Dr. Jo Ferrie, Lecturer Social Research Methods, University of Glasgow and Strathclyde Centre for Disability Research, UK I am not long back from the stimulation and challenges of the Disability Studies Conference in Lancaster, UK and it’s apparent that the social…
Ursula Naue, Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Political Science, University of Vienna, Austria, Member of the Austrian Independent Monitoring Committee on the Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Before November 2008, I analysed Austrian disability…
Tiina Itkonen, Associate Professor of Education, California State University Channel Islands, USA As a core public value, equity is central in understanding special education in contemporary society. This was not always the case, however. Historically, children with disabilities were stigmatized…
Halvor Hanisch, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Oslo University Hospital, Norway In disability studies, research is tightly intertwined with politics and morality. The field has, to quote Carol Thomas, ‘social oppresssion as its analytical signature’. Disability studies is characterized by a…
Maria Berghs, PhD, research fellow, University of York, UK “You get me? You need to start filming people. That way people will see!” said Mohammed in criticism of my work. In post-conflict Sierra Leone, people like Mohammed had a sophisticated…
Rune Sarromaa Hausstätter, PhD, Lillehammer University College, Norway When placed in special education, the famous philosopher and cartoon hero Bart Simpson expressed his concern about the challenge he was supposed to overcome: how can I catch up the others by…
Christopher A. Riddle, Assistant Professor of Philosophy & Director of the Institute of Applied Ethics, Utica College, NY, USA, email: cariddle@utica.edu Nearing the end of 2011, The Royal Society of Canada’s Expert Panel on End–of–Life Decision Making released a detailed report…
Hisayo Katsui, Senior Researcher, Institute for Human Rights, Åbo Akademi University, Finland Following the United Nations (UN) Decade of Disabled Persons between 1983-1992, the first African Decade of Persons with Disabilities started in 1999 and ended in 2009. The first…
Róisín Dermody, independent researcher and disability activist, Dublin, Ireland Abortion is a highly contentious issue when the debate focuses on a woman’s right to choose and the right to life of the unborn child. However, when the decision to abort…
Hannah Morgan, Lecturer in Disability Studies, Lancaster University, UK 1st May is celebrated throughout the Nordic countries and beyond as a day of celebration and activism linked to our shared heritage in the international labour movement. Since 2006 it has…