Socialno delo on-line archive

Socialno delo, Vol. 53 (2014), Issue 3-5



Disability studies in post-socialist countries and South-East Asia
Darja Zaviršek, Jelka Zorn
Preface - 119

ARTICLES

Darja Zaviršek
Time for recognition: people with disabilities today - 123, (Abstract) (Full text)
Darja Zaviršek
Definition of handicap and development of disability studies in social work: international perspective - 133, (Abstract) (Full text)
Péter Kemény, Zsuzsa Kondor, Katalin Tausz
Disability studies in Hungary - 147, (Abstract) (Full text)
Kristina Urbanc, Daniela Bratković, Natalija Lisak
Civil society organisations as a vital support for persons with disability in Croatia - 159, (Abstract) (Full text)
Vjollca Krasniqi
Disability, politics and culture in Kosovo - 169, (Abstract) (Full text)
Špela Humljan Urh
Cultural aspects of disability among the Roma - 183, (Abstract) (Full text)
Andraž Kapus
Portrayal of people with disabilities in the media - 199, (Abstract) (Full text)
Chu-Li Liu
Mental health problems in Taiwan from a gender and anti-oppressive perspective: a human rights issue - 207, (Abstract) (Full text)
Subhangi Herath
Negotiation of self-identity and the contingency of self-actualization among the students with disabilities striving for higher education in Sri Lanka - 217, (Abstract) (Full text)
Mirjana Ule
Growing up with disability: narrations of students with disabilities about their life course, transitions and significant others - 233, (Abstract) (Full text)
Gašper Krstulović
Care as a multidimensional process and responses to need for care work in Slovenia - 245, (Abstract) (Full text)
Natalija Lisak
The integrative analysis of social factors in the life course of families with disabilities: the Croatian society context and disability - 255, (Abstract) (Full text)
Ana M. Sobočan
Children with special needs in the foster care system - 265, (Abstract) (Full text)
Anja Pirec Sansoni
The effect of housing exclusion and homelessness on health - 283, (Abstract) (Full text)
Sanela Bašić
People with disabilities at the European semi-periphery: the case of Bosnia - 295, (Abstract) (Full text)

REPORT

Ana M. Sobočan
International Regional Symposium \"Against Social Suffering: Social Work in Alliance with People with Disabilities in Time of Crisis\" - 307 (Full text)





Abstracts

 
Darja Zaviršek
Time for recognition: people with disabilities today

(Full text)

People with disabilities are, in most parts of the world, still seen as an exception to the rule, and as a deviance from the “normal”. Nevertheless, certain recent global developments demonstrate positive changes in the ways people with disabilities are treated by professional helpers, including social workers, and the lay public. But the differences in the quality of life of persons with disabilities across the world remain huge.



Keywords: disabled people, difference, Eastern Europe, post-socialism, Marrakesh treaty

Professor Darja Zaviršek, PhD in sociology, is the Chair of the Department of Social Justice and Inclusion at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Ljubljana. She is the president of the Eastern European Sub-regional Association of the School of Social Work of the IASSW. She is a honorary professor of the University of Applied Sciences Alice Salomon in Berlin. Contact: darja.zavirsek@fsd.uni-lj.si.


 
Darja Zaviršek
Definition of handicap and development of disability studies in social work: international perspective

(Full text)

The disability studies which analyse theoretical concepts such as disability, embodied difference and the disability ethics have been developed in postsocialist countires with a great delay. The author shows how beside these concepts disabled people's involvement in research and teaching is of a crucial importance. The article shows how normality has been created and contructed in a society like Slovenia and shows the socially constructed responses towards bodily specificities which determine the quality of life of persons with impariments in different societies. The article reflects upon the above mentioned concepts from the perspective of the current situation in Slovenia.



Keywords: discrimination, users\' movement, education, disability ethics, difference.

Professor Darja Zaviršek, PhD in sociology, is the Chair of the Department of Social Justice and Inclusion at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Ljubljana. She is the president of the Eastern European Sub-regional Association of the School of Social Work of the IASSW. She is a honorary professor of the University of Applied Sciences Alice Salomon in Berlin. Contact: darja.zavirsek@fsd.uni-lj.si.


