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Successful inclusion is a subject that addresses the question of how well a society can prevent discrimination and ensure access to information, products, services, and spaces for all. Disability may not necessarily lead to exclusion, unless society fails to respond to the needs of people regardless of their impairment. Digital tools combined with ethnographic research may help researchers explore users' needs, perceptions, behaviors, and attitudes and can aid in understanding the interactions between the human, the space, and the digital within the urban realm. This paper thus outlines a diversity of digital tools in the context of the disability-inclusive city. Through ethnographic encounters with Joe, Ann, and Vanessa, we then explore how these tools can be applied to practice. Centering on Joe, we attempt to exemplify some of the key issues that need to be addressed when looking into the terrain of disability, the city, and digital tools. This paper explores how mobile phones and mobile applications can support people with disabilities in accessing the city and its services. The research also explores how modern technology, such as mobile applications can support city officials in understanding better what makes cities more disability friendly. With the help of Joe, Vanessa and Ann from Maribor, Slovenia, the authors have tried out a selected number of mobile applications and observed how these can help people with disabilities use the city and its services. The research with Joe, Vanessa and Ann showed that mobile phones and mobile applications can be useful for moving around the city, but people with disabilities may still face difficulties using mobile phones while moving. The research also showed that technology can make cities more disability friendly, but it cannot remove all the barriers that people with disabilities face in their everyday lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community housing services adopt care models such as rehabilitation, recovery-oriented care and person-centered planning to improve the quality of life of service users with an intellectual or psychiatric disability. However, the way these care models are implemented and practiced can negatively impact service users' experience with the service as their complex needs go unmet. In this paper, we conceptualize these experiences through developing the counternarrative of burdens of support. For this we draw on burden of treatment theory. We conducted ethnographic fieldwork in a community service organization in the Netherlands. This included participant observation (84 h), interviews with service users (n = 20), experts-by-experience (n = 8), family members (n = 10) and photovoice workshops. Our analysis identifies four burdens of support: burden of self-determination; re-identification; responsibilisation and re-placement. The results show that burden of support is very much a relational concept: through their support, professionals can aggravate or alleviate burden. People with intellectual or psychiatric disabilities often receive support with living in the community. Good support fits people's needs (e.g. person-centered planning), builds on people's strengths and contributes to recovery and community participation. Even when support is practiced or organized with such aims, service users can have negative experiences. In this research we call this: 'burden of support'. Examples of burden of support identified include: Clients' needs and wishes are sometimes not sufficiently attended too when working with a personal care plan. Too much responsibility is sometimes shifted to clients, which results in feelings of failing or abandonment. The focus on strengths and recovery sometimes leaves too little room for clients to voice support needs. Having to move to a different home or neighborhood as part of becoming more independent can result in many difficulties including loneliness. The research recommended that those who improve services should also alleviate these burdens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The parenting of children with autism has traditionally been explored through its negative aspects, but researchers have started to look for different parental experiences focusing on the positive experiences, family resilience and strengths of children with autism. A cross-cultural analysis considers that cultural understanding of autism reflects the way different societies and parents understand it, the variation in meanings of health, illness and disability and not simply the amount of information about autism. In a small-scale exploratory study in Spain, 8 parents from different families were interviewed to explore how they experienced their children's autism and their perception of society's response to it. Findings suggested a general lack of information about autism, parents' trouble finding strengths of autism and a division of roles and responsibilities that seems to place a disproportionate load on the mothers. The way that a society understands autism affects how parents experience their sons' and daughters' autism. This paper examines the experiences of parents of children and young people with autism in Spain through semi-structured interviews. The participants of our study did not feel included in Spanish society since many people have misconceptions about autism, do not know how to help and stare at them and their children. The parents of our study seemed to share a medical view of their sons and daughters and only one of them could think of a positive trait of his son, besides being loving. Both fathers and mothers who took part in the study agreed that mothers bear all the responsibility for caring and deciding the therapeutic and educational measures adopted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

