Social Relational Model Of Disability Research Articles

“Atypical Interactions” in Healthcare: A State-of-the-Art Literature Review of Conversation-Analytic Research, with Reflections on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

ABSTRACT Our state-of-the-art review examines conversation-analytic (CA) research on healthcare encounters in which the patient has a disability that can affect their communication, using the lens of the social relational model of disability. We report findings via the following themes: where (and why) interactional challenges arise, practitioner barriers and facilitators to effective communication, how behaviors interpreted medically as symptoms can be understood as interactional competencies, and understanding the role of companion. We reflect on equity, diversity, and inclusion in CA research, arguing that labeling interactions as “atypical” can lead to assumptions that findings are circumscribed and have no wider applicability. Existing research has focused on specialist settings created for people with one particular condition, overlooking their healthcare interactions with other healthcare services. We argue that CA research on healthcare and beyond should include a more diverse range of interactants and also discuss why. Data in examples are in multiple languages.

Negotiating work and care in Chinese families of children with autism: reframing mothers’ narratives through a social-relational lens

Moving away from an individual and pathological framework and instead drawing on a social-relational model of disability, this article examines the experiences of mothers with autistic children in navigating between caregiving and working life in China. Conducting narrative analysis of 14 in-depth interviews with mothers of autistic children, we argue that their decisions to make adjustments to work are situated in social and relational dynamics of disabled and gendered cultural ideologies, inaccessibility to healthcare, education, and social services, as well as filial familial relationship. As a result, they have to adjust their careers and personal life, such as resigning from previous work and becoming full-time mothers. Although these women constantly experienced a strong sense of loss in terms of their personal and social identity, some developed new perspectives seeing disability, normality, and the meaning of ‘good mother’ in the process of negotiating their work life and motherhood role.

Engineering Ableism: The Exclusion and Devaluation of Engineering Students and Professionals with Physical Disabilities and Chronic and Mental Illness.

The experiences of students and professionals with disabilities are routinely excluded from scholarly and policy debates about equity in engineering. Emergent research suggests that engineering is particularly ableist, yet systematic accounts of the possible exclusion and devaluation faced by engineers with disabilities are largely missing. This paper asks, do engineers with disabilities have more negative interpersonal experiences in engineering classrooms and workplaces than those without disabilities? Utilizing a social relational model of disability, I hypothesize that engineers with physical disabilities and chronic and mental illness are more likely to experience exclusion and professional devaluation than their peers and, partly as a result, have lower persistence intentions. The paper uses survey data from 1,729 students enrolled in eight US engineering programs (ASEE Diversity and Inclusion Survey) and 8,321 US-employed engineers (STEM Inclusion Study Survey). Analyses use regression, mediation, and intersectional approaches. Consistent with expectations, engineering students and professionals with disabilities are less likely than their peers to experience social inclusion and professional respect at school and work. Students with disabilities are more likely to intend to leave their engineering programs and professionals with disabilities are more likely to have thought about leaving their engineering jobs compared to peers, and their greater risks of encountering interpersonal bias help account for these differences. Analyses also reveal intersectional variation by gender and race/ethnicity. These results suggest that engineering harbors widespread ableism across education and work. The findings demand more scholarly attention to the social, cultural, and physical barriers that block people with disabilities from full and equal participation in engineering.

Taking Power, Telling Stories: Using Collaborative Autoethnography to Explore Transitions to Adulthood with and without Disability Identities

This article explores collaborative autoethnography as a research method with emancipatory and unifying potential. We undertake this exploration via our shared stories of transitioning to adulthood through the lenses of identifying as living with and without disabilities. The article offers two important contributions: a deeper understanding of the ways in which disability identities relate to experiences of adulthood; and insights into the ways in which caring and collaborative autoethnographic methods can be applied in lived experience research. We found that adult identities were formed through acts of resistance and transitions to new relationships that exemplified a social relational model of disability. We found that collaborative autoethnography can be a valuable method for lived experience research that challenges power dynamics and subjectivities. A safe space in which researchers balance vulnerability and strengths can bring joy to research, even amidst the sharing of difficult stories.

