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Although inclusion has been a value set forth in international policy arenas and a focus for school development, research indicates there are problems in establishing more inclusive practices. Teachers may favor an inclusive model of education but often experience difficulty implementing inclusive practices. The aim of this article was to analyze teachers' experiences during the implementation of a top-down-initiated inclusive practice in a municipality in northern Sweden. The empirical data is based on qualitative interviews with four teachers, two from a special school and two from a compulsory school. The results show professional ambivalence in relation to introduction and information, cooperation and views on inclusion. The results are analyzed from an institutional theoretical approach and show that two institutional logics are apparent. One is educational logic, which is formal/ideological and contains norms and values connected to ideological ideals such as normality, equality, and inclusion. The other is social logic, which is not informal but vague and pragmatic; differentiation and disability are key aspects. Consequently, important inter-professional aspects of the implementation process, such as information, cooperation, and views on inclusion, were characterized by ambivalence. To conclude, the article adds to the discussion of the challenges—administrative, organizational, and practical—in implementing new discursive practices within inclusive education such as norms and values, routines, and rituals, which are not easily changed, regardless of political rhetoric.

Social media is often seen as an arena for negotiation of power, where marginalized voices can be given influence in the public debate. This study focuses the use of Twitter for discussions related to disabilities and disability policy in Sweden. The empirical material is gathered through the hashtag (#) "funkpol", the primary hashtag used to discuss such topics. Empirical data was gathered using a scripted Google spreadsheet. Over a period of 6 months, approximately 10.000 tweets were retrieved. Our findings show nine different categories of twitterers. According to patterns visible in the study, the most active twitterers – the private twitterers – reached out to the established power (advocacy organizations, politicians and media). However, these instances did not respond as much as they were addressed – at least not directly on Twitter. The article shows how private actors are active but not picked up in the public debate. Instead, established power structures prevailed. ; DISMAW

Social media is often seen as an arena for negotiation of power, where marginalized voices can be given influence in the public debate. This study focuses the use of Twitter for discussions related to disabilities and disability policy in Sweden. The empirical material is gathered through the hashtag (#) "funkpol", the primary hashtag used to discuss such topics. Empirical data was gathered using a scripted Google spreadsheet. Over a period of 6 months, approximately 10.000 tweets were retrieved. Our findings show nine different categories of twitterers. According to patterns visible in the study, the most active twitterers – the private twitterers – reached out to the established power (advocacy organizations, politicians and media). However, these instances did not respond as much as they were addressed – at least not directly on Twitter. The article shows how private actors are active but not picked up in the public debate. Instead, established power structures prevailed.

AbstractThis article examines how administrators in social services (n = 70) and habilitation staff in healthcare (n = 40) in Sweden experience difficulties in their work with people with intellectual disabilities. The research aim was to investigate the most typical aspects of difficult working situations and to apply a comparative analysis of differences and similarities, where the respondents' organizational affiliations are taken into account. The results are primarily based on a content analysis. Contextual standardized questions were included in this study. The results revealed that experiences of difficulties were categorized in four typological themes: difficult situations associated with (1) structure, (2) professional role, (3) relationships, and (4) collaboration. The respondents' experiences of difficult situations in social services and healthcare organizations did not correspond to the respondents' work dissatisfaction or unclear goals. On the contrary, handling this plurality within a specific organizational context was a fundamental aspect of professionalism. The different characteristics of the organizations in this study reflected two different institutional logics. While the administrators mainly operated within an administrative logic based on a regulatory framework, the habilitation staff operated within a therapeutic logic based on a cognitive framework. Consequently, the two groups had their own specific norms and rule systems, which influenced when, and to what extent, everyday situations were experienced and defined as difficult. The organizational context seems to influence experiences of difficult situations in the work with people with ID and this calls for a discussion of how it impacts the quality of services within intellectual disability services.

This study investigates how the probability to live alone has developed among working age individuals with and without disabilities in Sweden during the period 1993–2011 when extensive political reforms to improve the integration of disabled individuals in society were implemented. The results show that individuals with disabilities are approximately twice as likely to be living alone when compared to individuals without disabilities. People with disabilities were also more likely to report low life satisfaction, and this was especially true among individuals with disabilities living alone. Men and women with disabilities also tend to experience longer periods of living as a one-person household than non-disabled people. Over time we find no indications of reduced differences in family outcomes between disabled and non-disabled individuals but rather evidence to the contrary. These differences are interpreted as being the result of the disadvantage disabled individual's experience in the partner market and that people with disabilities are less successful in forming partnerships that can lead to cohabitation and family formation. The results thus show how disabled individuals still face societal barriers that limit their possibilities to find and sustain relationships that result in stable cohabitation despite increased efforts to improve their inclusion in Swedish society. ; DISMAW