++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Disability Research Network e-Newsletter: October 2007 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++   Editor’s Comments: Welcome to the 7th edition of the Disability Research Network e-newsletter (in association with the Research Institute of Health and Social Change, Manchester Metropolitan University and Breakthrough UK Ltd).  I would like to say a big “thank you” to all those who contributed to the last edition.  The newsletter’s readership has stretched as far as India. This is encouraging. Keep on emailing me your contributions so that we are aware of what is happening in disability research. Please, remember to submit contributions for the next edition by latest 28th October 2007 so that we have the next edition on time. Once again, thank you for the wonderful support and I wish you the best in disability research. Best Wishes Tsitsi Chataika Coordinator’s Comments:  Please find below the 7th e-newsletter from this newly established but expandable network. Our aims are to provide informal, off the press and informative monthly details of disability research activities, which might be of interest to audiences including disability activists, organisations of disabled people, students, researchers, policy makers, families, practitioners and local authorities. The idea for this newsletter emerged from discussions between the Research Institute for Health and Social Change, Manchester Metropolitan University (http://www.rihsc.mmu.ac.uk/) and Breakthrough UK Ltd - a social enterprise that draws upon social model ideas to promote employment advocacy, advice, support and training to disabled people (http://www.breakthrough-uk.com/). They encouraged us to share regular information from disability research, which might inform their work. This sharing and networking links into the aims of the Disability Studies Association and, we hope, will have broader appeal (http://www.disabilitystudies.net/). This network relies, obviously, on regular monthly input. What we would like from you, if you are interested:   * The details of your institution and one contact person and their email address * Monthly commitment to provide us with BRIEF information (inc. related web links) about disability research activities you and your colleagues are involved through emails each month me (you will be reminded by email). This could be no more than a few lines – and no attachments – as we want to keep it workable, informal and relatively easy to read. * To provide details on such things as news on forthcoming publications; conferences/seminars you are attending or hosting; funding opportunities of interest to disability researchers; news from local and national government; international disability issues; stories from research; ideas for research that you would like to explore with interested others; disability studies teaching materials and resources; links to new policy and user consultation, etc … * To provide in your email information categorised in terms of your institution e.g. ‘News from the Research Institute of Health and Social Change, Manchester Metropolitan University’; ‘Activities of the disability studies team at University of Northumbria’. * To make the email simple text without loads of formatting for ease of putting together * To posit other ideas for developing the e-newsletter - perhaps a section on 'possible future research / funding priorities' which readers might be able to link into for funding bids.   We hope you are interested.   Very best wishes,   Dan Goodley d.goodley@mmu.ac.uk +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++   1. News From Manchester Metropolitan University, Research Institute of Health and Social Change Contact - Dan Goodley (d.goodley@mmu.ac.uk)   (a) Early Notice / Times for your diaries - Social Change & Well Being Seminar Series, Autumn Term, 2007 The Social Change and Well Being Research Centre engages in research which informs policy and practice, enhances effectiveness of organisations, celebrates diversity and works within a social justice framework to enhance people's lives, health and well being. Researchers draw upon a variety of theories and approaches to research in order to understand and change the oppressive conditions of contemporary society. This seminar series reflects this commitment to social justice with an explicit focus on the development of theory, methodology, analysis and activism. All sessions, 12:30 – 14:00 in Gaskell Campus of the University in rooms detailed below For maps visit - http://www.mmu.ac.uk/about/locations/gaskell-and-hollings.php Seminars confirmed so far (i) WEDNESDAY 3rd OCTOBER, Room OB113 Communities of Practice Roundtable This Roundtable discussion on Lave and Wenger's concept: Communities of Practice (COPs) including Contributors from the Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care will bring together researchers from RIHSC who are using COPs in their own work, writing and research. “Communities of practice” is an idea derived from situated cognition, which sees learning and identity as entwined processes. Contributors will talk about ways in which they use Communities of Practice in their theorising and/or practice across psychology, education and healthcare settings. (ii) WEDNESDAY 28th NOVEMBER, in room NTR Postcolonialism as Aspiration: Colonialism as Aspiration: Articulating a Theory of Hope by Jennifer Lavia, University of Sheffield (iii) WEDNESDAY 5th DECEMBER, Room OB113 Queer Theory and Literacy Practices by Mark Vickers Additional seminars and further details to follow. For information about Social Change and Well Being Research Centre, please contact Dan Goodley (d.goodley@mmu.ac.uk) or Rebecca Lawthom (r.lawthom@mmu.ac.uk) 2. Conference News from India (i) Conference on Disability and Disasters, Bhubaneswar- India (28-29 January 2008) Shanta Memorial Rehabilitation Centre (SMRC) in Bhubaneswar- India is organizing a Conference on Disability and Disasters to be held from 28th to 29th January 2008.  