Working it out: Will the improved management of leaky bodies in the workplace create a dialogue between medical sociology and disability studies?

This article focuses on the workplace as a significant site of convergence between the disciplines of medical sociology and disability studies. As disability remains on the margins of sociological exploration and theorising relating to health and work, disabled workers remain on the margins of the workforce, subject to disproportionate rates of unemployment, under employment and workplace mistreatment. The article focuses on the experiences of people with 'leaky bodies', focussing specifically on employees who experience troubling menstruation and/or have gynaecological health conditions. It brings together data from three studies conducted between 2017 and 2020; interviews with disabled academics (n=75), university staff with gynaecological health conditions (n=23), and key stakeholders in universities (n=36) (including university executives, line managers and human resources staff). These studies had separate, but linked foci, on the inaccessibility of workplaces, managing gynaecological health conditions at work and supporting disabled people at work respectively. Drawing on the Social Relational Model of disability and theories of embodiment, we explore the experiences and management of workers with leaky bodies in UK University workplaces. Data illustrates how workplace practices undermine embodied experiences of workers with 'leaky' bodies by maintaining workplaces which ignore their material reality. We highlight that addressing embodied needs alongside acknowledging disabled people as an oppressed political category represents a theoretical meeting point for disability studies and medical sociology.

“Crawling Takes Away My Dignity”: Effects of Inaccessible Environments on Persons with Mobility Disabilities in Ghana

Individuals with disabilities in Ghana continue to face barriers in the built environment, transportation, information and social spheres, despite local and international laws that promote their human rights and freedoms. These barriers have a negative impact on the education, employment, healthcare, safety, security and social life of persons with disabilities. Little attention is given to the way in which these barriers affect the dignity and self-determination of persons with mobility disabilities. Guided by the social relational model of disability and photovoice methodology, in this study, I sought to fill the gap. I used purposive and snowball sampling to recruit 10 persons with mobility disabilities who engaged in the data collection and analysis. The study outcome indicates that the dignity of persons with mobility disabilities was compromised while managing inaccessible environments requiring them to crawl, be carried, and rely on others for help. The findings indicate that self-determination was an issue for the participants because they either did not have opportunities or had limited opportunities to choose independently because of the restrictions posed by the environment. Education, religious and economic institutions and all other service providers should ensure that their environments are accessible and safer for persons with mobility disabilities. The government should ensure the enforcement of disability-related policies to promote accessibility for persons with disabilities. An accessible environment could promote the dignity, self-determination, health and overall well-being of persons with mobility disabilities.

"We are all thrown into one basket": Dyslexia, schools and the (non)enactment of policies of inclusion

Since the mid-1990s it has been illegal for Australian education providers to deny students with disabilities the right to access and participate in education. Conjointly, policies and standards have been introduced that devolve the responsibility of ensuring disabled students are able to fully engage in their education to schools. Despite recent studies suggesting dyslexic student needs are rarely met in the Australian school system, to date, little research has examined how developments in anti-discriminatory and inclusive policy affect the provision of support to these students. This paper examines how devolved approaches to inclusive education policy practice affect the lived experiences of dyslexic students in Western Australian schools. Focusing on two young people's stories about their time in school, it is argued that the adoption of devolved approaches to policy has been instrumental in shifting responsibility for the delivery of equitable education for students with learning disabilities to families, and especially mothers. Drawing on a social-relational model of disability and Bourdieusien theories of capital, this paper illustrates how shifting responsibility for inclusion to parents results in inequity. The findings illuminate a need to think more critically about exactly who should be responsible for inclusion.

Making space for disability studies within a structurally competent medical curriculum: reflections on long Covid

While critically informed approaches to medical education are increasingly advocated in literature, discussion of the potential role of disability studies in informing pedagogy and practice is largely lacking. The emergence...