 
Péter Kemény, Zsuzsa Kondor, Katalin Tausz
Disability studies in Hungary

(Full text)

The paper, following the train of thought of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, is focusing on the development of disability studies in Hungary. Although Hungary was one of the first countries to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2007), the human rights’ based approach is still very weak, due to the weakness of the civil organisations, deficiencies of political democracy, and the party politics dominated permanent transition of the Hungarian welfare state. Disability studies, characterised internationally by the initiative of the disabled persons themselves, were in Hungary, however, a top-down process initiated by researchers and experts. This is reflected in the controversies and slowness of the deinstitutionalisation process, in the dominance of large institutions and in the exclusion of disabled adults from the labour market, instead of the implementation of community based solutions. Governmental approaches and policies are first and foremost targeting economic objectives, e.g. to decrease the budgetary deficit even at the expense of the living conditions of disabled people. The official rhetoric and the organisational solutions have not broken away from the medical model of disability yet.



Keywords: United Nations, rights, civil society, employment, independent living, deinstitutionalisation.

Péter Kemény is a doctoral fellow in social policy at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, with a special interest in disability policy and vocational rehabilitation of people with disabilities. Contact: kemenypeter@pr.hu. Zsuzsa Kondor is a doctoral fellow in social policy at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, with a special interest in deinstitutionalization and people with disability. Contact: zsuzsa.kondor@gmail.com. Katalin Tausz is a professor of social policy at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, with a special interest in disability studies, poverty and social assistance. Contact: tauszkati@tatk.elte.hu.


 
Kristina Urbanc, Daniela Bratković, Natalija Lisak
Civil society organisations as a vital support for persons with disability in Croatia

(Full text)

The paper provides some information about the development of civil society associations for persons with disabilities in the post-war community in the process of social reconstruction. The Republic of Croatia, as a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities took over the role of improving the situation of persons with disabilities in society. However, the current crisis of Croatian society has particularly harmed people with disabilities and their families, as well as their position in society and their participation in everyday life. Beside the state's resources, which are more and more diminished, constant support for people with disabilities from NGOs is becoming a vital resource for their participation in everyday life. This paper presents the work of a few local NGOs engaged in disability activism in the context of a specific evolution of the civil society in Croatia.



Keywords: post-war community, agency activism, human rights, Croatian experiences.

Kristina Urbanc, social worker, systemic family therapist, supervisor in psychosocial work; works as Full Professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law, Department of Social Work and is chair of the Social Theory and Methods Unit, and holds an MA and a PhD in Social Pedagogy. Special research interests: users\' perspective in social work practice, theory and research, social work with people with disabilities, professional competences and ethics in social work, helping theories. Teaching activities: Social casework; Creative Methods in Social Work; Social work from the users\' perspective; Methods of supervision; Integrative social work; Field placement for 2nd and 5th year students. Contact: kristina.urbanc@pravo.hr. Daniela Bratković, PhD, associate professor in the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb, Department of Inclusive Education and Rehabilitation. The main topic of interest: community based support and quality of life for people with intellectual disabilities. Contact: daniela.bratkovic@erf.hr. Natalija Lisak, Master of sociology and philosophy, PhD in scientific branch Inclusive education and rehabilitation, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb. The main topics of interest: rights of persons with disabilities, quality of family life, qualitative methodology – biography approach. Contact: natalija.lisak@erf.hr.


