Contributing Meaning to Research in Developmental Disabilities

Powers, Laurie E.

doi:10.1177/1540796916686564

Cited by 13 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…FEDOMA staff, managers, and grassroots members helped conceptualise, plan, and implement the study, which received ethical approval from both the University of St Andrews and the Malawi government's National Committee on Research in the Social Sciences and Humanities. Powers (2017) highlights the growth in various forms of action research in disability studies as demonstrative of growth in respect for the voices of community members in research development. The establishment of communities as partners in research can disrupt traditional power differentials in research relationships, contribute to participant well-being, and reduce the risk of researchers taking advantage of participants and offering nothing in return.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women and the Federation of Disability Organizations in Malawi: Experiences of Struggle and Solidarity

Huque

2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Women with disabilities are among the most marginalised members of the Federation of Disability Organizations in Malawi (FEDOMA), facing particular challenges related to sexual and gender‐based violence and family/home life; women with disabilities are both abused because of their embodied womanhood and denied many socially‐valued “traditional women’s roles.” However, women within Malawi’s disability rights movement transgress the boundaries of these social restraints. In this article, I share stories of women disability activists, drawn from an interview and participant observation‐based project, co‐designed with FEDOMA to explore the experiences of grassroots activists. In telling their stories, the women of FEDOMA detailed processes of empowerment and change, combatting their own and others’ experiences of violence, abuse, and exclusion. I discuss the ways in which women activists embodied roles that altered their communities and built activist networks, supporting one another in expressing agency, strength, and solidarity. Their work highlights a politics of care that emphasises the “traditional” and the “modern,” incorporating individualised human rights discourse into an ethics of community caring and expanding this collective inclusion to the oppressed and marginalised. In focusing on the experiences of Malawi’s women disability activists, we gain a more complex understanding of mechanisms of marginalisation, resistance, and empowerment.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women and the Federation of Disability Organizations in Malawi: Experiences of Struggle and Solidarity

Huque

2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Increased productivity among working people with disabilities yields economic benefits (i.e. increased production of products and services) (Powers 2008 ) although evidence shows that opportunities are limited for persons with disabilities to access decent employment (Badmus 2017 ; Kidd et al 2018 ).…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evaluating the skills needed to expand and promote the opportunity for people with disabilities to participate in economic activities is crucial (Powers 2008 ). Those who have had the chance to learn new skills have proven their ability to earn a living and assist society (Powers 2008 ).…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overcoming barriers for people with disabilities participating in income-generating activities: A proposed development framework

Tinta

Kolanisi

2023

African Journal of Disability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: People with disabilities in sheltered workshops are disempowered and face many barriers, adversely affecting their income-generating activities and weakening their competitiveness in the labour market. There is limited evidence on how to overcome these barriers.Objectives: This paper seeks to propose a framework to overcome the barriers experienced by people with disabilities participating in income-generating activities in a sheltered workshop.Method: The qualitative exploratory single case study was done with observations and semi-structured interviews as data collection methods. Purposive sampling was used to select 24 participants between ages 22 and 52 years, and content analysis was done of transcribed interviews. Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) guidelines were used to develop the framework.Results: A proposed framework was developed that outlined intervention strategies to address the barriers experienced by sheltered workshop participants to promote increased participation of people with disabilities in income-generation activities, thereby improving their quality of life.Conclusion: The participation of people with disabilities in income-generating activities is hindered by several barriers. However, the proposed framework overcomes the barriers to effective participation in income-generating activities.Contribution: People with disabilities will benefit from this framework as it will address their challenges and needs for empowerment. It would also inform stakeholders involved about these challenges and strategies.

show abstract

“…The article ends with recommendations on guidelines to follow when conducting communication research. Powers's (2017) article discusses the value and utility of action research in supporting research, both qualitative and experimental and quantitative studies. As she indicates, traditional research has too often involved a top-down approach in which the researcher (expert) has been responsible for the key decisions.…”

Section: Contributing Articlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence-Based Practices

Agran

Spooner

Singer

2017

Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

At the 2015 TASH Conference in Portland, Oregon, a colloquium on the Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs) movement was conducted. The presenters included eight nationally recognized, socially committed researchers who discussed this initiative from varying perspectives, research methodologies, professional roles, disciplines, and value systems. Although many questions were addressed, much of the discussion centered on the following questions: How are EBPs identified? Is the identification, replication, and validation of EBPs solely the responsibility of quantitative research? What is required to implement EBPs on a large scale? As currently understood, what is the relation between research-driven initiatives and values-driven initiatives? And how should TASH (or other advocacy or professional organizations) position itself relative to the EBPs movement and research and values-driven initiatives? This special issue is a continuation of that discussion. Most of the presenters at the colloquium agreed to write papers for this special issue. Authors were asked to expand on points they had raised in their colloquium presentations, or to raise new points relating to EBPs and their identification or implementation. As discussed in all of the papers, given current problems with reduced funding, conflicted priorities, and value systems seemingly at odds with each other, further dialogue on sound and effective practices to increase desired learning outcomes and improve the quality of life for people with severe disabilities is warranted.

show abstract

Contributing Meaning to Research in Developmental Disabilities

Cited by 13 publications

References 26 publications

Women and the Federation of Disability Organizations in Malawi: Experiences of Struggle and Solidarity

Women and the Federation of Disability Organizations in Malawi: Experiences of Struggle and Solidarity

Overcoming barriers for people with disabilities participating in income-generating activities: A proposed development framework

Evidence-Based Practices

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About