VACTERL Association is a medical diagnosis that represents a broad range of characteristics affecting the following body systems: vertebrae; anal; cardiovascular; trachea; esophageal; renal and radial; and limb. Auditory, growth, sex, and reproductive characteristics are often present as well. Thus far, VACTERL has only been examined within the medical system, and, within that framework, it has become identified as an anomaly and ‘disability,’ leaving the embodied experiential realities of individuals who live with it unexplored. This paper reports on a qualitative study with eight self-identified women with VACTERL Association. This paper provides an introduction to the experiences of these women and provides an exploration of the elements and processes of identity negotiation, with particular focus on the intersection between gender and ability. As well, the impact of a medical label as it affects identity formation is examined. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the educational choice-making of students with special educational needs in the context of Finnish pre-vocational training and one of its programmes, ‘Preparatory and Rehabilitative Instruction and Guidance for Disabled Students’. The authors enquire into the kinds of educational choices available for students in the preparatory programme, and how student counselling meets their educational hopes and future plans. The analysis draws on an ethnographic study of special needs education in post-compulsory education in Finland. It shows that students need to reflect on their educational plans within institutional and diagnostic restrictions and guidance. The authors state that educational choices can be negotiable, but more attention must be given to deconstructing the self-evidences and institutional barriers linked to the transitions of young adults with special educational needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores tensions between the social nature of learning and the current emphasis upon individual support. The paper contrasts the focus upon context in discussions with parents and practitioners, with the focus upon the individual within formal and informal written documents. The analysis is partly situated within the first author’s experiences as a parent researcher, drawing additionally upon ethnographic research carried out with families involved in early intervention, including an evaluation of over 150 pages of documentation provided by a parent. It identifies the need for assessment and evaluation to focus upon and record the broad range of context that influences learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activists and academics advocate the involvement of disabled people in the education and training of health professionals and it has also been argued that the professions would benefit from including disabled healthcare professionals within their ranks. With increased numbers of disabled people entering all areas of higher education, it is likely that the numbers of disabled healthcare professionals will grow. This paper describes a small-scale study of the experiences of disabled occupational therapists who were asked to recount their journeys and to provide first-hand accounts of the reality of being a disabled health professional. The findings suggest that there is further work to be done before the profession benefits fully from the inclusion of disabled therapists, and the paper concludes by giving possible explanations and making recommendations to help facilitate this inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive practice is well embedded across society and has developed over time. However, although policy and public view have moved forward, the way organisations address the agenda for inclusion often represents a superficial interpretation of this concept. Qualitative data were gathered using new ethnography to explore the experiences of a library-based reading group for visually impaired readers. The voices of the individuals shed light on the individual and collective experience of reading. These insights challenge the traditional views of distinct provision that are designed to address targets for inclusion of individuals with disabilities. We argue for a clearer focus on the unintentional consequences of practice in the name of inclusion that leave individuals feeling marginalised. This paper suggests the alternative focus on social justice as offering a discourse that focuses on society and away from the individual. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study – a year-long ethnographic exploration of disability and education in Bhutan – finds that two dominant discourses around ‘disability’ are entering Bhutan simultaneously: the discourse of the medical model of disability and the discourse of the social or human rights model of disability. In this paper, I argue that these two discourses are especially exposed in the Bhutanese context to be opposing forces in shaping local conceptualisation and construction of ‘disability’. By examining the Bhutan case, it can be seen that these kinds of disparate and contentious exogenous constructions of ‘disability’ occur everywhere in the world and negotiate with local constructions of ‘disability’ uneasily. Understanding the interactions of disability discourses in the Bhutanese context can help to understand the interactions of disability discourses writ large. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper advances a social relational model of Deaf childhood as a guiding framework for working with Deaf children in a present-day universal neonatal hearing screening and early intervention context. The authors discuss how Deaf children are contextualized in a medical model discourse, in a social model of Deaf childhood, and in a Deaf culture discourse. A social relational model is then discussed in with reference to a capability approach and to findings from the first author’s study of parents and young children participating in an American Sign Language shared reading program in Ontario, Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the dynamics of support observed in the networks of nine adults with intellectual disability, developed by families who had committed to achieving a ‘good life’ for this person. Network members, including the person with a disability, participated in this longitudinal ethnographic study. Three principles that underpinned their work were positive and respectful relationships, mentorship and providing opportunities and expectations. Participants worked actively with other network members to develop higher levels of autonomy and social participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to analyse how humour and narratives about humour are used in a natural group of adults with Asperger’s syndrome. Narratives about humour and use of humour in the group are analysed from a discursive psychological perspective, informed by insights from both disability studies and critical autism studies. The setting of the research is ethnographic fieldwork in an educational setting in Sweden. In the paper, I show the use of three storylines among a natural group of people with autism (PWA) when talking about humour: the storyline of humourless PWA that dominates within Swedish society; and two alternatives, a storyline of alternative humour among PWA and another storyline in line with the social model of disability, of neurotypical humour or disabling humour. When invoking these two alternative storylines, PWA challenge both the humourlessness storyline and the lack of social accessibility within mainstream neurotypical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to identify developmental and environmental factors and personal strategies that have shaped the lives of eight successful Autists in Australia, North America, and the United Kingdom. The article employs a process of meta-ethnography to distil learnings and factors from Autist's publicly available autobiographical accounts. Key findings relate to the importance of: identifying and enabling productive individual special interests; matching individual strengths with environmental resources and opportunities; nurturing self-awareness; developing personal strategies for success; and finding a niche in the world. The article concludes with recommendations for applying study findings in strengths-based approaches to social work and other human services. Autist's as people with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs) who have successfully established a social niche for themselves can be a source of wisdom for other Autist's, their families, and social work and human service practitioners; This study examined the life stories of eight successful Autists to identify factors that supported their success; We identified four key areas that shape their abilities and success. Those included: being aware of and supported in their special interests; having self-awareness of their internal experience and how they can embrace relationships with others; developing personal strategies to better navigate their world; and finding social and vocational opportunities that capitalise on their strengths, special interests, and self-awareness; The study findings hence suggest pathways for strengths-based social work, human services, and other forms of professional practice such as education and training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the absence of accessible and inclusive emergency communication provided by the government and public service providers, this article examines a self-initiated and volunteer-driven Disability Support Network. This Network emerged as a civil response during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. The study highlights the communication difficulties and multiple disadvantages experienced by people with disabilities in emergency situations. This reveals the gaps between policies and practices regarding the digital accessibility infrastructure in China. Adopting a WeChat ethnography research method, the researchers collect data from both participant-observation in the virtual field of online chat rooms and semi-structured interviews with Network participants. The study examines the empowering role of the Disability Support Network and the use of inclusive information and communication technologies. The mechanism and deliverables of Disability Support Network, along with important lessons and inclusive communication practices used by the Network, are presented in the article. We argue that comprehensive and inclusive communication strategies for people with disabilities should consider multiple dimensions including formats, content, and situations. We advocate that government and public service entities in China need to take more active measures providing inclusive communications and information in emergency situations for people with disabilities. This study examines the effects of civil society response and communication inequalities in public health disasters in China. The study identifies difficulties experienced by disabled people who are excluded from mainstream information channels. The study provides examples of the best practices in effective communication for disabled people during the COVID-19 outbreak. We especially study an unprecedented volunteer-driven disability support network that emerged in response to COVID-19. The study details how a disability support network is organized, what the network has achieved, and the role social media played in the network's activism and organization. This study highlights the response, self-determination, and self-help actions generated from disability communities in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UK policy for adults with intellectual disabilities no longer supports state-provided building-based day care but promotes personalised care and support under individuals' control with choice of community-based opportunities. The research explored experiences of this new terrain and the informal learning involved. An initial scoping review was followed by interviews with key service providers in one urban