 
Vjollca Krasniqi
Disability, politics and culture in Kosovo

(Full text)

The article focuses on social policy, politics and cultural representations of disability in post-war and post-independence (2008) Kosovo. It recounts the living conditions of people with disabilities that continue to be harsh as they face multiple levels of exclusion and oppression, stigmatisation, and violence. Seeking to understand agency, the article analyses the relationship between the state and disability movement. It also explores the ways in which disability, as an embodied condition and a form of social identity, functions in the cultural imagination and systems of representation. Three specific points will be made. First, the article seeks to show that the legislative instruments concerning disability ensure de jure but not de facto equality.The existing legal model of disability has not eased the social divisions and inequalities in the broader social structure in Kosovo. Second, it explains how participation of the disability movement in the political processes in general, and social policy formation in particular, has challenged the hierarchical ‘social geography’ and opposed the ideologies of ableism. Third, disability as an embodied condition and a form of social identity in the cultural imagination is predominantly that of an abject body. The categories of the body dominant in discursive representations are those of physically disabled and war-induced disabilities, rendering other types of disabilities invisible. The article will show how the body politic as well as social, economic, and cultural discourses and formations in Kosovo are premised on a binary matrix of the abled and disabled body and identities



Keywords: body, identity, agency, representation, handicap.

Vjollca Krasniqi, PhD, is a lecturer in Sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Prishtina. Contact: vjollca.krasniqi@uni-pr.edu.


 
Špela Humljan Urh
Cultural aspects of disability among the Roma

(Full text)

The Roma are one of the largest ethnic minority groups in Slovenia. A lot of researchers point to a link between ill health, ethnic minority origin and poverty. Roma, throughout Europe, are often faced with poor health, which is not merely a consequence of aging, but also of social situation and situations of complex inequalities. They face lower life expectancy, diseases and infections resulting from poor housing and economic conditions, frequent pregnancies and miscarriages, chronic respiratory diseases of Roma children. In the first part the need for cultural sensitivity in social work is discussed. The second part presents ethnographical data gathered by anthropological approach exploring the Roma perspective of their interpretation of the “disabled” and “ill-health” body. The following topics are pointed out: terminology, the hierarchy between the various disabilities, cultural explanations why disability occurs (the cause of disability) and also the anticipated roles of an indivudal, family and Roma community in relation to the disability.



Keywords: handicap, culture, health, ethnicity, reasearch, social status.

Špela Humljan Urh hold a PhD in social work. She had been an assistant at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Ljubljana, for ten years (in the Chair for social inclusion and justice). In her research and pedagogical work she was focused on culturally competent social work, ethnic sensitivity, anti-rasism, theories and practices of exclusion and inclusion. Now she lives and works in Germany. Contact: spela.h.urh@gmail.com.


 
Andraž Kapus
Portrayal of people with disabilities in the media

(Full text)

The research presented in this paper explored the representation of people with disabilities in three most circulated Slovenian daily payable newspapers in 2012. The content and discourse analysis focused on language, headlines, visual data and content. The results indicate that the representations of people with disabilities are stereotyped and stigmatizing. People’s impairments are often in the function of symbolical representation of misfortune and bad social conditions. Impairments are also used to sensationalize the content of the articles. Results show that people with disabilities are most often seen as the object and not as the subject of help. Critical articles debate diverse topics concerning disability but rarely question the existing system of help which lacks individualization and opportunities.



Keywords: public discourse, language, stereotypes, discrimination, help, stigma.

Andraž Kapus is a student of International doctoral studies in social work (INDOSOW) at the Faculty of social work, University of Ljubljana. His research interests include theory of help, disability and mental health. Contact: andraz.kapus@gmail.com.


 
Chu-Li Liu
Mental health problems in Taiwan from a gender and anti-oppressive perspective: a human rights issue

(Full text)

In the Taiwanese context, which is characterized by patriarchal values, mental health problems are considered to be different from physical illnesses. Therefore the ways of dealing with mental health problems are different across genders. This article illustrates how Taiwanese women who experience mental health problems are trapped in an oppressive system constituted by gender inequalities, economic difficulties and mentalism. It also shows how migration and transnational marriage had a profound impact on care work for people with mental health problems and disabilities in Taiwan. By analyzing the situations from the perspective of anti-oppression practice and human rights, it is anticipated to draw implications for future actions with the aim of enhancing the well-being of Taiwanese women.



Keywords: Taiwanese women, gender, inequalities, Confucianism.

Dr. Chu-Li Julie Liu is currently professor and Director at Department of Social Work, Tunghai University in Taiwan. She got PhD in Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada. She teaches courses such as \"working with individuals\", \"working with groups\", \"working with women\", and \"social work practice—feminist perspective\". Dr. Liu published her work in Chinese as well as English social work journals. She had been a visiting professor at Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto. Contact: chuli@thu.edu.tw.


