The text points out the need for significant changes in the disability policies, which result from the paradigm shift from medicine to social issues. Three theoretical approaches are presented and briefly discussed, which might be helpful when analyzing the public policy towards disability and eventually be used when reformulating it. First, the biographical approach and the trajectory of everyday life are presented. Then, the problem is discussed in the context of the social exclusion followed by the analysis of the public policies from the perspective of the expected failure. Finally the text presents the differences between social and public disability policies and points out the advantages of the approach typical for public policy-related sciences.
Disability is one of the features that differentiate individuals and groups in modern societies. People with reduced physical, cognitive and psychological efficiency are particularly exposed to discrimination and social, economic and political exclusion. What's important social issue of people with disabilities in the early 21st century changes by entering into a relationship with the ageing of the population. Article aims to introduce some theoretical concepts efforts to improve the image of disability and reduce the barriers faced by persons with disabilities in access to different kinds of resources, spaces and opportunities. A critical analysis of the literature includes: description of the concept of activation policy as well as principles and objectives of social policy in a holistic paradigm of normalization. This summary contains possible future directions of research and analysis.
Artykuł dotyczy możliwości zbudowania nowego systemu orzekania o niepełnosprawności opartego na prawnoczłowieczym modelu niepełnosprawności i Konwencji o prawach osób niepełnosprawnych (KPON). Przeprowadzona krytyka obecnego systemu orzekania jako opartego na modelu medycznym niepełnosprawności, jak również dyskusja z nomenklaturą proponowaną w zbliżającej się reformie orzecznictwa w Polsce, prowadzą do postulatu o wypracowanie orzekania respektującego zasadę godności osób z niepełnosprawnością. Proponowany nowy system orzekania pozytywnego opiera się nie na deficytach jednostki, ale na jej możliwościach i potrzebie wsparcia. W propozycji znalazły się obszary życia osób z niepełnosprawnością, które powinny być brane pod uwagę w procesie orzekania, jak również nowe rozwiązania w obszarze świadczeń i rent.
A tale of disability. An autoethnographic essay Abstract This article is an authoethnographic account of living with a disability. The author examines her own experience of a person with a disability as well as the narratives collected from women with Turner's syndrome during an ethnographic fieldwork. She shows how different narratives and voices shape the experience of disability, which is as much a given biological fact, a social construct, and a story one lives and tells. Keywords: disability, autoetnography, Turner's syndrome
(Anti)protagonists? Disability in the postwar Serbian proseThe Author made an attempt to the analysis of chosen works written by three Serbian writers: Ivo Andrić (The Bridge on the Drina), Miodrag Bulatović (The Red Rooster Flies Heavenwards) and Danilo Kiš (Garden, Ashes). Her purpose is to answer the question which is focused on the category of the antiprotagonist in the context of the disability studies. The Author is focused on the similarities in representations of the disability in the postwar Serbian prose. She shows also the necesserity of the connection between the disability studies and other research perspectives. Keywords: disability, feminist criticism, madness, Serbian literature, Yugoslavia
The paper outlines socio-historical factors that led to the emergence of a new trend in doing research on disability issue – Disability Studies and the dissemination of a social definition of disability, on which the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is based. The main part of the text provides a critical analysis of the implementation process of article 24 CRPD at Polish universities with regard to relevant regulatory acts and using reasonable accommodations. Next, statistical data on students and PhD candidates with disabilities are presented. The main conclusions from thematic reports by the Polish Commissioner for Human Rights and by the disabled persons organizations are also presented. In the last part, the disability issue is discussed in the context of creating the Law on Higher Education 2.0 with the case study of amendment no. 47.
