unprofitable, burdensome, and tragic, which encourages the voluntarily abandonment of healthcare services. The interaction of these two themes strengthens the ideological split occurring between them, leading to the widespread deprivation of health rights among children with disabilities. The results of this study call for critical reflections on disability policy implementation under this current conflicting ideology.

Disability Focal Point Persons and Policy Implementation Across Sectors: A Qualitative Examination of Stakeholder Perspectives in Zambia.

Background: Zambia has created new disability policies and updated existing policies to be consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. These initiatives require the widespread engagement of ministries and departments to achieve effective policy development and implementation. To pursue widespread engagement, the Government of Zambia developed a structure of disability focal point persons (FPPs). The Zambian disability FPP structure has not yet been explored systematically.Objective: To explore disability policy stakeholder perspectives about FPPs as a feature of disability policy development and implementation.Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 disability policy stakeholders (10 policymakers, 2 researchers, and 12 disability advocates) as part of a larger study about the development and implementation of disability-related policies in Zambia. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. Data were analyzed using content analysis.Results: Participants presented FPPs as a promising way to mainstream disability within the government. According to participants, the initial launch of the FPP structure was ineffective, with a lack of clarity about the structure and an initial cohort of FPPs that wielded minimal influence. The FPP structure has since been revised. Participants express promise that the improved second launch will achieve mainstreaming.Discussion: Zambian disability policy stakeholders describe a disability FPP structure that is different from the models suggested for treaty implementation. Pre-established commitments to mainstreaming among stakeholders might have stimulated interest in following the cyclical development of the disability FPP structure, encouraging a whole-of-government approach to disability policy implementation.

Higher Education for Students with Disabilities in India: Insights from a Focus Group Study

Higher education plays a vital role in the employability of people with disability. It promises an independent existence for the person in the society. Understanding this, stakeholders are moving towards an inclusive environment in educational institutions. But the reality is quite alarming in that only a very small number of people with disabilities have access to higher education in developing countries like India. This study conducted through focus group discussions systematically explores the challenges, existing facilities and needed accommodations in a higher education set-up for the benefit of students with disability (SwD). The qualitative study was conducted in six major metropolitan cities across India among adults with disability who had higher education opportunities. Themes such as accessibility, functions in the classroom, accommodations for examinations, communication, social attitude and employment challenges were highlighted as major aspects that needed attention. The results reflect on poor planning, implementation of disability policies, lack of disability sensitization in the society and inadequate availability of resources in a developing country. Reports of support networks provided by friends in colleges, underscored the strength of humanity in the midst of inadequate disability accommodation facilities. Voices of people with disabilities resonates over the lack of available policies and services in a developing country like India.

Review of policy and legislative framework for disability services in Namibia.

BackgroundThe Namibian policies and legislative framework were reviewed to determine the extent to which the needs of persons with disabilities were met and aligned with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). Further, the disability legislative framework of Namibia is compared with that of other southern African countries.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective analysis of policy and legal framework which addresses the needs and rights of persons with disabilities in Namibia from 1990 to 2016. A qualitative approach employing a case study design was used. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of the policies and legislation for alignment with the UNCRPD and how Namibia compares with other southern African countries is discussed.ResultsFour policies, one piece of legislation and one international instrument were identified as directly related to disability. Community-based rehabilitation was adopted as the main strategy for rehabilitation. Alignment of the policy and legal framework with the UNCRPD was found to be minimal. Furthermore, most of the legislation in southern Africa was formulated before the existence of the UNCRPD in 2006.ConclusionAlthough much progress has been made in meeting the needs of persons with disabilities, key implementation issues to be addressed include central coordination, overlapping strategies, disability models and gender differences. There is a need for the policy and legal framework of Namibia and other southern African countries to be more responsive to the human rights needs of persons with disabilities.Clinical implicationsThe study offers insights in reviewing disability policy and legal frameworks in southern Africa for influencing disability service delivery. Future studies can investigate the progress of implementation of disability policy and legal framework from the perspectives of implementers and recipients of services.

Disability Policy Implementation From a Cross-Cultural Perspective.