and one rural area in England and one of each in Scotland. Next, ethnographic fieldwork with people with intellectual disabilities involved a flexible mix of observations, interviews, focus groups, and participant-generated visual data. Thematic analysis involved an iterative mix of deductive and inductive coding. Findings showed informal peer learning ranged from ad hoc to structurally supported. Though learning was often tacit, support was valued and agency developed. The availability of local supportive people and schemes and time spent in them to develop new skills and identities was vital to people self-building community lives. This research looked at the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities, as they and their friends and family respond to policy change bringing in more personalisation and individual choice. Often people with intellectual disabilities and those supporting them do not recognise their everyday learning. Learning outside schools/colleges gets little research attention. We looked at the learning involved in people managing their own daily lives in their communities. Staff and volunteers are helping people to learn from each other in organisations, and this can become more formal peer learning, peer mentoring and peer support programmes. Advocacy groups create a sense of belonging and shared purpose, encouraging peer learning through the sharing of knowledge, experiences and problem solving. When new projects start up or traditional day services change, the staff or volunteers may not involve people with intellectual disabilities in the planning. This means people with intellectual disabilities miss opportunities to learn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender has often been overlooked in the lives of people with intellectual disability, resulting in a limited understanding and service response. This is in part due to a lack of knowledge about the way people with intellectual disability negotiate and build a gendered identity. In this article we present research undertaken with six young women with an intellectual disability who worked with the first researcher to co-develop some stories from their lives. We show how, facilitated by an innovative method which focused on meaningful engagement, the women told stories of richly gendered lives and subjectivities. Their stories showed how gender can be a desired and productive subjectivity, and how consideration of gender can help to identify resistance and agency in their lives. Their stories illustrate how gender is necessary in forming a comprehensive understanding of the lives of women with intellectual disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After basic education, the Finnish educational system divides into separate types of upper secondary schools – general and vocational. Vocational schools have long traditions of educating young people with support needs and arranging special education. General upper secondary schools are instead considered to serve 'academically orientated' students, and these schools do not necessarily have established support practices. In this article, we examine how the needs of support are discussed in general upper secondary education, and what kinds of meanings they get in a school's everyday practices. The article is based on an ethnographic study of educational support, study counselling and societal inclusion. Our analysis highlights the school's study culture as strongly academic, where diverse support practices are not part of the picture. The current resources shape support as an individual and separate addition to general teaching, even though, according to education policy aims, support should be communal and inclusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies endeavour to shed light on the multiple ways bodily impairments and disability identities are defined, socially constructed and enacted in various musical practices. The majority of these analyses are from the Global North and do not examine the various entanglements of music and disability in other socio-economic, political and geographical contexts. This article therefore explores the intertwinement of notions of disability identity related to albinism and the enactment of social performativity, visibility and masculinity of the condition in musical productions. This scrutiny is based on both the song lyrics of two renowned artists with albinism, Salif Keita from Mali and Yellowman from Jamaica, and an ethnographic investigation of a Tanzanian musician, Ras Six. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents of disabled children face many challenges. Understanding their experiences and acknowledging contextual influences is vital in developing intervention strategies that fit their daily realities. However, studies of parents from a resource-poor context are particularly scarce. This ethnographic study with 30 mothers from a South African township (15 semi-structured interviews and 24 participatory group sessions) unearths how mothers care on their own, in an isolated manner. The complexity of low living standards, being poorly supported by care structures and networks, believing in being the best carer, distrusting others due to a violent context, and resigning towards life shape and are shaped by this solitary care responsibility. For disability inclusive development to be successful, programmes should support mothers by sharing the care responsibility taking into account the isolated nature of mothers' lives and the impact of poverty. This can provide room for these mothers to increase the well-being of themselves and their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on an ethnographic study with 12 Latino families of children on the autism spectrum related to obtaining autism services in Los Angeles County. Using critical discourse analysis of interviews, observations, and records, we consider the experiences of the Latino families in relation to: a discursively constructed ‘autism parent’ subject position that mandates ‘fighting’ service systems to ‘win’ autism services for children, originating from White middle-class parents’ socioeconomic resources and social capital; a neoliberal social services climate that assumes scarcity of available resources and prioritizes austerity in their authorization; and a media and institutional ‘cultural deficit’ discourse that attributes disparities in autism services for Latino children to their parents’ presumed culturally-based ‘passivity.’ We argue that parental discourse about fighting, or not fighting, for autism services is engendered by a tension between a parental logic of care, and the logic of competition of the economic market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition from school involves different perspectives. Those most silenced in the process are transitioning students with significant disability, and similarly, they are alienated from the conduct of research. In this empirical project, three young men with complex autism conditions in Aotearoa New Zealand reclaimed their position as experts on their own transitions, and moreover, their contributions to research on the subject. Over a six-month ethnography, unique methodological adaptions were used to access personal insights and capabilities throughemancipatory partnerships. The research forged collaborations that have the potential to be mirrored in future practices applicable to a transition with dignity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The People’s Republic of China is home to over 20 million d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing people, many among them belonging to ethnic minorities. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in two minority regions, the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, this article comparatively discusses findings on sign language use, education and state welfare policies. The situation in these domains is analysed through the framework of the ‘civilising project’, coined by Harrell, and its impacts on the d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing among ethnic minorities are shown. For instance, through the promotion of Chinese and Chinese Sign Language over and above the use of local sign and written languages as well as through education and the medicalisation of disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This ethnographic project explored the lives of women with learning disabilities on three locked wards. Aspects of these women’s lives were regulated by the service; in particular, relationships with family outside the unit, and peer relationships inside the unit. The women in this study valued these relationships, but they were treated with ambivalence by the service. Success in future community integration and accessing community resources can be dependent on the nature and quality of relationships with others, and therefore services should acknowledge that service-users need to forge relationships of their own choosing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores discourses surrounding ‘walking’ in a Turkish rehabilitation hospital and their impact on in-hospital relationships, patients’ attitudes towards disability, and constructions of ‘bodily normality’. Interviews were conducted with 29 patients, 11 medical personnel, and two non-medical personnel. Three categories of discourses emerged. First, hope for walking is kept alive in doctor–patient relationships, either through a state of silence on the matter or an emphasis on time, determination, and faith in God. Second, patients are virtually assured of the retrieval of walking, mostly through interactions with fellow patients and their accompanying family members (refakatçis). Third, a possible non-walking future is highlighted, either within a framework closer to a disability rights perspective or through an emphasis on gratitude. Diverse discourses on walking emerge due to the informality of in-hospital practices. Still, the ‘normal body’ is predominantly reproduced as the ‘walking body’. Thus, patients refuse discharge before regaining the ability to walk. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Inclusive research involves people with intellectual disabilities actively and strives for empowerment and normalisation. Less is written about the power dynamics in a research team consisting of researchers and people with intellectual disabilities and the possible value of such collaboration. In this auto-ethnography we reflect on these aspects and the challenges along the way. We conclude that striving for normalisation can be paralysing; ‘doing the same’ is not always possible and can be disempowering for all members of the research team. Acknowledging differences and uniqueness enriches research outcomes and makes us reflect on our own, sometimes rigid, academic frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disability among Indigenous Australians lies at a nexus between the ongoing impact of European settlement from 1788 and the social effects of living with a disability. Colonisation, with its political, social, economic and cultural concomitants, continues to impact on Indigenous experience, extending to the institutions and services concerned with disability. There is little attention paid to Indigenous Australian disability in general, and the need to decolonise disability has recently been emphasised. Ethnographic research in Brisbane, Australia among Indigenous people with a disability (mostly related to diabetes) confirms the ongoing impact of colonisation. While this experience pervades all aspects of their lives, it also moderates their experience of living with a disability in positive ways. However, while individuals can negotiate their personal experience of disability, the decolonisation of disability services presents challenges that need to be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disability theory discusses the interplay between impairment and disability as though