This study investigated the barriers to healthcare for intellectually disabled persons in two special schools in the Kumasi Metropolis in Ghana. The study employed a qualitative approach with a phenomenological design to select participants from two special schools for the intellectually disabled persons, namely Garden City and Life Community and Vocational School in the Asokore Mampong and Oforikrom Districts respectively. Data were collected by means of semi -structured interviews and focus group discussions. The findings showed that specific health barriers encountered in accessing health included high cost of medication, attitude of health workers, communication barriers, and environmental barriers. A comprehensive healthcare system with professionals who are well vested in the needs of the intellectually disabled persons has been recommended.
This study aims to present empirical evidence demonstrating the receptiveness of construction professionals and individuals with spinal cord injuries to participate in the construction sector, challenging the prevalent belief that spinal cord injury precludes labor inclusion. Accordingly, in August 2021, this study conducted two surveys to collect data from distinct groups: builders and individuals with spinal cord injuries. The builder survey involved a representative sample of 52 respondents, drawn from a population of 322 members of the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry, Jalisco delegation. Simultaneously, 44 individuals with spinal cord injuries participated in the survey, sourced from a pool of 455 members affiliated with Don Bosco sobre Ruedas and Vida Independiente. The survey process facilitated a comprehensive diagnosis, identifying potential areas for enhanced inclusion within the construction sector. The empirical findings challenge conventional wisdom, indicating that a spinal cord injury does not act as a barrier to labor inclusion within the construction sector. On the contrary, the study emphasizes that having employees with disabilities can exert a positive impact on company dynamics. Moreover, the research identifies specific activities where individuals with spinal cord injuries exhibit a higher potential for inclusion, thereby redefining traditional expectations. Therefore, this study contributes to the originality of the existing discourse by providing concrete empirical evidence that counters widespread assumptions about the limitations faced by individuals with spinal cord injuries within the construction industry.
Health initiatives to improve inclusion of vulnerable people have tended to focus on a specific group with little evidence of improvement in health outcomes or attention to intersectionality. This study proposes that exclusion within health services can first be addressed through identification of common practices underpinning exclusion. A total of 119 seemingly hardly reached residents participated through individual interviews, small group interviews and focus group discussions. Undertaking a Derridean deconstruction analysis, the study identified three exclusionary practices commonly experienced by respondents when seeking healthcare in a regional setting. These are: i) language and communication, ii) assumptions and prejudice, and iii) exclusionary processes and systems. Although exclusion manifests differently between and within service user groups, the three identified forms of exclusion were commonly experienced by the hardly reached. Identifying and addressing common exclusionary practices in health services could focus inclusion strategies for health services with benefits to many service users.
The urban poor rely on informal social support to attend to needs that are unmet by formal health and social service sectors. These relationships often involve mutual exchange and are upheld by reciprocity. Consequently, unilateral (or asymmetric) support between nonkin has been relatively underexamined in the academic literature. This qualitative study explores providers' accounts of extending unilateral support to a structurally marginalised segment of the urban poor disparagingly referred to as neighbourhood 'junkies'. It presents findings from semi-structured interviews conducted in a social and health service-concentrated urban neighbourhood in Ontario, Canada. Critical realist grounded theory guided data collection and analysis. In summary, the findings show that material and experiential advantages as well as successful support histories motivated providers to forge these troubled ties. After costly and distressing occurrences with recipients led to ties being severed, providers reported difficulties with creating distance due to the dense service concentration of the downtown and a lack of housing mobility. At the same time, providers feared their withdrawal from support would condemn recipients to a support vacuum, given their reservations about the ability of social and health services to adequately cater to their needs. The findings carry implications for research on social exclusion and deepen our knowledge of social support processes among the urban poor.
People with disability continue to experience considerable employment discrimination, potentially hampering the success of the Australian government's Disability Employment Services (DES) program and contributing to the large inequalities in employment rates. Yet, discrimination experiences specifically among DES participants are underexamined in the literature. We therefore investigated perceived discrimination amongst people with disability accessing DES in relation to their experiences looking for work or during employment and explored differences for people with psychosocial and physical disabilities. Data for this study was drawn from the Improving Disability Employment Study (IDES) which aimed to gather evidence on factors influencing employment outcomes for Australians with disability accessing DES. Descriptive analysis of IDES survey data from 299 participants with physical and/or psychosocial disability was used to describe DES participant experiences of employment discrimination and how this differs for people with physical and psychosocial disability. Employment discrimination was a common experience for IDES respondents. Over a third (38.7%) of IDES participants reported one or more experiences of discrimination whilst seeking employment (which was higher for people with physical disability compared with psychosocial disability) and over half (59.1%) reported one or more experiences of discrimination whilst in the workplace (which was higher for people with psychosocial disability compared to physical disability). These findings reiterate that mitigating employment discrimination is paramount to improving employment success for people with disability accessing DES and different approaches may be required for people with different types of disability.
