Youth With Disabilities

An examination of media and technology use by school-aged youth with disabilities, with an emphasis on media use at home. Most research on media use by young people with disabilities focuses on the therapeutic and rehabilitative uses of technology; less attention has been paid to their day-to-day encounters with media and technology—the mundane, sometimes pleasurable and sometimes frustrating experiences of “hanging out, messing around, and geeking out.” In this report, Meryl Alper attempts to repair this omission, examining how school-aged children with disabilities use media for social and recreational purposes, with a focus on media use at home. In doing so, she reframes common assumptions about the relationship between young people with disabilities and technology, and she points to areas for further study into the role of new media in the lives of these young people, their parents, and their caregivers. Alper considers the notion of “screen time” and its inapplicability in certain cases—when, for example, an iPad is a child's primary mode of communication. She looks at how young people with various disabilities use media to socialize with caregivers, siblings, and friends, looking more closely at the stereotype of the socially isolated young person with disabilities. And she examines issues encountered by parents in selecting, purchasing, and managing media for youth with such specific disabilities as ADHD and autism. She considers not only children's individual preferences and needs but also external factors, including the limits of existing platforms, content, and age standards.

This book sets out to understand how students with disabilities experience higher education and the transition to the workplace. It foregrounds the voices of students and graduates in order to explore identity, inclusion, participation and success of youth with disabilities in higher education, as well as their transition from university to employment. The author proposes a new understanding of disability, considered in terms of a continuum of abilities, balancing empirical data, theory and policy analysis with specific regard to the interests of youth with disabilities, making a unique contribution to discussions on access, inclusion and success in higher education and employment. These discussions inform social development and educational policy planning and implementation, not only in South Africa, but also in countries with a similar context, particularly in terms of remedial courses of action that bring social justice to people with disabilities. Students with Disabilities and the Transition to Work will be of interest to all scholars and students working in the fields of disability studies, particularly those with a focus on critical disability studies and disability in the global south, as well as those working in higher education, sociology, development studies and social policy.

Now in a thoroughly revised and updated second edition, this handbook provides a comprehensive resource for those who facilitate the complex transitions to adulthood for adolescents with disabilities. Building on the previous edition, the text includes recent advances in the field of adolescent transition education, with a focus on innovation in assessment, intervention, and supports for the effective transition from school to adult life. The second edition reflects the changing nature of the demands of transition education and adopts a "life design" approach. This critical resource is appropriate for researchers and graduate-level instructors in special and vocational education, in-service administrators and policy makers, and transition service providers.

Dare to Dream discusses critical topics for young people with hidden disabilties, such as self-advocating, developing positive relationships with mentors, planning for college, successful working life, interpersonal skills, and satisfying relationships.

An essential resource for educators, speech-language pathologists, and parents--and an ideal text for courses that cover literacy and significant disabilities--this book will help you ensure that all students have the reading and writing skills they need to unlock new opportunities and reach their potential.

This edited collection uses a critical theory perspective and draws on expertise from a range of contemporary policy and practice areas. Contributors include people with disabilities, family members, researchers, academics and practitioners. This book is an ideal text for students of social work, human services, child and youth care and disability studies. Chapters include first-person accounts from persons with disabilities, perspectives of families and historical perspectives, as well as a critical exploration of demographics, human rights issues, disability legislation and policy in Canada, theoretical approaches to disability, intersectionality and disability, Aboriginal people and disability, mental health disability, principles of anti-ableist practice, advocacy and strategies for change. This book offers as a fresh Canadian perspective on disability from a critical lens, challenging and inspiring students and practitioners alike to think outside the box and to examine their own attitudes and values toward disability, ensuring that they do not inadvertently impose ableist and oppressive practices on one of Canada’s most marginalized populations.

In 1973, Rick Hansen was a carefree teenager hitchhiking home from a fishing trip, a kid who lived and breathed sports. But after the truck he was riding in went out of control and crashed, Hansen was left a paraplegic. For some people that could have been the end. For Rick Hansen it was the beginning of a story that is at once sad and funny, heartbreaking and inspirational. Hansen takes you from the first painful days and frightening nights in hospital, through the gritty process of rehabilitation, to his return to competition as a world champion of wheelchair sports. It is the story of the Man in Motion tour—Rick Hansen’s incredible 24,901.55-mile wheelchair journey through 34 countries around the world. It is also the love story of Hansen and his wife, Amanda, a physiotherapist whom Hansen calls his “lifeline.” And it is a success story—Rick Hansen has raised millions of dollars for spinal cord research, rehabilitation and wheelchair sports as well as raised awareness about the disabled.