Ann Fudge Schormans

Parental Perspectives of the Quality of Life in School Environments for Children With Asperger Syndrome

Findings reported here are from a secondary analysis of in-home, semistructured interviews with a subsample of 9 participants from a larger study examining the perspectives of parents of children with Asperger Syndrome (AS) concerning what contributes to and detracts from their childrens quality of life at school. Audiotaped interview data used in the secondary analysis had already been gathered by a trained interviewer and then transcribed verbatim. The secondary analysis followed a modified grounded theory approach. Major themes identified are highlighted, specifically, how quality of life is affected by (a) awareness of AS in the school system, (b) quality of social interaction, (c) the role of the teaching staff and professionals, and (d) the role of the institution and educational structure. Implications, recommendations, and future research directions are discussed.

‘Some people are not allowed to love’: intimate citizenship in the lives of people labelled with intellectual disabilities

Abstract Disability helps us think differently about the ‘ideal’ neoliberal-able citizen who may not equate to ideas of productive, sexual, ‘normal’. Intimate citizenship – our rights and access to intimacy – is often ignored by those working with people labelled with intellectual disabilities and in research. In this article, we discuss the outcome of a dialogue between self-advocates labelled with intellectual disabilities, academics, service providers, Aboriginal leaders, students and artists about intimate citizenship through love, intimate work and consumption.

Epilogues and Prefaces: Research and Social Work and People with Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract It is well established that public photographic representations of people with intellectual disabilities strongly influences what we think we know about people so labelled. This paper reports on the unanticipated outcomes of a research project that looked at the ways in which public photographs often construct people with intellectual disabilities as dysfunctional, from the perspectives of the labelled people themselves. Research participants with intellectual disabilities were asked to critique a sample of public photographic images and then, using the computer software program, Photoshop, to change the images to reflect their critique. These changed images were then shown to a number of non-disabled audiences. In this paper, I address the unanticipated outcomes of the project: the effects on participants and non-disabled others resulting from activities arising from the project. These unanticipated outcomes speak to the power of visual imagery, to the empowerment that can take place when people...Abstract It is well established that public photographic representations of people with intellectual disabilities strongly influences what we think we know about people so labelled. This paper reports on the unanticipated outcomes of a research project that looked at the ways in which public photographs often construct people with intellectual disabilities as dysfunctional, from the perspectives of the labelled people themselves. Research participants with intellectual disabilities were asked to critique a sample of public photographic images and then, using the computer software program, Photoshop, to change the images to reflect their critique. These changed images were then shown to a number of non-disabled audiences. In this paper, I address the unanticipated outcomes of the project: the effects on participants and non-disabled others resulting from activities arising from the project. These unanticipated outcomes speak to the power of visual imagery, to the empowerment that can take place when people with intellectual disabilities are enabled to have their voices heard, and the ways dialogue between people with and without intellectual disabilities can work towards new understandings. Social work, in its concern for social justice, has a role in enabling the expression of the voices of people with intellectual disabilities and facilitating opportunities for dialogue.

‘Weightless?’: disrupting relations of power in/through photographic imagery of persons with intellectual disabilities

Missing in discussions of visual representations of people with intellectual disabilities are their own perspectives. Rooted in Derrida’s concern with the ‘right of inspection’ over visual representations, participatory arts-informed methodologies were used in research with people with intellectual disabilities. They critiqued and then used Photoshop to transform public photographs of labeled people. Responding to visual constructions of labeled persons as ‘weightless’/powerless, they revealed personal experiences of being denied control over their lives and representations. Yet their critiques and transformations reveal possibilities for their re-conceptualization as powerful, subverting stereotypes of labeled people and disrupting relations of power in disability imagery.Missing in discussions of visual representations of people with intellectual disabilities are their own perspectives. Rooted in Derrida’s concern with the ‘right of inspection’ over visual representations, participatory arts-informed methodologies were used in research with people with intellectual disabilities. They critiqued and then used Photoshop to transform public photographs of labeled people. Responding to visual constructions of labeled persons as ‘weightless’/powerless, they revealed personal experiences of being denied control over their lives and representations. Yet their critiques and transformations reveal possibilities for their re-conceptualization as powerful, subverting stereotypes of labeled people and disrupting relations of power in disability imagery.

Shopping, social inclusion and the urban geographies of people with intellectual disability

Abstract In this paper, we examine the social geographies of people with intellectual disabilities. We focus particular attention on the significance of shopping and spaces of consumption as they relate to questions social inclusion and belonging in the lives of PWID. The focus on consumption offers a useful counterpoint to a prevailing policy emphasis on social inclusion through productive activities. The paper also contributes to the literature on intellectual disability within social and health geography, shedding light on the varied socio-spatial experiences of people beyond the confines of community-care facilities and other separate spaces. Our analysis draws on data collected from a participatory research project in Toronto (Canada). The project involved a small but diverse group of people with intellectual disabilities, who led academic researchers on a series of excursions designed to explore those places and routes that make up their everyday social geographies. Shopping emerged as a significant but often ambivalent theme in the context of these geographies, and the analysis demonstrates the complex interplay of autonomy and control, pleasure and restraint, care and support that shape people’s experiences of consumption. We conclude by discussing the significance of these findings for notions of social inclusion and belonging.

Developing inclusive educators: enhancing the accessibility of teaching and learning in higher education

Abstract In light of the growing population of students with disabilities at colleges and universities worldwide, faculty development connected to accessible teaching is of paramount importance. Drawing from the existing literature and from the results of a qualitative study of educational accessibility at one Canadian university, this article offers a series of recommendations for academic developers hoping to establish effective development initiatives focused on accessible teaching and learning. Key issues considered include the need to support instructors in translating principles of inclusive teaching into practice, the value of discussion-based approaches that take up difficult questions about minimum standards, and the question of whether development initiatives should be discipline-specific or interdisciplinary, mandatory or optional. Recommendations for further research are also discussed.

The invisibility of disability for homeless youth

ABSTRACT A largely unexplored complexity in the lives of youth who have experienced homeless is the presence of intellectual, developmental and/or learning disabilities. Although emerging research shows that youth with cognitive disabilities are more likely to become homeless and that rates of cognitive disabilities are higher among the homeless population than the population in general, exploring the intersection of disability and homelessness for youth has not been a priority. In this study, a critical disability and systems failure lens is brought to bear on the vulnerability of youth who experience this intersection. Based on interviews with key informants in the disability, homelessness, education, employment and child welfare sectors in three sites in Ontario, Canada, the invisibility of disability among homeless youth is brought to light. We explore the ways youth with a disability in the homelessness sector are made vulnerable, the insurmountable barriers to getting access to the requisite assessment for disability services and the siloed nature of the homelessness and disability service sectors. An argument is made that “working outside the box” to assist youth to navigate significant system disjunctures is insufficient.