Social Structures – Page 4

Escaping Disciplinary Capture: Making our Health and Social Services Work Better

Social Structures

Authors: Kate Rochford, 3^rd Year Undergraduate Intern, Department of Psychology, Maynooth University & Mac MacLachlan, Co-Director of the Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute, Maynooth University and Clinical Lead for Disability Services, Irish Health Service (HSE).

This figure illustrates the concept of disciplinary capture whereby one way of thinking (represented by one single text here) determines how people think about an issue. Like a whirlwind, it can often powerfully funnel thinking, ignoring the range of ideas available within the group, which otherwise may provide useful alternatives or additions to proposed actions. Image by Kate Rochford

Introduction
An interdisciplinary approach to research has become increasingly popular when dealing with different topics (Aboelela et al., 2007). Such an approach can offer a more comprehensive or holistic perspective and is most suited to addressing real-world complex issues (Repko et al., 2017). However, while interdisciplinary collaboration may be appealing in theory, it is often difficult in practice (Cummings and Kiesler, 2007). In that regard, we believe that the concept of ‘disciplinary capture’ can supplement an enhanced interdisciplinary approach. It can also help to transpose academic thinking into practice. Particularly, in relation to disability, and services for persons with disabilities, this concept can translate into more effective integration of services.

Disciplinary capture involves thinking about problems from only one perspective (Brister, 2016). Disciplinary capture can determine what sort of ideas, facts, interventions or causal explanations, are depicted as permissible. For instance, a disease-model approach to mental health may only accept pharmaceutical interventions as being legitimate for a range of mental health problems, while a more psychological, social or human rights approach may not accept this (MacLachlan et al, 2021). In this scenario, if proponents of the disease model are positioned in such a way that other professions are expected to be deferential towards them, then this is likely to inhibit truly interdisciplinary practice. Moreover, this can impede the empirical merit of such a position through the preclusion of an open discussion which would allow for full exploration of all the possible alternatives. The result may manifest in poorer decision-making processes and sub-optimal interventions.

Participation matters – Global Survey on involvement of persons with disabilities in public decision-making

Social Structures

Symposium

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Author: Rebecca Daniel – PHD Student, Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute, Department of Psychology, Maynooth University

The IDA Global Survey on political participation of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) was launched earlier this year and will remain open until the end of 2021. It is conducted as part of a PhD research project undertaken at the ALL Institute and discussed below on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

The human right to participation of persons with disabilities through their representative organisations is clearly stated in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). Articles 4.3 (on participation of OPDs in implementation of the UNCRPD overall) and 33.3 (on participation of OPDs in national implementation and monitoring of the UNCRPD), as well as General Comment No 7 specify this right. As far as the United Nations (UN) are concerned, participation of OPDs is a crucial principle to be considered throughout the activities of the UN, in line with indicator 5 of the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS) on consultation of persons with disabilities.

However, as one of the most marginalised groups (compare e.g. WHO World Report on Disability, WHO – Disability and Health and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction), persons with disabilities are in many ways excluded from public decision-making. Their full and effective participation in all decisions concerning their lives is yet to be realised (compare e.g. Bridging the Gap: The unsteady path, IDA: Increasingly Consulted but Not Yet Participating). Public programmes, policies, plans and projects, insofar as they consider participation, are all too often addressing members of civil society as beneficiaries or consumers of services instead of citizens (Andrea Cornwall).

December 3rd, UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities – Celebrating the ‘12th European Union (EU) Access City Awards Ceremony’ for Human-Centred Urban Living and Ending ‘Disabling Cities’

Social Structures

Symposium

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Author: Matthew McKenna, PhD Researcher at Maynooth University’s Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute , Research Funded through the Science Foundation of Ireland (SFI) Centre for Research Training in Advanced Networks for Sustainable Societies (ADVANCE CRT)

Matthew McKenna

Friday December 3^rd 2021 will witness the announcement of the winning contending cities for the 12^th ‘EU Access City Awards Ceremony’ (Access City Award 2022).

