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- Olsen, Terje, 1967-
(författare)
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Versjoner av arbeid : Dagaktivitet og arbeid etter avviklingen av institusjonsomsorgen
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation is a study of employment and daytime activities for people defined as having an intellectual disability. The study’s point of origin is the somewhat paradoxical situation these individuals are put into when it comes to work and daytime activities. They are on the one hand granted a disability benefit and made objects for a logic of caretaking; they are regarded as vocationally disabled and defined as outside the workforce. On the other hand, they are still included in a hegemonic work ethic with political objectives for ‘full employment’ and ‘a working-life for all’. A main objective in this study has been to discuss what different types of work and daytime activities mean to these individuals themselves; what role work and daytime activities have in their identity management and self-presentation in everyday life.The study consists of three parts. Part I outlines a historical contextualisation of the relationship between intellectual disability and participation in work and production. This part also provides a brief account for the labour market situation for these individuals today, and discusses the present situation related to the official aims of the administrative reform, which closed down the state-financed institutions for people with intellectual disabilities. Part II discusses the theoretical perspectives and methodological approach used within the study. The theoretical perspectives are developed using concepts from Dorothy Holland et.al, Pierre Bourdieu and Erving Goffman. The methodological approach is based on qualitative case studies with participatory observations and interviews within the different settings where people with intellectual disability work. Part III presents and analyses data derived from fieldwork. Central elements in the meaning of work in identity management are discussed and classified in six basic ‘key stories’ about work and daytime activity. Different forms of adapted and ordinary work are discussed in context of gender roles and social class aspects.
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| 3. |
- Grönvik, Lars, 1974-
(författare)
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Definitions of Disability in Social Sciences : Methodological Perspectives
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation examines how disability researchers define disability. It is based on four studies. The first describes different definitions of disability in disability research. The second study is a conceptual analysis of the use of disability in a sample of disability research classics. In this study, it is evident that use of the concept is all but clear. It is concluded that especially environmentally based disability definitions would benefit from further empirical investigations. The notion that environmental factors (such as barriers) are a causal aspect of disability is rather widely accepted among disability researchers. However, it has not been empirically studied to such an extent that it is possible to construct workable theories of this relationship.The third study focuses on administrative definitions of disability and investigates the possibility of using data on disabled people that have been gathered by Swedish welfare authorities. It is concluded that rich data are available, but also that researchers must scrutinize how disability has been defined in these contexts. These authorities often start from medical understandings of disability, which may clash with contemporary understandings of disability as being environmentally based.The fourth study is a statistical analysis of the effects of different disability definitions on dependent variables. The analyses emphasize variables often included in studies of living conditions. There are major effects of choice of disability definition on the outcome in relation to such variables.The dissertation strongly rejects efforts to standardize disability definitions; different analytical purposes require different kinds of conceptualizations. Instead, the dissertation suggests that case-constructing reflexivity be conducted. Case-constructing reflexivity means that the researcher starts with a careful analysis of how disability is best defined in relation to the aims of the study, and continues by being constantly aware of how the choice of definition may affect sampling, analyses and results.
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- Heimdahl Mattson, Eva, 1945-
(författare)
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The School Situation of Students with Motor Disabilities : Interaction of individual prerequisites and environmental demands
- 1998
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The thesis consists of five scientific articles as well as a framework and is to a great extent based on interviews with students with motor disabilities, their parents and school personnel.The aim of the thesis is to study phenomena such as self-reliance, independence and autonomy, focusing on students of various ages and types of motor disabilities, in varying kinds of segregated and integrated school environments. The work is based on an interactional approach, and analyses how students' individual prerequisites interact with organizational and educational influences.It was found that the more segregated school system often gave priority to therapy goals, in order to develop the student's independence, i.e. the ability to manage the practical side of life. The student's development of autonomy, defined as the ability to make one's own decisions and control one's own life, was thereby subordinated, since it required knowledge of reading, writing, information-seeking, critical examination, e.g. typical educational goals.Students with less severe or less visible disabilities in integrated school systems, i. e. regular classes, were often treated in a way similar to their non-disabled peers. It was obvious that if the disability was ignored, it might lead to a minor disability developing into a significant handicap in the interaction with the surrounding school environment. The student's possibilities of influencing his/her situation were slight, and the autonomous development wa s limited. On the contrary, students with more severe disabilities in regular classes appeared to have better access to physical and educational adaptations. Their handicap thus decreased, and their opportunities of influencing their lives and developing autonomous attitudes increased.A conclusion is that the student's possibilities of developing either independence or autonomy are not necessarily decided by whether or not the system is integrated or segregated, but rather by how the organization and the methods of co-operation are realized within each system.
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