Disability inclusion in beach precincts: beach for all abilities – a community development approach through a social relational model of disability lens

ABSTRACT In this paper we examine a community development approach to including people with disability in a sport context within beach precincts for a project called Beach for All Abilities. The aim of this research is to investigate innovative and transformative solutions that enable inclusion. The research design used multiple methods and data sources across 30 projects and three geographically diverse precincts. The theoretical framework brought together community development and the social relational model of disability to inform the research. The findings show how the funded organisation working in partnership with not-for-profit, commercial and government programs, facilitated processes and practices enabling greater access and inclusion for people with disability in the beach precincts. These included solutions to constraints in the built, outdoor and natural environments across mobility, vision, hearing, intellectual and mental health disability from low to very high support needs. Yet, the overall program had a major shortcoming in establishing ongoing beach-related activities for people with disability. The paper concludes with implications for longevity, limitations, and future research.

A conceptual model of risk and protective factors for autistic burnout.

Early qualitative research indicates that autistic burnout is commonly experienced by autistic people and is associated with significant, negative consequences for their mental health, wellbeing, and quality of life, including suicidality. Findings to date suggest that factors associated with being autistic and the widespread lack of autism awareness and acceptance within society contribute to the onset and recurrence of autistic burnout. Based on autistic adults' descriptions of their lived experiences, a Conceptual Model of Autistic Burnout (CMAB) is proposed, which describes a series of hypothesized relationships between identified risk and protective factors that may contribute to, or buffer against, autistic burnout. The theoretical framework for the CMAB is based on the Social-Relational model of disability and neurodiversity paradigm, and the Job Demands-Resources model of burnout, and Conservation of Resources theory. The CMAB offers a holistic perspective for understanding individual, social, and environmental factors that can influence autistic burnout via various direct and indirect pathways. Autistic burnout research is in its infancy and the CMAB provides a foundation for future investigations about this condition. LAY SUMMARY: Although many autistic people describe experiencing autistic burnout, there has been little research on this topic. Based on descriptions of autistic peoples' lived experiences, we developed a conceptual model to explore how various risk and protective factors may interact to contribute to, or prevent, autistic burnout.

Disability and Academic Careers: Using the Social Relational Model to Reveal the Role of Human Resource Management Practices in Creating Disability

Disabled people continue to face a variety of significant barriers to full participation and inclusion in work and employment. However, their experiences remain only sparsely discussed in relation to human resource management (HRM) practices and employment contexts. The current study contributes to this gap in understanding by drawing together relevant work connecting HRM practices, diversity management and disability studies to examine the experiences of a sample of 75 disabled academics in the UK. Through the social relational model of disability, HRM practices socially construct disability in the workplace. Interview and email data from disabled academics in the UK are drawn upon to illustrate how organisational practices and policies, while intended to ‘accommodate’ disabled people, inadvertently construct and shape disability for people with impairments or chronic health conditions.

Considering Diversity in (Special) Education: Disability, Being Someone and Existential Education

Discussions on diversity and disability in dialogue with special educationalists and philosophers of education are not often found in the research literature. Researchers within disability studies have been critical towards the enterprise of special education and vice versa, and the language they use is often different, as they draw on various subject fields. In this article, I bring these fields of research together and draw on research from the philosophy of education, special education and Disability Studies. My argument is that a language of diversity needs to be embedded in a language about educational ends and other fundamental questions discussed in the philosophy of education, and not solely in discussions within the field of inclusive education, as is often found in the research literature relating to special education. I argue that the language of diversity related to disability should be embedded in the language of the person, being someone. In order to build my argument, I sketch out three distinctions: disability and impairment, education as cultivation versus an existential education and the distinction between being someone and being something. I argue that an understanding of diversity and the case of disability within the framework of (special) education should preferably be: (1) interpreted within a social relational model of disability, drawing on an adjusted capabilities approach, (2) an existential educational paradigm and (3) seeing the person as someone, and not as something that is associated with a series of facts that happen to relate to what we call persons.

