Physical access for persons with disabilities

For persons with disabilities, the activities that able-bodied people take for granted can be major, often insurmountable challenges. Attempting to enter a restaurant for lunch with friends can result in lengthy and adversarial litigation if the facility is not accessible to a person with a disability or other mobility impairment. This litigation would be initiated after the individual was effectively refused service; a refusal based on hislher personal physical characteristics. If a shopping mall is not equipped with "access amenities", then the disabled person may be excluded from shopping there and thus exercising consumer freedom. If workplaces are not equipped to accommodate the access needs of persons with disabilities, then those people are effectively barred from gainful employment there. If a municipal goveniment building is inaccessible to disabled persons, then they may be excluded from participating in council meetings. These are all activities that the majority of the population enjoys as a matter of course, in that they represent the functions of a free citizen in a free society. If a person is excluded from such activities because of some personal characteristic, then that person is subjected to differential or discr~minatory treatment. The guarantees provided in Canadian feden! and provincial rights legislation, are such that people are not to be discriminated againsL Where buildings and facilities othen\iise open to the public are not accessible for persens with disabilities, then those people are being discriminated against. To challenge these discriminatory practices, individuals initiate complaints through the administrative justice system. To address the extent to which this is a problem, many sources were consulted. Constitutional lawyers, tribunal members, advocates for the disabled and land use planners were interviewed. Case law and legislation were reviewed. Literature on citizenship theory, dispute resolution and dispute avoidance was compiled and assessed. And, the field of land use planning was analyzed (drawing on the WTiter's educational and experiential background) as a possible alternative method for effecting systemic access for persons with disabilities. The conclusion of this study is that there does exist a proactive method for assuring access, a method that can apply the systemic remedy needed to deal with this problem. The current method, which is an adversarial and piecemeal complaint process, has proven ineffective in remedying this discrimination problem~ Failure to provide an appropriate remedy means that persons with disabilities will not enjoy the degree of citizen status enjoyed by the able-bodied. This is the current circumstance, and since equity is the aim of rights legislation, and since such legislative and administrative frameworks have failed in that purpose, then an alternative method is necessary. An alternative model is the one in which land use planning is based. It has conflict avoidance and conflict minimization as underpinnings. And, most importantly, land use planning is already a proyen method of combatting discrimination.

Ontario's curriculum for individuals with disabilities : a textual analysis

The purpose of this study was to examine the disability discourses present in Ontario elementary schools curriculum. The study used a critical social analysis perspective to employ a textual discourse analysis on the Planning [title of subject] Programs for Students with Special Education Needs (PPSSEN) section of the curriculum. The present study utilized Parker's (1992) seven criteria for distinguishing discourses and discovered five main discourses; Independent, dependent, legal, scientific and agency discourses. The second step to this research was the placement and discussion of these five discourses on three diverse texts, Paulo Freire's (2008) Pedagogy o/ the Oppressed, Psychiatry Inside Out, Selected writings of Franco Basaglia, written by Scheper-Huges and Lovell (1987) and Aronowitz and Giroux's (1985) Education Under Siege: The Conservative, Liberal and Radical Debate over Schooling. These unique perspectives were used as methods of analysis tools to further analyze the dominate disability discourses. The texts provided textual support in three major areas; dialectics, critical education and structural conditions of power and language of traditional roles and responsibilities. The findings and discussions presented in this project contain significant implications for anyone involved with students with disabilities in any education system.

Bridging the gap between post-secondary students with disabilities and faculty members with their perceptions of access and accommodation

The purpose of this study was to identify factors related to successful university course completion for students with disAbilities including the knowledge that faculty members and students with disAbilities have about accommodation issues; the accommodations that students with disAbilities and faculty use and find effective in the university setting; faculty members' perceptions of and attitudes toward students with disAbilities; and the attitudes that students with disAbilities have toward faculty. Fiftyseven participants were involved in the research, eight students with disabilities and forty-nine faculty members. The main objective of the research was to describe how the skills, knowledge, and attitudes of students and faculty members, and organizational supports interact to support students' academic success. The utilization and effectiveness of accommodations to overcome barriers associated with disAbility in a post-secondary setting are described in relation to students' and faculty members' perceptions of academic success.