they can be identified separately. More recently, scholars in the field have sought to move beyond the dichotomy to an interactional model. This article uses evidence from a longitudinal ethnographic case study to demonstrate how notions of interaction and relation need to be understood within context. Socio-cultural theory makes explicit a situated understanding of participation and experience and demonstrates how classroom environments ‘call forth’ disability. Findings reveal how classrooms as educational contexts mediate the experience of a student with a learning impairment. The evidence shows how a classroom draws on the wider regimes of competence at the institutional level to create particular experiences for students. The challenge for teachers and other support staff in schools is to reflect on and influence the dynamic of impairment/disability within their classroom and school context in order to support appropriate participation and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there are several international initiatives advocating for rights of individuals with disabilities in their community, many African countries lag behind in taking any actions. This is an ethnographic study conducted in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire in West Africa, and examines the current programs and services for children with disabilities, and views of disability among the public. It utilizes individual and group interviews, field observations, surveys and examination of governmental documents. There are tremendous needs and shortcomings regarding disability programs. This might be due not only to a lack of resources but to the views of disabilities held by society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Contrary to views that young people with the label of autism are incapable of engaging in collective cultural practice, this article examines how they construct identities through social interactions to belong, compete, and participate. In a multi-sited ethnography of high school students with disabilities, we focused on two students as they move across contexts of school, debate team, and home. Over two years of interviews and participant observation, these students demonstrated nuanced efforts to distance themselves from the ‘autistic’ label. These acts of positioning illuminated how they negotiate identities with the knowledge their interactions shape how people perceive their participation in different contexts. By following them across informal and formal environments, we could see how they transition across multiple social worlds and appreciate the combined power these contexts have on youth identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the emancipatory research paradigm as a conceptual framework, this autoethnography reflects upon participant and researcher relationships within a larger qualitative research study that involved participants labeled 'other'. Issues relating to fear of the 'other', building reciprocal relationships, and who gains from the research are explored. This analysis contributes to the literature by articulating how researchers can employ emancipatory methods and how research institutions can support and encourage such work in order that research is undertaken in more equitable ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intervention studies show that if children with disabilities play motion-controlled TV and computer games for training purposes their motivation increases and their training becomes more intensive, but why this happens has not been explained. This article addresses this question with the help of ethnographic material from a public project in Sweden. By applying interactional constructionism to detailed instances of play situations, the article specifies the social dynamics as well as identificatory attractions of these games for children with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the experiences of three South Asian Muslim immigrant families who have a young child with autism. It describes the early period of their child's disability as the families encountered four critical issues in their lives: a complex disability, the culturally diverse conceptualizations of the disability, family-professional dynamics in cross-cultural encounters and the search for appropriate services. Analyses were based on interviews with parents, supplemented by 17 months of participant-observation in homes and community. Parents narrated their experiences beginning with symptom recognition through help seeking, diagnosis and subsequent service provision. Results suggest that for these families the challenging process of diagnosing and ameliorating autism is complicated by their unique positioning within and between diverse meaning systems. Challenges include American health and education professionals' misunderstandings of their family organization and linguistic practices, and difficulties in cross-cultural communication with professionals. Implications for professionals are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of interpellation (and its opposite, misinterpellation) is taken as a metaphor for understanding the lived experience of personal difference. This research focuses on two interpellative experiences: disability and migrant status. Parents of children with moderate to profound intellectual disabilities were asked about their engagement with the community; their access to support programs; and their sense of well-being. Responses were divided between the non-migrants (who were misinterpellated once) and migrants (who were misinterpellated twice). Were the migrant parents doubly isolated due to migrant status and carer status? What differences were there between migrant and non-migrant responses to their parental experience? Although migrant parents were more negative about their children's future, they rated themselves as equally happy and socially connected as non-migrant parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]