 
Subhangi Herath
Negotiation of self-identity and the contingency of self-actualization among the students with disabilities striving for higher education in Sri Lanka

(Full text)

The article argues that in the context of the highly competitive state higher educational sector in Sri Lanka the contingency of identity construction and actualization among students with disabilities differs considerably from that of students who are considered as “not disabled”. This is seen as due to highly contradictory social cues the former receive in the effort to reach higher educational goals in a locality where they experience significant socio-spatial discrimination and deprivation. The process of building self-identity is understood as occurring in three localities, namely, (1) the period prior to entering the higher educational institutions (home and schooling), (2) the period spent in the higher educational institution, and (3) the future world they attempt to actualize, all of which become transitional and reflexive during the process of identity construction. Self-actualization of the students with disabilities in this context is seen as a reflexive, locality specific, contingency which varies with the level of paradoxes they encounter in this process.



Keywords: locality, reflexivity, capabilities, segregation.

Subhangi M. K. Herath is a senior lecturer in Sociology at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and is currently a Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her main research interests are in the fields of gender studies, culture, women and spirituality, ageing, crime and deviance, disability, suicide and environmental issues. She has been active in developing social work as an academic discipline at the University of Colombo. Contact: subhangiherath40@yahoo.com.


 
Mirjana Ule
Growing up with disability: narrations of students with disabilities about their life course, transitions and significant others

(Full text)

The article discusses the features of growing up with disability, the crises and overcoming of these crises, the role of significant others, the educational transitions, and the experience with institutions and experts. It is based on the analysis of the results of qualitative research of students with disabilities. A biographical approach has been used. These are the narratives about how a vital life experience can strengthen the individual, provided that they have a supportive living environment and empathic responses of the institutional environment that is supported by appropriate systemic solutions. Judging from the statements of students, the reason for their successful biographies is that they have been accepted by their families and have received the proper level of incentives and requirements. That has strengthened them in the way that they were also able to cope with identity crises, the crises of the transitions to adulthood, and with occasional negative reactions of the institutions.



Keywords: de-standardization, choice biographies, normalization of a handicap, gate-keepers, way-keepers.

Mirjana Ule is a professor and the head of the Centre for Social Psychology at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. Contact: mirjana.ule@fdv.uni-lj.si.


 
Gašper Krstulović
Care as a multidimensional process and responses to need for care work in Slovenia

(Full text)

The paper considers the question how recent developments in theory of care affect the responses of social care providers in Slovenia. Care work is a multi-layered process and includes physical, cognitive and emotional work. The effects of market liberalization on care work and responses of social care providers are analysed. Concepts of domestic assistance, personal assistance, institutional care and respite care are discussed and compared with new theoretical developments and research on care. The conclusion of the article deliberates on the multi-layered care for children with disabilities. The concept of respite care as an example of care provision that intertwines both physical and emotional support in introduced. The absence of public discourse about care in Slovenia is worrisome since it affects quality of received care and quality of work life for people providing care.



Keywords: care work, disability, assistance, institutional care, respite care centres.

Gašper Krstulović is a junior researcher at the Faculty of social work, University of Ljubljana. His principal research interests include: social inclusion of people with disabilities, social inequalities of people with handicaps, social work with people with disabilities. Contact: gasper.krstulovic@fsd.uni-lj.si.


 
Natalija Lisak
The integrative analysis of social factors in the life course of families with disabilities: the Croatian society context and disability

(Full text)

This integrative analysis contributes to the conceptualization of the social context that shapes the life course of families with children with disabilities and addresses the role of the Croatian society within that process. Development of community based support and human rights protection in Croatia are important societal changes that ensure access to desired family quality of life in the field of disability. For that reason, the analysis is based on respecting opinions and experiences of parents of disabled children in order to provide insight into the family life trajectories to discover the relevant factors of the social context. The narrative approach was used to collect life stories of families with children who had intellectual disabilities. The social context that shapes the family life course and their further opportunities includes: the underdevelopment of community based services; the legacy of institutional care; the great influence of religious beliefs and Catholic Church institutions; the parents’ initiative for rights implementation and system changes; the active role of mothers in everyday family life and supportive family relationships. The results emphasize important community development changes in Croatian society by focusing on the context that shapes the life course perspective of families with disabilities.



