Sarah asked for views and ideas on a research project.
I think this project in City College (London) does not just result in
tensions with the social model of disability but is incompatible with the
social model of disability.
If the research is based in the social model of disability I do not
understand why it is medical professionals that need to be influenced -
rather than employers. The clinical tests referred to are of no use to
employers - indeed I would suggest they could use them as an excuse for not
employing someone.
Unfortunately the project is focussing on one cause of impairment and the
medical and individual implications of this. This is a distraction from the
socially constructed institutionalised and systematic barriers which also
affect other people with other causes of impairment. If this research is to
be conducted within the social model of disability it would have to be more
inclusive (of people with other causes of impairment) and focus on socially
disabling barriers rather than individual functioning or performance.
There has been quite a lot written about conducting research with disabled
people within the social model of disability, details of which I think is
probably available from the Centre for Disability Studies website. I am
posting Sarah a report by Breakthrough UK in Manchester on "Common Barriers
and their Removal" it considers Barriers to employment and training faced
by disabled people and their employers and training providers, it reports on
work carried our within the social model of disability. (Breakthrough UK
Fax: 0161 274 4053).
I'm not sure that this is the sort of views and ideas you were hoping for
but there is a big difference between operating the social model of
disability and the more traditional medical / individualised approach which
takes social limitation as essentially coming from an individuals functional
limitation.
Pam.
-----Original Message-----
From: The Disability-Research Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Sarah Lock
Sent: 02 March 2001 11:47
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Work After Stroke
Dear list members
We are a team from University College London who, in collaboration with an
organization of stroke survivors called Different Strokes, are undertaking a
three-year research project about return to work after stroke. The aim of
the project is to explore barriers to employment and factors facilitating
employment after stroke for people with and without communication
difficulties (aphasia), taking a social model approach.
The project involves several stages:
1: Focus groups with Different Strokes members to inform design of
questionnaire
2: Questionnaire sent to every stroke survivor on Different Strokes mailing
list
These two stages have been achieved and questionnaire results are now being
analysed.
3: In-depth interviews with a cross section of 24 questionnaire respondents.
These interviews are currently being planned. Our aim is to understand
individuals' experiences of barriers and enablers to work, to provide detail
about the factors identified in the focus group and questionnaire data and
the interactions which may exist between them. This includes the impact of
early care and rehabilitation, medical and social services offered, and
factors related to employers, family/friends, transport, job opportunities,
training, and individuals' impairments and emotional status.
We also recognise a need to consider the interviewees' impairments/mood
state in a formal way. One (rather pragmatic) reason for this is that we
feel that medical professionals, whom we want to influence through this
work, will not fully 'trust' the interview data alone, and will call for
what they see as more objective evidence about people's impairments, or at
least have it reported in a way they are used to. We have therefore
considered using an outcome measure such as SF-36, Barthel Index, Hospital
Anxiety and Depression Scale, FIM/FAM etc. There is of course a tension in u
sing such measures in a social-model project, and we wonder if any published
measures exist which would enable us to access similar information but from
a perspective that is more in keeping with our project's overall philosophy?
Views and ideas greatly appreciated.
Sarah Lock,
Research Fellow
Department of Human Communication Science
University College London
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