"Książka dotyczy zagadnień metodologiczno-teoretycznych, w tym podmiotowości i tożsamości, a także edukacji i aktywności zawodowej oraz pozazawodowej osób z niepełnosprawnościami. Zwrócono w niej uwagę na szanse i zagrożenia wynikające z kontekstu kulturowo-społecznego oraz systemowo-instytucjonalnego w badaniach nad niepełnosprawnością. Poszczególne rozdziały zawierają konkretne przykłady ilustrujące podejmowane zagadnienia badawcze oraz bezpośrednie doświadczenia osób badających zjawisko niepełnosprawności w różnych obszarach życia społecznego. Publikacja łączy w sobie zarówno cechy opracowania naukowego, opartego na badaniach własnych poszczególnych autorów, jak i praktycznego poradnika z wnioskami o charakterze rekomendacji. Z tego względu powinna zainteresować nie tylko przedstawicieli nauki, lecz także praktyków zatrudnionych w instytucjach pomocowych, organizacjach pozarządowych i rządowych, których jednym z zasadniczych obszarów działania jest diagnozowanie sytuacji osób z niepełnosprawnościami i projektowanie zmian mających na celu aktywizację tego środowiska."--
This paper focuses on the opportunities and challenges of the Polish education system for people with disabilities. To support academic education process, the task of the university is to create conditions which will allow students with disabilities to gain higher education. This will be a step forward into accommodating and participating in social and, most importantly, professional life. The theoretical part presents the institutional and legal conditions of the inclusive education policy, including a comparative analysis of the current legislation and Act 2.0. In the practical part, the model of the support system is presented as a case study on the example of a selected university. The conclusion contains suggestions and recommendations regarding planned legal changes.
Participation research as the answer to the assumptions of the social model of disability?
The social model of disability, the requirement for the subjective treatment of participants in social research and the availability of research subjects to the research process, resulting from the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, put researchers before the need to seek new research strategies that grasp the world of meanings of the respondents. The model of participatory research, which seems also appropriate for capturing the intersectionality of the gender and disability, seems to meet these challenges. Key words: women with intellectual disabilities, qualitative research, inclusive research
Wstęp. Obecna koncepcja niepełnosprawności zakłada, że stopień niepełnosprawności jest wypadkową stanu zdrowia fizycznego i psychicznego oraz warunków środowiskowych, w których żyje osoba niepełnosprawna. Dlatego również na społeczeństwie spoczywa odpowiedzialność za taką modyfikację środowiska, aby poprawie uległy warunki uczestnictwa i aktywności osób niepełnosprawnych w życiu społecznym i zawodowym. Cel. Celem pracy jest przedstawienie problematyki rehabilitacji osób niepełnosprawnych i kwestii związanych z ich zatrudnieniem. Materiał i metoda. Oparto się na danych opublikowanych przez Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych (ZUS), Kasę Rolniczego Ubezpieczenia Społecznego (KRUS) i Państwowy Fundusz Rehabilitacji Osób Niepełnosprawnych (PFRON), biuro Pełnomocnika Rządu ds. Osób Niepełnosprawnych oraz na wynikach Narodowego Spisu Powszechnego Ludności i Mieszkań przeprowadzonego w Polsce w 2011 roku. Przeanalizowano ponadto akty prawa krajowego i międzynarodowego z ostatnich kilkunastu lat. Wyniki: W 2013 roku w Polsce rentę z tytułu niezdolności do pracy pobierało 1 075 000 osób., zaś rentę z tytułu niezdolności do pracy w gospodarstwie rolnym otrzymywały 216 373 osoby. Według Badania Aktywności Ekonomicznej Ludności Polski (BAEL) w 2013 roku aktywnych zawodowo było 27,3% osób niepełnosprawnych w wieku produkcyjnym. Istotne znaczenie ma zapewnienie osobom niepełnosprawnym zdobycia lub utrzymania zatrudnienia, a więc możliwie pełnej integracji społecznej. Wydane na ten cel pieniądze są inwestycją, która się zwraca, a nawet daje korzyści społeczne i ekonomiczne. Podsumowanie, Konieczne jest holistyczne podejście i koordynacja całego procesu leczenia, rehabilitacji i zatrudnienia osób niepełnosprawnych uwzględniające współodpowiedzialność pracodawcy, połączenie usług medycznych, społecznych i zawodowych, odpowiednie doradztwo, zastosowanie modelu biopsychospołecznego (ICF) w ocenie efektów rehabilitacji osób niepełnosprawnych. ; Introduction. According to the current concept of disability the degree of impairment is a product of physical and psychological health as well as environmental conditions in which a disabled person lives. Therefore, it is also the society that is responsible for modifying the environment so as to improve the conditions of participation and activity of the disabled persons in social and professional life. Objective. The objective of this work is to present the problem of rehabilitation of persons with disabilities and issues related to their employment. Materials and method: The work is based on data published by ZUS (the Polish Social Insurance Institution), KRUS (the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund), PFRON (the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disables Persons), Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Disabled People and on the results of the 2011 Polish Census of Population and Housing. Also acts of Polish and international law from the last dozen of years have been analysed. Results. In 2013 in Poland, 1 075 000 people received the inability to work benefit and 216 373 persons received the benefit related to inability to work on a farm. According to the Polish Research on Economic Activity of the Population (BAEL), 27.3% of disabled persons in the working age led an active professional life in 2013. It is crucial to ensure that the disabled persons access or maintain employment and thus to provide for their largest possible social inclusion. The expenses on this are an investment that pays back and even generates social and economic profits. Conclusion. It is necessary to adopt a holistic approach and to coordinate the entire process of treatment, rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities, taking into account employer's co-responsibility, combination of medical, social and vocational services, appropriate counselling and application of a biopsychosocial model (ICF) in evaluating the effects of rehabilitation of the disabled persons.
