Anastasia Alevriadou

Representations of disability from the perspective of people with disabilities and their families: a critical discourse analysis of disability groups on Facebook

Contrary to the growing body of research into views about and attitudes towards disability which has focused on the perspectives of non-disabled people, recent disability studies have been directed to the voices of people with disabilities and/or their families, by acknowledging an ‘epistemic privilege’ to them. In the present study, we use the posts of sensory and physical disability groups on Facebook as a lens to uncover the voices and experiences of people with disabilities and/or their families. The critical discourse analysis of the posts of disability groups on Facebook suggests that people with disabilities and/or their families do not constitute a homogeneous group of people being connected because of their common (bodily) condition. On the other hand, different representations of disability also suggest a different use of Facebook.

Teachers' interpersonal style and its relationship to emotions, causal attributions, and type of challenging behaviors displayed by students with intellectual disabilities

Teachers’ interpersonal style is a new field of research in the study of students with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviors in school context. In the present study, we investigate emotions and causal attributions of three basic types of challenging behaviors: aggression, stereotypy, and self-injury, in relation to teachers’ interpersonal style. One hundred and seventy seven Greek general and special educator teachers participated in the study by completing a three-scaled questionnaire. Statistical analysis revealed that the type of challenging behaviors affected causal attributions. According to regression analysis, emotions, teaching experience, expertise in special education, and gender explained a significant amount of variance in interpersonal style. Emotions were found to have a mediating role in the relationship between causal attributions and interpersonal style of “willingness to support,” when challenging behaviors were attributed to stable causes or causes under the control of the individual with intellectual disabilities.

A comparative study of representations about disability in primary school children's drawings: a sociosemiotic approach

Over the past few years, perceptions about disability – at least at the theoretical level – have been shifted toward a more progressive approach, which stresses the social aspects of the construction of disability (social model) rather than personal limitations, as supported by the traditional disability approach (medical–individual model). Drawing upon the sociosemiotic approach as developed by Kress and van Leeuwen, the present study examines from a comparative perspective the representations about disability and people with disabilities, as emerging from the drawings produced by 4th grade Greek primary school children. The sample consists of two groups of children. Group A does not share the same school environment with schoolchildren with special education needs, while group B shares the same school surroundings with students attending a special education needs School. The comparative analysis of their drawings indicates that children of both groups reproduce the dominant meanings they receive from their direct social environment.