Academy of Music and Arts for Special Education (AMASE): An Ethnography of an Individual Music Instruction Program for Students With Disabilities

This 3-year ethnography explored the culture of the Academy of Music and Arts for Special Education (AMASE), a university undergraduate volunteer organization offering music instruction for individuals with disabilities. We examined the organization and its impact on students, parents, and volunteers through the lens of the social relational model of disability. Findings clustered around three pillars of organizational values: ability, community, and service. The organization’s philosophy of ability cultivated a community that acknowledged the impairments of the students while actively seeking ways to break down the socially imposed barriers to musical learning that were disabling to them. The program filled a need where access to music education had previously been limited or denied. Undergraduate volunteers’ experiences raised their awareness of inequity for people with disabilities and motivated them to consider ways to serve this community in their future careers. Findings illustrate the potential impact of a social relational model on music education philosophy and practice, suggesting a need for music educators to challenge implicit beliefs about students’ capabilities and actively inquire into the ways in which music education contexts may be inherently disabling.

“What’s wrong with you, are you stupid?” Listening to the biographical narratives of adults with dyslexia in an age of ‘inclusive’ and ‘anti-discriminatory’ practice

Little research has been conducted, understanding the impact of educational-inclusion and workplace anti-discriminatory policies on lived-experiences of people with dyslexia. This paper consequently analyses qualitative-biographical accounts of 15 adults with dyslexia; applying the social relational model of disability to conceptualise these. Findings illustrate, the embodied-experiences of dyslexia defined within a disabling-educational system and discriminatory-workplace; culminating in psycho-emotional impact on participant’s self-esteem leading them to pathologise experiences of failure through an individualistic deficit-explanation of self. The article concludes suggesting these lived-experiences must be acknowledged in education to develop inclusive practices adequately preparing individuals for adulthood, not just for the workplace. Points of Interest This article draws on the social relational model of disability (i.e. recognising both the social and the biological) and applies it to the experiences of people with dyslexia. Participants discussed the psychological and emotional impact of experiences of exclusion throughout their life histories. Participants discussed painful school experiences during childhood which had a lasting emotional impact. Even though legislation requires ‘reasonable adjustments’ must be made in workplaces, people with dyslexia still experience discrimination The research views dyslexia as an alternative reading and writing style which needs to be considered by schools and employers, looking to create an inclusive environment.

The Capabilities Approach to Inclusive Education: re-envisioning the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act’s Least Restrictive Environment

This article aims to produce an innovative interpretation of the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) provision in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) to secure inclusive education for children with disabilities using the capabilities approach to a theory of justice. The focus of the capabilities approach on human dignity and human diversity makes it an ideal tool for re-envisioning the LRE requirements that ensure children with disabilities are appropriately entitled to the effective freedoms and compensatory resources of equity-based inclusive education beyond mere equal access to public education. The article proposes a capabilities approach-based interpretation of the LRE provisions by providing: a social-relational model of disability that emphasizes the relational mechanism of a disability between internal and external arrangements; a holistic view that balances intrinsic and extrinsic goods of education; and a justice claim for additional educational provisions in inclusive education for children with disabilities.

Perspectives of Students With Special Needs on Inclusion in General Physical Education: A Social-Relational Model of Disability.

This study aims to explore the perception of students with special needs on inclusion in physical education and identify the factors that facilitate or inhibit their inclusion. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 20 students with various special needs from five secondary schools in Shanghai. Content analysis was utilized to analyze the interview data. Interview results indicated that the majority of students with special needs are negative on their inclusion, and restricted participation in physical education activities was common. Using a social relational model of disability as a theoretical framework, this study identified personal factors (i.e.,impairment and self-efficacy), physical context (architectural barriers and provision of modified facilities), and social context (i.e.,teacher support, peer support, and modification) that facilitated or inhibited the inclusion level of these students. The study concluded that intervention is necessary to eliminate architectural barriers, grant financial support, and offer adapted training programs by the government and schools.

How Can the Right of Young Children with Disability to be Heard be Enacted within the Policy Constructs of Participant Choice and Control?

This comprehensive literature review provides a critical examination of the concepts inherent in Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme, participant choice and control. These concepts are explored in relation to enacting the child’s right to be heard, as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.Enacting this right is found to be dependent on the image of young children with disability, acknowledging children’s citizenship rights and balancing these with perspectives regarding the need for protection and the child’s place in family and community. The social-relational model of disability is helpful in understanding how the enactment of the right to be heard may be supported. Parents and early childhood professionals who are sensitive to the child’s perspective may take the role as social mediators of child voice, choice and control, along with practices supporting children’s evolving capacities to enact their own rights and aspirations.