Autism disembodied. The history of social construction of autism as illness, disorder, and disability
The article is an attempt to look at the history of discourse about autism from the perspective of autism studies. Due to the blurred definition and yet unknown etiology autism was used as a space for modern cultural projections about disability and mental illness. As I argue, both the determination of modern scientific institutions and their failure to objectify autism using empirical methods are linked to the disembodied nature of autism, which still reveals it arbitrariness and social – not natural – construction. As late as in 21th century, autistic people have joined the discourse about themselves, trying to make autism a positive and integral aspect of their identity. Keywords: autism, Asperger syndrome, disability, mental illness, eugenics
An introduction to cultural representations of disabled people's sexuality
In the following article, I outline some of the issues and problems that one may encounter while attempting to analyse the pop/cultural representations of disabled people's sexuality. Towards this end, I employ a variety of methodological and theoretical tools, such as e.g. cultural model of disability/cultural analysis, critical theory, elements of ethnographical research and crip theory. Keywords: sexuality, disability, culture, representations, film, cultural artefacts
The author presents three selected types of situations depicting the participation of persons with disabilities, their caregivers and supporting non-governmental organisations, in designing and monitoring the public policy towards disability in Poland. The first type of situations concerns supporting inclusive education. The second type concerns the support system for the caregivers of the persons with disabilities, while the last one refers to the alternative report prepared by NGOs, dealing with Poland's implementation of the U. N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In each of these cases, the author examines the reasons behind the decision to participate, the process, and the final results of participation. The results show that - although the NGOs of the persons with disabilities have the possibility to participate in the discussion on disability policy - their influence on that policy is insignificant and limited to exceptional situations.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities adopted by the United Nations on December 13, 2006, signed by the Government of Poland on March 20, 2007, and therefore ratified on September 6, 2012, is committed to respecting all provisions contained in this document, including those concerning access to universal education, labor market and employment. However, from a practical point of view, there are many barriers and problems experienced by different environments of people with disabilities in the enforcement of their rights. Hence, the article mentions the opinions of representatives of the deaf and blind people on current restrictions and discrimination, as well as proposals addressed to the education and work and employment spheres participating in the debates organized under the project "Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – a common cause", the main contractor of which is the Polish Forum of People with Disabilities. ; The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted by the United Nations on December 13, 2006, signed by the Government of Poland on March 20, 2007, and ratified on September 6, 2012, obliges to respect all the provisions contained in this document, including those concerning access to universal education, the labour market and employment. However, from a practical point of view, there are many barriers and problems experienced by different environments of people with disabilities in the enforcement of their rights. Hence, the article includes the opinions of representatives of the deaf and blind people on current restrictions and discrimination, as well as proposals addressed to the education and work and employment spheres of those participating in the debates organized under the project "Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – a common cause", the main contractor of which is the Polish Forum of People with Disabilities.
Helpless victims and brave heroes: the image of disabled people in Polish press
There are two dominant ways of portraying disabled people in the media – either as people needing help or heroes achieving the extraordinary ('super-crips'). The article uses framing analysis in order to examine disability-related texts from two most-read Polish daily papers – "Fakt" and "Gazeta Wyborcza". The aim of the study was to determine whether the two frames: disabled person as a helpless victim or a 'super-crip' are still the dominant ways of portraying disability and if there are any discrepancies in this respect between the two newspapers. Keywords: disabled people, framing analysis, image, press
