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This article adopts a theoretical perspective inspired from the work of Michel Foucault to explore the experience of disabled students in Malta. In particular, it studies the discourses and educati...

In this article, I reflect on three incidents that occurred in my inclusive research work. As a conceptual framework, I use Bourdieu’s call for a reflexive sociology. My reflection is infor...

In this article I explore how generic disability conferences can become more inclusive of participants with intellectual disability. Increased inclusivity entails adapting to the support needs of people with intellectual disability, in line with the principles and practice of inclusive research. In the article I consider three specific areas where there can be more inclusion – access to information related to the conference, access to knowledge imparted during the conference, and financial issues. While many good practices have been developed in these areas, it is important to ensure that inclusion is catered for in a systematic and pro-active manner, so that people with intellectual disability have increasingly more meaningful and active roles within disability studies and disability research.

A study of overprotection in the lives of persons with intellectual disability in Malta was carried out on the principles of inclusive research. Focus groups were held with people with intellectual disability, parents of people with intellectual disability, and those working with persons with intellectual disability. Overprotection is a disabling barrier. Its effects were identified in employment, leisure time, intimate relationships, and the use of public transport, money, and mobile phones. People with intellectual disabil- ity who experience overprotection live very structured lives. They cannot develop their skills, abilities, and potential. Furthermore, they cannot live their life on their own terms, but on terms determined by others. This creates a sustained dependence on others, especially the family. It is important that a balance is achieved between protection and enabling support. Persons with intellectual disability should be given the support they need to express their wishes and act on them., peer-reviewed

At the half-hour mark of Tropic Thunder, Robert Downey Jr’s character Kirk Lazarus teaches Ben Stiller’s Tugg Speedman a lesson about Hollywood and the Oscars. Lazarus and Speedman, both actors, discuss Speedman’s interpre- tation of a person with intellectual disability in one of his films: Simple Jack. Lazarus argues that Hollywood does not like portrayals of people with intellectual disability that are too realistic. Taking this approach leads to actors going home “empty-handed” on Oscar night, he tells Speedman. In his argument, the key part of which is reproduced below, Lazarus refers to four films: Forrest Gump, Rain Man, Being There, and I am Sam. The portrayals of people with intellectual disability and the depiction of their lives in these films, and to a lesser extent in Tropic Thunder itself, are the focus of this article., peer-reviewed

Friendship is an issue of concern for many people with intellectual disability. The aim of the research presented in this paper is to understand how people with intellectual disability experience friendship and what friendship means for them. A focus group was held with seven people with intellectual disability, who are members of a self-advocacy group. An inductive thematic analysis approach was used to analyse the data. The people that the research participants identified as their friends were fellow self-advocates, family members, support workers and co-workers. They also identified behaviours and actions that foster friendship and those that undermine it. The analysis shows how the research participants identified as friendships those relationships which had an element of reciprocity, while linking a lack of reciprocity with the absence of friendship. It is very important for non-disabled people to understand the perspectives of people with intellectual disability they live and work with., peer-reviewed