Keywords: biography approach, life stories, quality of life, identity, human rights.

Natalija Lisak, Master of sociology and philosophy, PhD in scientific branch Inclusive education and rehabilitation, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb. Her main topics of interest are: rights of persons with disabilities, family quality of life, qualitative methodology (biography approach). Contact: natalija.lisak@erf.hr.


 
Ana M. Sobočan
Children with special needs in the foster care system

(Full text)

The paper presents the first phase of the research in the system of foster care and adoptions of children with disabilities or children with special needs in Slovenia: the perspective of social workers (the planned next phases of the research are: research with participation of individuals and families who are foster carers, individuals and families who adopted children with disabilities, and youth and adults with the experience of foster care and adoption). The research, conducted in Social Work Centers in Slovenia disclosed, what are the elements of foster care practice and professional work with foster families, biological families and children with special needs (and whether these are different from approaches and methods applied in work with children who are not labeled ‘special needs children’. In the context of disability ethics the author was especially interested in the values and beliefs of professional workers in this field, their understandings and conceptualizations of work in this field (including identifying the gaps and introducing innovations), their possible effort to implement additional services and support, education and guidance, their aims and motivations in working towards permanents placements (adoptions or returns to the biological family), etc. In the paper, the topic of foster care and special needs children is discussed also with the help of international research, insights and relevant literature (by Australian, Canadian, American and English authors).



Keywords: foster care, special needs children, special programme schools, adoption.

Ana M. Sobocan, PhD, lectures and researches at the Faculty for Social Work at the University of Ljubljana. Her main research field is social work ethics, but she engages with many other areas too, including family studies (foster care, adoption, social parenthood, rainbow families). Contact: ana.sobocan@fsd.uni-lj.si.


 
Anja Pirec Sansoni
The effect of housing exclusion and homelessness on health

(Full text)

Social factors have important effect on people’s health, since housing and living conditions greatly affect the physical and mental health of people. The number of homeless people is increasing in most European countries and living conditions are also getting worse. Experience of homeless people and professional workers in the field of homelessness and social exclusion suggests that health problems of homeless people are often overlooked and evolve into permanent disability. In Slovenia, we are facing a lack of specialized services for homeless people with disabilities or serious health problems. Professional and other staff working in the field of homelessness are not trained to perform medical care, although they are faced with obstacles in finding a way to accommodate service users.



Keywords: social factors, health inequality, poverty, services, disability.

Anja Pirec Sansoni, BA of social work, works professionally in the field of social warfare. She’s currently employed at the Centre for Social Work Kranj, Department of Homeless Shelter Kranj. She’s interested in housing exclusion and homelessness and pays special attention to women\'s homelessness. Contact: anjapirec@gmail.com.


 
Sanela Bašić
People with disabilities at the European semi-periphery: the case of Bosnia

(Full text)

The right to full participation in society shall theoretically apply to all citizens. However, segments of society, such as people with disabilities, are often denied full participatory citizenship through different mechanisms of social exclusion. The article will outline major sources and mechanisms of social exclusion of people with disabilities in a post-conflict, transitional post-socialist country at the Europe’s semi-periphery



Keywords: poverty, social exclusion, disabled people, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Sanela Bašić is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo. She holds a PhD degree in social work from the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo and an M.Sc. in Intercultural Work and Conflict Management from Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences in Berlin. In 2013 she was re-elected to the Executive Committee of the European Association of Social Work Schools. She is currently a fellow of the Academic Fellowship Programme of the Open Society Foundation. Her research interests are: social policy, family and employment; poverty and social exclusion; domestic violence; gender, mental health and social justice; social inequality and post-conflict peace building. Contact: basics@fpn.unsa.ba.