Children with albinism in African regions: their rights to \u2018being\u2019 and \u2018doing\u2019

BackgroundAlbinism is an inherited condition with a relatively high prevalence in populations throughout sub-Saharan Africa. People with oculocutaneous albinism have little or no pigment in their hair, skin and eyes; thus they are visually impaired and extremely sensitive to the damaging effect of the sun on their skin. Aside from the health implications of oculocutaneous albinism, there are also significant sociocultural risks. The impacts of albinism are particularly serious in areas that associate albinism with legend and folklore, leading to stigmatisation and discrimination. In regions of Africa those with albinism may be assaulted and sometimes killed for their body parts for use in witchcraft-related rites or to make ‘lucky’ charms. There is a dearth of research on the psychosocial aspects of albinism and particularly on how albinism impacts on the everyday lives of people with albinism.DiscussionThere is a growing recognition and acceptance in Africa that people with albinism should be considered disabled. Thomas’s social-relational model of disability proposes it is essential to understand both the socio-structural barriers and restrictions that exclude disabled people (barriers to doing); and the social processes and practices which can negatively affect their psycho-emotional wellbeing (barriers to being). In this article, we combine a social model of disability with discussion on human rights to address the lacuna surrounding the psychosocial and daily experiences of people with albinism.ConclusionThrough using this combined framework we conclude that the rights of people with albinism in some regions of Africa are not being enacted. Our debate highlights the need to develop a holistic concept of rights for children and young people with albinism which sees human rights as indivisible. We illuminate some of the specific ways in which the lives of children with albinism could be improved by addressing ‘barriers to being’ and ‘barriers to doing’, at the heart of which requires a shift in attitude and action to address discrimination.

‘Move it or lose it’: perceptions of the impact of physical activity on multiple sclerosis symptoms, relapse and disability identity

This study explores the roles which individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) ascribe to physical activity (PA). PA is becoming more heavily promoted by health care providers to individuals with MS due to the evidence of improved health outcomes with PA participation. However, there are possible negative outcomes with the medicalisation of PA (e.g. increased guilt over inactivity, constrained views of PA) that may be compounded by the uncertain nature of having MS and negotiating a disabled identity. Framing disability and impairment within a social-relational model of disability, we undertook an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of 15 semi-structured interviews conducted among adults with MS who had recently experienced a relapse. Our purpose was to understand how persons with MS describe the roles of PA and exercise as part of daily life with MS, relapses and disability identity. Our analysis indicated that PA occupies several roles related to MS and relapse. These roles were categorised into three main themes: PA has a paradoxical role in MS relapse; PA has a role in guilt and empowerment; and PA as defiance of disability. The roles that exercise/PA take may inform the negotiation of disability identity for individuals with MS by providing ambiguous control ‘over’ MS relapses and over impairment/disability. When not engaging in PA, our participants described feelings of guilt, worrying that increased impairment/disability would be their ‘fault.’ Because of this, PA should be promoted carefully as it occupies many important and sometimes conflicting roles in the life of an individual with MS.

A social relational analysis of an impairment-specific mode of disability coach education

The purpose of this research was to analyse a mode of coach education provided by a major disability charity. The course was designed for sports coaches and physical activity professionals and focused on coaching people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The subsequent analysis drew on data obtained over two years, including participation observation, qualitative survey data and follow-up case study interviews. The research process was scaffolded by a level model approach. Data were analysed in an iterative fashion to generate themes representative of the process of coach learning in relation to discourses about disability, subsequently generating an understanding of the impact of disability coach education on coaches’ knowledge. To provide a level of abstraction and critical explanation, we drew on the work of Thomas and engaged with a social relational model of disability to analyse the formation and expression of coaching knowledge in relation to ASD. The analysis highlighted how coach education was an environment for the transmission of ideology about disability, that drew on medical model discourses and constrained coach learning, contributing to a ‘false’ ideology of inclusion.