John C. Bricout

A common open space or a digital divide? A social model perspective on the online disability community in China

This paper explores the use and impact of the Internet by disabled people in China, informed by the social model of disability. Based on survey data from 122 disabled individuals across 25 provinces in China, study findings suggest that there is an emerging digital divide in the use of Internet amongst the disability community in China. Internet users in our study do not appear to be representative of most disabled people in China. For the minority of disabled people who do have access to the Internet, however, its use can lead to significantly improved frequency and quality of social interaction. Study findings further suggest that the Internet significantly reduced existing social barriers in the physical and social environment for disabled people. Implications for future research, and strategies for increasing reducing the digital divide between the minority of Internet users and the majority of disabled people in China are discussed.

How Autonomy Impacts Performance and Satisfaction: Results From a Study With Spinal Cord Injured Subjects Using an Assistive Robot

We report a small dual cohort pilot study with traumatic spinal cord injured (SCI) subjects designed to investigate the utility of a wheelchair-mounted robotic arm for these subjects. The UCF-MANUS, a vision-based 6DOF assistive robotic arm, has been designed to aid individuals with upper limb extremities to complete tasks of daily living that they would otherwise be unable to complete themselves. Pick-and-place IADL tasks were designed and ten (10) users post-SCI were selected under IRB guidelines to be trained and tested with the system for 1 to 2 h weekly over a period of three weeks. During this time, they controlled the robot either through a manual or an autonomous (supervised) mode of operation. Baseline characteristics (pre-study), quantitative performance metrics (during study), and psychometrics (post-study) were obtained and statistically analyzed to test a set of hypotheses related to performance and satisfaction with the two control modes. At the end of the study, both the autonomous and the manual mode had comparable task completion times while user effort required for operating the robot in autonomous mode was significantly less than that for the manual mode. However, the autonomous mode failed to commensurately raise the users level of satisfaction. Over the three-week study, the manual mode users showed a pronounced learning effect in terms of reducing mean task completion time and number of commands while the auto mode users showed improvement in terms of reduction of variability. Based on qualitative feedback and quantitative results, possible directions for system design are presented to concurrently achieve better performance and satisfaction outcomes.

Communities of participation: A comparison of disability and aging identified groups on Facebook and LinkedIn

Communication-oriented Internet technologies and activities such as social media sites and blogs, have become an important component of community and employment participation, not just in the specific function of activities, but as a link to larger communities of practice and professional connections. The occurrence of these activities, evident in their presence on Facebook, LinkedIn and other online communities, represents an important opportunity to reframe and re-conceptualize manifestation of communities especially those in which distributed networks and communities substitute for geographic proximity, offering new opportunities for engagement, especially those who might be functionally limited in terms of mobility. For people with disabilities, as well as the aging, increasingly interacting online, the readiness of social networking sites to accommodate their desire to participate in conjunction with their readiness as users to maximize the potential of platform interfaces and architecture, are critical to achieving the mediums potential for enhancing community and employment benefits. This essay explores representation/presence of disability and aging using as frames, Facebook and LinkedIn groups. Target identity/member groups on Facebook and LinkedIn were cataloged to explore the presence and representation of disability and aging identities in a socially networked setting. The groups for this study were identified using the search feature designed into the platform architecture, which allow a user to search on specifically designated entities or keywords. Findings suggest that from a policy perspective, institutions need to be cognizant of population characteristics as well as platform opportunities implementing advocacy and relevant support services for people with disabilities and older adults to full ensure engagement and participation.

Domestic violence research: Theoretical and practice implications for social work

Identified in the late eighties as the number one public health risk to adult women by the Surgeon General of the United States, domestic violence remains the leading cause of injuries to women, ages 15 to 44, more common than muggings, auto accidents and cancer deaths combined (U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, 1992). Academics and practitioners have assessed the problem and its potential solutions using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Yet, how far have we come and how much do we really know? This paper will attempt to answer these questions by critiquing the “current state of affairs” of domestic violence research. Common theories of causation and their applications to social work theory and practice will be delineated and an ecologically based intervention for domestic violence will be proposed.