Implementation of disability policy is influenced by social, political, and cultural factors. Based on published work, this article discusses four guidelines considered critical for successful policy implementation from a cross-cultural perspective. These guidelines are to: (a) base policy implementation on a contextual analysis, (b) employ a value-based approach, (c) align the service delivery system both vertically and horizontally, and (d) engage in a partnership in policy implementation. Public policy should be understood from a systems perspective that includes cross-cultural issues, such as how different stakeholders are acting and the way they plan and implement policy.

Young adults with intellectual disabilities in Sweden: power, self-determination, and self-organisation in everyday life

Sweden has been one of the countries at the forefront of policymaking for people with intellectual disabilities worldwide. Culminating in the 1994 Swedish LSS Act (Act Concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments), the aim of Swedish policy has been to ensure good living conditions and self-determination for people with intellectual disabilities. The primary purpose of this article was to explore Swedish research on the implementation of disability policies, and the extent to which the control that people with intellectual disabilities have over their everyday lives has changed as a result of these forward-looking policies. Swedish research that focuses on self-determination and was published within the last two decades was reviewed. Findings of the study have been drawn from 11 dissertations and 5 articles. As far as the author is aware, this is the first time these findings have been made available to a non-Swedish-speaking audience. Research reviewed included outcomes relating to self-determination arising from the process of deinstitutionalisation for residents of group homes and in individualised service planning. Results of the study have highlighted a gap between policy aims and service provision, which is similar to that described by scholars elsewhere; and that people with intellectual disabilities have limited influence over the decisions that affect their lives. The final section of the article discusses possibilities for increased self-determination arising from the self-organisation by people with intellectual disabilities, and new directions in self-advocacy that are emerging in Sweden.

La democratización y la participación ciudadana, fundamentos para el fortalecimiento del alto gobierno en la construcción y desarrollo de políticas públicas.

El texto busca orientar acerca del fortalecimiento del alto gobierno en la construcción, diseño y evaluación de las políticas públicas a través de la participación ciudadana, porque en el ciudadano reside la realidad social y es una fuente indispensable para obtener la información estratégica en la toma de decisiones. Inicialmente se realiza un análisis conceptual de conceptos claves como las políticas públicas, democratización y participación ciudadana con sus respectivos referentes teóricos. También se analiza el contexto institucional del alto gobierno para identificar las instancias de toma de decisiones, técnicas para la recolección de información y las políticas donde se expiden los lineamientos y directrices a seguir por parte de la administración. Visualizado el contexto, se pasa a analizar la implementación de la política de discapacidad en Medellín a partir del trabajo “políticas públicas, dispositivo de administración pública o atributo de poder político” realizado por los investigadores Jaider Camilo Otálvaro Orrego, Maribel Fernández Agudelo y Viviana Cano Chica. Así mismo, se busca realizar una articulación entre conceptos teóricos, metodológicos, las dinámicas institucionales del alto gobierno y los casos prácticos para evidenciar la importancia que tiene la participación ciudadana y la democratización en la formulación, implementación y evaluación de las políticas públicas en Colombia.

State Policy Innovation and Systems Change

The adoption and expansion of supported employment for people with severe disabilities has evolved steadily, if unevenly, across the United States since first defined in the Developmental Disabilities Act in 1985. In that year, this expansion was initiated in the context of systems-change incentives offered by the federal government. States were offered a financial incentive to "change the system" from sheltered work and segregated day programs to integrated supported employment in community jobs with individualized supports. While novel to the rehabilitation field, the concept of systems change in the implementation of progressive public policy has been used with a number of social issues for a number of decades. This article describes factors that influence state implementation of public policy, discusses political cultures that vary across states, and describes disability policy orientations that affect disability policy implementation. These elements are discussed in order to define the context of the emergence of supported employment.

The Articulation of Theory and Practice: Critique and resistance in Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT In his latest book, Understanding Disability: from theory to practice (1996), Michael Oliver (p. 111) notes the 'globalisation' of disability related issues and the absence of any satisfactory comparative studies in disability policy across the globe. This paper can be seen as laying the ground work for such a study by reviewing the theorisation of disability and its practical consequence in the articulation, development and implementation of disability policy in Aotearoa New Zealand. It will describe some current examples of policies for disabled people and provides an analysis of current debates. The paper explores the emancipatory potential of current disability theorising by analysing strategies adopted by disabled people as a response to recent policy developments in the health and disability field in Aotearoa New Zealand.