Social Structures – Page 2

An Environmental Scan of the Web in Anticipation of the Capacity Act

Social Structures

Author: Hannah Casey, ALL Blog Editor and PhD Candidate at the Department of Psychology, Maynooth University

Hannah Casey

At long last, the highly anticipated Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 has been fully commenced in Irish law today, April 26^th. This Act, which replaces the outdated Lunacy Act of 1871, aims to align with Article 12 of the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) by enshrining in statute the right for people with disabilities to make their own decisions, and removing formal guardianship arrangements. As part of this new structure, the Decision Support Service (DSS) will finally be able to open its doors and provide much needed services, supports, and resources to people who need it. This service will allow people with disabilities to access necessary supports to make their own decisions, with as much help as they themselves deem necessary. Such decision-making is referred to as supported or assisted decision-making– a formal method of support that has fast been gaining traction across the world.

The Right to Health of Vulnerable and Marginalised People in Ireland

Social Structures

Author: Ollie Bartlett, Assistant Professor of Law, Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute, School of Law and Criminology, Maynooth University

Ollie Bartlett

The world was clearly inadequately prepared to fight Covid-19. An important factor in this was the inadequacy of public health law frameworks at international, regional and national level. Political attention quickly turned to the creation of a new pandemic treaty and the revision of supranational rules concerning cross-border health threats, comparatively little attention has been placed upon the role that the right to health should have played in shaping Covid-19 policy, or what role it should play in the future development of public health policy.

I have written on this question in the Irish context, and concluded that the debate begun in 2019 on the need for a right to health in the Irish Constitution is worth returning to. A constitutional right to health would support clearer and more proportionate public health decision-making, and may facilitate more direct challenges to government policies that have unacceptable or inappropriate consequences for health outcomes.

The Other 73%: Changing our Perspectives when Conducting Dementia Treatment

Social Structures

Author: Sowmya Shrivastava, 3rd year BSc Psychology Student, Maynooth University, Research Intern for Mac MacLachlan at the ALL Institute

There is a growing realization that hospital employees and services must comprehend the complexities of caring for and treating dementia patients. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that dementia rates will double every 20 years, reaching up to 115·4 million people with a diagnosis in 2050. A number of underlying neuropathological symptoms can lead to the diagnosis, which can create problems when trying to differentiate dementia from psychiatric disorders as the disease is found to often mimic them in presentation. Due to this, there is a broad research area in matters concerning the treatments and interventions for patients with dementia. Doctors and researchers have found that the disease modifying antibody drug Lecanemab slowed the decline in memory and mental agility by 27% in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease but what about the other 73%? What steps can be taken to aid the other, larger part of people living with this degenerative disease?

A unimodal approach has been the most obvious route researchers have taken in order to find a cure for dementia; meaning that only one type of treatment route is used for treating the patient. However there is a downside to this one sided view. By conducting a research review on studies carried out who either took a pharmacological stand or a psychosocial step towards treatments for patients, it was found that both have delivered inadequate results in terms of validity and reliability. The data within research statistically shows that by solely applying a single approach to treating patients, i.e., only psychosocial interventions without administering any drug treatment, the rate of dementia development is slowed, but only at a miniscule level.

The Psychology of Climate Change: T(h)ree Thoughts on Eco Anxiety

Social Structures

Authors: Dr Tadhg MacIntyre, Assistant Professor, Maynooth University (MU) Department of Psychology, Scientific Coordinator of the H2020 Project GoGreenRoutes, Assisting Living and Learning Institute (ALL), and Dr Annalisa Setti, University College Cork (UCC), Member of GoGreenRoutes’ Advisory Board.

Tadhg McIntyre and Annalisa Setti

“We are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it”, Barack Obama, 43^rd President of the United States.

In this blog, Dr Tadhg MacIntyre (MU) and Dr Annalisa Setti (UCC) outline some of the known and unknown impacts of climate change on mental health.