The website of the European Commission (EC) says that the ‘Access City Award recognises and celebrates a city’s willingness, ability and efforts to become more accessible, in order to:

Guarantee equal access to fundamental rights;
Improve the quality of life of its population and ensure that everybody – regardless of age, mobility or ability – has equal access to all the resources and pleasures cities have to offer’.

The United Nations (UN) Department of Economic and Social Affairs says that ‘Persons living with disabilities are often the poorest and most vulnerable in cities today’. Cities in the twenty-first century are experiencing rapid growth, as populations shift from rural dwellings to urban areas in search of employment and greater economic prosperity. However, increased costs of living alongside inaccessible urban planning, transport infrastructure and urban architecture, render most cities inaccessible and inundated with hazards for persons with disabilities. Furthermore, cities around the world are experiencing rapid gentrification and rising costs of living, thereby increasing the socio-economic disadvantages that are often experienced by persons with disabilities as a vulnerable demographic.

December 3rd 2021, Exploring this year’s theme to commemorate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Social Structures

Symposium

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Author: Dr Ana María Sánchez Rodríguez, MSCA Fellow and Adjunct Assistant Professor of the Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute

Since 1992, we celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) and this year’s theme is “Leadership and participation of persons with disabilities toward an inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-COVID-19 world”. Similarly, in 2019, the theme was: “Promoting the participation of persons with disabilities and their leadership: taking action on the 2030 Development Agenda”. The IDPD 2019, focused on persons with disabilities and their organisations’ empowerment in order to push forward the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda. The IDPD reminds us of the challenges ahead and the way forward.

Supporting collaborative leadership and promoting meaningful participation of persons with disabilities and their organisations must be a priority. Persons with disabilities need to be engaged in the decision-making processes that affect their lives. To commemorate the IDPD, I’d like to suggest and reflect on the following questions:

What does it mean to promote leadership and participation of persons with disabilities?
What has been achieved so far in this regard?
What are the learnings to bring forward to lead an inclusive, accessible, and sustainable change for persons with disabilities?

International Day of Persons with Disabilities: Displacement and disabilities

Social Structures

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Author: Élise Fabre, Legal Assistant, Law Firm specialised in Asylum Law, Paris (France)

The protection of human rights in migration and displacement is a major global challenge for policy makers, as 27 people perished trying to cross the Channel a week ago and others are suffering from deplorable living conditions at the beginning of winter on the doorstep of Poland.

According to the United Nations, migration refers to both voluntary and involuntary movement of people across borders, or within a country. While people move to search for a better life, some specifically fear persecutions and are forced to undertake a long journey to find peace and safe living conditions.

During their journey and in their host countries, migrants and refugees face great barriers in accessing their human rights, especially their social rights, such as the right to an adequate standard of living, including housing, food, and the right to the highest attainable standard of both physical and mental health. In its 2020 annual conclusions, the European Committee of Social Rights expressed concerns over the lack of access to social rights of migrant families and children in Europe. The Committee showed particular concerns about the treatment of children in an irregular migration situation and asylum-seeking children, as they encounter many obstacles in accessing safe and appropriate accommodation. The exposure to trauma, the separation or loss of family members and the lack of access to social rights lead to the prevalence of psychosocial conditions among refugee and asylum-seeking children. They are, hence, subjected to abuse, human trafficking and face great violations of their human rights.

Vulnerable Groups and the Right to Culture: Challenges in a Digital World

Social Structures

Authors: Katie Donnellan, Delia Ferri, Noelle Higgins and Laura Serra; Maynooth University ReCreating Europe Research Team

ReCreating Europe Logo

The world has become increasingly digitised, with digitisation having significantly escalated during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Lockdown restrictions implemented across the globe have pushed cultural content online and the internet has become the primary means of cultural enjoyment. This has generated ‘unprecedented challenges for the protection and promotion of diversity’ in digital cultural content, which risks exacerbating existing barriers experienced by marginalised people to the access and enjoyment of culture. Intellectual property law, specifically copyright law, is the primary regulatory means of protecting cultural creators’ proprietary rights over their content, and it traditionally operates to prioritise their rights over those of end-users, subject to certain limitations, exceptions and flexibilities as prescribed by law.

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