Therapeutic riding : learning and recovery for people with disabilities

The purpose ofthis study was to explore the process oftherapeutic riding as an experiential and holistic approach to learning and recovery for people with disabilities as perceived by the providers oftherapeutic riding. To enhance the connection between theory and practice and to suggest future research, the researcher endeavoured to develop a theory that contributed to the knowledge base oftherapeutic riding, animal-assisted therapy and education, experiential education, and experiential therapy in addition to contributing to connections among them. This topic was investigated because ofthe lack ofresearch about the process of therapeutic riding, particularly from learning and a recovery perspective. Few studies have addressed how therapeutic riding outcomes are achieved or how the therapeutic riding process actually works. This study was identified as grounded theory using qualitative data through interviews and narrative reflections with therapeutic riding providers, a researcher's journal, field notes, and written documents. Grounded theory analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. This consisted ofdoing open, axial, and selective coding. This study provided detailed descriptions ofthe research approach, researcher's involvement, participant and site selection, data collection and analysis, methodological assumptions and limitations, credibility established, and ethical considerations. The findings ofthe data analysis revealed the theme ofrelationships as central to the learning and recovery process oftherapeutic riding for people with disabilities. The significance ofthe team relationships, the horse and rider relationship, and the providers and rider relationship was found. The essential components ofthe learning and recovery process were presented in a diagram in the selective coding phase. Goals oftherapeutic riding included psycho-education; behavioural and social; physical; and equestrian. Parts ofthe process ofhow outcomes were achieved included motivation; "opens new doors;" risk; task analysis; control; communication; and environmental factors. Outcomes of therapeutic riding included independence and mobility; confidence; and transfer abilities or skills. The implications ofthese findings for theory, practice, and further research were also. explored.

Letter from the Secretary of War, to the Chairman of the Committee on Militay Affairs, upon the subject of the defects existing in the present establishment. --

13th Cong., 3d sess. House. Doc. no. 12.

Report of the Committee on Military Affairs, on the differences that exist, between the United States and some of the individual States, respecting the relative powers of the general and state governments over the militia.--

February 28, 1815. Printed by order of the Senate of the United States.

Report of the Committee on Public Expenditures on the memorial and accounts of Colonel James Thomas, Quarter-master General.--

Cover title.

Lived experiences of children with disabilities in various movement programs

This research offered children with disabilities the opportunity to express their voices in the description of their movement experiences. Three children aged 10-13 shared their experiences in school physical education and adapted physical activity. Observations of participants using interactive media activities in an adapted physical activity program were used to supplement interviews. The aim of this research was to discover how future professionals are prepared to design and implement physical activity and physical education programs for children with disabilities. A document analysis of Ontario university course calendars in the fields of physical education and kinesiology, disability studies, and teacher education was utilized. Data from each data context underwent four levels of reduction: 1) content, 2) categorical, 3) thematic, and 4) indigenous typologies. Findings are presented at each level leading to the presentation of indigenous typologies. Typologies of Forbidden-ness and Dichotomous Thinking were identified in the research.

Letter from the Secretary of War, to the Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, upon the subject of the defects existing in the present establishment

13th Cong., 3d sess. House. Doc. no. 12. October 27, 1814. Laid before the House by the Chairman of the Committee and ordered to be printed.

Report of the Committee on Military Affairs, on the differences that exist, between the United States and some of the individual States, respecting the relative powers of the general and state governments over the militia

February 28, 1815. Printed by order of the Senate of the United States. Printed be Roger C. Weightman

Report of the Committee on Public Expenditures on the memorial and accounts of Colonel James Thomas, Quarter-master General

U.S. 14th congress, 2nd session, 1816-1817. House. Doc. 85