We invite your participation and circulation of this announcement to people who would be interested. With increasing disasters and marginalization of disabled  a Global Campaign  has been started by  SMRC since 2005  built on its work on disasters and disability since 1999. This Conference aims to discuss the issues and bring in new actors working on the subject.  We invite you to participate in this Conference.  The Call for abstracts is below and for other information please contact as below. Call For Abstracts Interested scholars, scientists, researchers and practitioners are invited to submit the abstracts of their papers for presentation at the Conference. Abstracts should not exceed 300 words and must be submitted on or before 1st November 2007 along with name of the author/ co-authors, designation, institutional affiliation, postal and e-mail address. The abstracts shall be submitted either electronically or by courier / post to the Conference Secretariat: Contact Person: Prof. Asha Hans Coordinator- Disability-Disaster Conference  2008, Shanta Memorial Rehabilitation Centre, 108D Master Canteen Building, Station Square, Unit III, For Information: Email: smrc_bbsr@hotmail.com or smrc_bbsr@rediffmail.com Telfax: 91-674-2300274 Mobile: 91 9437004647 Fax: 91-674- 2580020 www.smrcorissa.org www.disaster-disability.org Bhubaneswar-751 001, Orissa, India 3. Request for Research Participants from Clare Fox I am a PhD student in the Institute of Law, Politics & Justice at Keele University. My research, funded by the ESRC, is concerned with the involvement of people with disabilities in domestic abuse as victims, perpetrators, or both. The research employs narrative interviews that enable individuals to tell their story in their own words, giving them the opportunity to talk about the things they consider important. The focus is on the experiences of disabled people who have been abused, be it psychologically, physically, sexually or who have encountered disability specific abuse by someone they know within their home. I am looking for a few more people who are willing to talk about their experiences of domestic abuse to take part in my research. All interviewee details are kept confidential and interviews are anonymised so that names and places are changed. If anyone would like more information or knows someone who might be interested in participating, then please contact me for an informal discussion and/or an information sheet. Contact: Claire Fox Institute of Law, Politics & Justice (Criminology) Keele University Staffordshire ST5 5BG (01782) 584384 c.fox@ilpj.keele.ac.uk  4. News from the Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU, University of York Contact Person: Rachel Pitman Email: rp17@york.ac.uk Our Children and Families Team's research is focused on support relating to illness and disability in children and younger adults. Our work encompasses support from the many different agencies involved with chronically ill or disabled people: social services, health services, education and housing. We are particularly concerned to investigate ways in which such support takes account of the family context, and the ways carers and others in the family respond to and are affected by the care needs of the ill or disabled person. The results of a large study on the 'Priorities and perceptions of disabled children and young people and their families regarding outcomes of social care' are now available. Using the framework of the 'Every Child Matters' (ECM) five outcomes for children, SPRU explored which outcomes disabled children and their parents wish to achieve from service provision. The findings from this research were split into two, one summary describes the outcomes the disabled children desired and the other looks at the parents' desired outcomes. (i) Children It was found that although disabled children aspired to the same sort of outcomes as non-disabled children, the level of achievement expected, the way they were prioritised and what the outcomes meant, differed significantly. Some outcomes, e.g. physical and emotional well-being, communication and safety, were seen as fundamental and needed to be addressed before the others. Sometimes the goal was not progress but maintenance of an existing situation. The conclusion of the research was that there is a need to widen the definitions of key concepts within the ECM framework to take into account the views and capabilities of disabled children. (ii) Parents