Community Receptivity: The Ecology of Disabled Persons’ Participation in the Physical, Political and Social Environments

The physical environment is the space in which people with a disability participate in the public sphere. The community provides a suitable unit of analysis for investigating the interaction between the physical environment and persons with a disability because it is the common space in which public participation is played out. The places, physical features, structures and objects that constitute the physical environment bear the inscription of the social, political and economic environments. The physical environment reciprocally influences the social, political and economic environments, as well as the perceptions of participants in the public sphere. Community receptivity is a concept that links the physical and social environment in relation to community readiness to support the public participation of persons with a disability. Results of a recent community-based program of research in the USA that developed and tested measures of community receptivity to people with a physical mobility limitation are reported. Implications of this research are discussed together with suggestions for future research.

Listening to the Voices of Individuals With Disabilities

Social work literature, research, and practice on disabilities has lagged behind other topical areas dealing with oppressed groups. The social work literature remains “expert focused” and generally fragmented into discussions of specific disabilities or subpopulations. A viable general model that deals with the personal experience of disability is not available. This exploratory study presents a social work literature search and analysis as well as interviews with six individuals with disabilities about their experiences with social workers. Individuals with disabilities assert that they were treated as though they had categorically fewer aspirations, abilities, and perhaps even fundamental rights than did nondisabled people. This study provides a base for follow-up research on models of consumer-focused social work practice in the area of disability.

Linking Models of Disability for Children with Developmental Disabilities

ABSTRACT Children with disabilities, their families, and the social workers who provide services are faced with navigating complex social and institutional environments in their quest for developmental, educational and daily living supports. Models of disabilities provide conceptual frameworks for understanding and action that can inform the decision-making process of parents and social workers. A new ecological model of disability, the systems model, is proposed that integrates the medical model, focused on individual deficits, the social model, focused on disabling social environments, and the transactional model, focused on person-environment interactions. Diagnostic, institutional, and practice implications of the new model are discussed.

Making computer-mediated education responsive to the accommodation needs of students with disabilities

Although the accommodation of students with disabilities in the traditional social work classroom has been discussed in the professional literature, the emergence of Internet-based courses raises new questions about accommodating students with disabilities. While the Internet has opened up new possibilities for learning, it has also interposed speed, uniformity, and efficiency as overriding principles, often running counter to accessibility and adaptability needs. Several key domains for Internet-based course work accommodations are identified: student privacy, online etiquette, ethical guidelines for online learning, and pedagogical integrity. Finally, recommendations are made for optimizing the online learning experience for social work students with disabilities.

From Concentration to Dispersion: The Shift in Policy Approach to Disability Employment in China

In China, there has seen a significant increase in the disability employment rate over the past 20 years, largely due to socioeconomic growth factors and disability employment policy development. Extant research has failed to account for the systemic policy and socioeconomic changes that have radically changed the employment landscape for persons with disabilities in China over the past three decades. An examination of disability employment in China reveals a shift of the policy approach from concentration to dispersion. The concentration approach, compatible with a central planned economy, has given its way to its market-based parallel, the dispersion approach. Characteristics of the three main forms of disability employment—welfare enterprises, the quota schemes, and self-employment—are discussed in depth. Finally, modifications to the current disability employment policies are suggested.

Leveraging online social networks for people with disabilities in emergency communications and recovery

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can play an important role in leveraging social networks for emergency communications and recovery involving persons with disabilities, provided that proper consideration is given to the strengths and weaknesses of the distributed nature of online resources in relation to the instrumental, psychological and social needs of persons with disabilities in the context of disasters or other emergency events. Emergency and disaster events inherently involve uncertainty and dynamic risk factors, and pose design and implementation challenges for inclusive planning and delivery systems. The involvement of persons with disabilities as key stakeholders throughout the developmental and evaluation process is critical to the effectiveness of online social networks in bridging real-world concerns with virtual resources. An analytical model for understanding the role of distributed networks in mediating the negative impacts of a disaster or an emergency on persons with disabilities is proposed, together with key objectives for change.