1. Known Knowns: Climate Change Solutions

Climate change has consequences for our mental health in both the short-term (e.g. extreme climatic events) and long-term (e.g. existential threat), ranging from trauma to anxiety. How we cope with the challenge of climate change has implications for our ability to generate, engage with and promote solutions. Getting a handle on what some term the climate ‘emergency’ should be seen in the context of how we cope with other interlinked issues – all of which can potentially benefit from our attempts to mitigate climate change impacts. Biodiversity loss, obesity, sedentary behaviour, isolation and nature disconnection are not entirely unrelated from climate change issues.

Is Social Sustainability the Forgotten Pillar of Sustainable Development?

Social Structures

Symposium

Author: Ruth O’Reilly, Senior Built Environment Design Advisor, Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, National Disability Authority

Here at the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, we often use this quotation from the designer, Victor Papanek, to explain the focus of our work:

The only important thing about design is how it relates to people

Quotation 'The only important thing about design is how it relates to people' alongside an image of a book with the title Design for the Real Workld, by Victor Papanek. — Figure 1: Quotation from Design for the Real World by Victor Papenek (1971)

A key tenet of Universal Design is that good design works well for everyone. Sometimes however, it seems that social sustainability is the forgotten pillar of sustainable development. How can we persuade designers that taking a Universal Design approach – designing for all people, regardless of their age, size, ability or disability – is a key element of sustainable development?

Sustainability: What it means and how to practice it.

Sustainability: What it means and how to practice it. Author: Cassandra Murphy. Voiced by Anastasia Campbell

Sustainability: What it means and how to practice it.

Social Structures

Symposium

Click for the Audio Version

Author: Cassandra Murphy, PhD researcher in the Psychology Department of Maynooth University, funded by H2020 project GoGreenRoutes, Assisting Living and Learning Institute (ALL)

Cassandra Murphy

I often talk about sustainability in my work being in the realm of environmental psychology. My research explores the human-nature relationship, which inevitably links to pro-environmental behaviour. People often assume pro-environmental behaviour defines sustainability, but sustainability is much more than recycling and planting trees. Through my conversations I have learnt that the term ‘sustainability’ can be perceived differently. We constantly hear about sustainability, in the news, in our emails, in daily conversations; but what does this term really mean? Everyone’s understanding is individual to their lives and their experience. For some they instantly think of the UN Sustainable Development Goals whereas for others it can simply mean having the ability to keep up momentum of what they do each day and not burn themselves out. An all too familiar experience of many after the recent pandemic.

UN Sustainable Development Goals logo.

The most common definition of sustainability comes from the UN World Commission on Environment and Development which says sustainable development means “to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” That’s exactly what it is. Ensuring that throughout our lifetimes we strive to create a world in which we do not take from the generations that come after us, but instead make sure they have what we have, if not better. The future generations should have equal access to the resources we have and be able to benefit from them no matter where they are, or how much money they earn. In a sense, this is the idea that we are leaving no one behind.

The Impact of the Welfare State on the Working Lives of Disabled Artists: A New Research Project in ALL

Social Structures

Author: Philip Finn, Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute and Post-Doctoral Researcher; recipient of the Irish Research Council Enterprise Partnership Fellowship.

Philip Finn

Life as an artist is precarious, even more so for disabled artists. First, disabled people face higher risks of poverty, social exclusion, and discrimination in their working lives and in public services. Secondly, for many in the arts sector income is sporadic, producing an insecurity necessitating on interim reliance on welfare payments to get by. This is felt acutely by disabled artists, often accessing crucial welfare payments and supports, who receive lower incomes from artistic employment, funding and grants. My research focuses on the role of welfare state payments and wider supports in facilitating or impeding disabled artists’ working lives.

The right to participate in the cultural life of the community is enshrined in a number of international documents, for example the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 27) and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (Article 15(1)(a)). In relation to the specific needs of people with disabilities Article 30 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires States to ‘enable persons with disabilities to have the opportunity to develop and utilize their creative, artistic and intellectual potential’. The Convention is central to elaborating a human rights model of disability underlining the recognition and participation of persons with disabilities in communal life. It necessitates accessibility as both consumers of culture as well as creators.

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