The desired outcomes of parents focused on maintaining or enhancing their personal identity, their physical and emotional well-being and their skill and knowledge base. There was a need for a better balance between their caring and parenting roles. Family-level outcomes were also desired: including maintaining family life and ensuring the positive adjustment of siblings. Parents also wanted to feel confident about the services they were using and to know that professionals were working in partnership with them. The full research report and each of the Research Works summaries can be downloaded from: http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/spru/pubs/cfreps.html 5. Call for papers for the 2008 Canadian Disability Studies Association/Association Canadienne des Études sur l'Incapacité Conference. This is a call for papers and from my past service as Communications Officer (English), plus attending the CDSA-ACEI conference last year, I know both undergraduate and graduate students are especially encouraged to submit proposals. Please be advised that there is no funding available from CDSA-ACEI for anyone attending the conference. Check with your university regarding funding for conferences, especially if you are accepted as a presenter at the CDSA-ACEI conference. Individual requests for disability services and accommodations during the CDSA-ACEI conference such as ASL interpreting, CART/Real-time voice-to-text interpreting, alternate formats for printed and visual materials, etc., must be booked well in advance with the Conference Coordinator. The direct link to the CFP is: http://www.cdsa-acei.ca/CDSA%20CFP%202008.pdf For more information about the conference: http://www.cdsa-acei.ca/conference2008.html Hope to see you in Vancouver in 2008! Contact: Dawna Lee Rumball, 1st Year Doctoral Student Faculty of Education 2125 Main Mall University of British Columbia (Point Grey) Vancouver, Canada, V6T 1Z4 Email: dawnalee@interchange.ubc.ca 6. News from Tsitsi Chataika (Newsletter Editor) Email: t.chataika@yahoo.co.uk or t.chataika@sheffield.ac.uk, Tel: +44113 293 8749 or +4479 03859902 Please join me in celebrating my success after successfully defending my thesis on 1st October 2007. I would like to thank each one of you for all your support through out this journey. Without you, I could not be writing this contribution. I would like to single out Prof Dan Goodley who was my PhD supervisor whose unwavering support during my academic journey, was beyond any human’s imagination. He is indeed a superstar! In addition, I give credit to my examiners Michelle Moore (internal) and Toby Brandon (external) for a firm but fair viva. It has not sunk in yet that I am now “Dr Tsitsi Chataika”, but the relief in me is telling me that unquestionably, something has happened. I also thank Prof Elias Mpofu for facilitating my USA academic research visit to Pennsylvania State University where he works, and who later became my writing partner. Our journal article was published in August 2007 and below is the full reference: Mutepfa, M. M., Mpofu, E & Chataika, T. (2007) Inclusive Education Practices in Zimbabwe: Curriculum, Family and Policy Issues Childhood Education, 83, 342-346. Available at: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Inclusive+education+in+Zimbabwe%3a+policy%2c+curriculum%2c+practice%2c...-a0168163364 Since my long time partner is now gone (thesis writing), I am currently actively looking for employment. I know I included the information below in the last edition, but this resubmission shows the urgency of the matter. If anyone could help, I would greatly appreciate. My thesis title is, “Inclusion of disabled students in Zimbabwe: From idealism to reality – A social ecosystem perspective”. However, I have worked in various capacities since 1990 as a mainstream primary school teacher (1990-1993), special needs teacher (1994-2001), disability co-ordinator (University of Zimbabwe – 2001 to 2003), research associate (Sheffield University, 2004-2005), Visiting lecturer (Sheffield Hallam University – April to May, 2007), and now as your editor. My research interests are: * Disability Theory, Policy and Practice * Inclusion * Early Education/Early Intervention and Home-School Partnership * Disability and higher education * Postcolonial Theory/Globalisation and Disability Research * Disability and development * Disability and Employment * Qualitative methodologies – (Life Story/Narrative Research & Ethnography) * Widening participation and Diversity * Visual Impairment If anyone can signpost me to a career in research, university teaching, NGOs, etc, I would be grateful. As I have promised you before, this doesn’t mean that I will stop being the editor of this newsletter as I enjoy doing this, particularly with your unwavering support. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ NB: A copy of this Newsletter is available at: http://www.breakthrough-uk.com/DRN.shtml ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ END OF NEWSLETTER For any further contributions and information contact: Tsitsi Chataika (Editor) Email: t.chataika@yahoo.co.uk or t.chataika@sheffield.ac.uk, Tel: +44113 293 8749 or +4479 03859902 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++