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Work participation and work facilitation represent basic human rights for everyone. Work represents an important platform for welfare and well-being, but compared to the general workforce in Norway, persons with cognitive disabilities are severely under-represented. When workplaces locked down under the first COVID-19 outbreak spring 2020, some people were made redundant whilst many continued their work from home. The lockdown affected persons with cognitive disabilities through lockdown of workplaces, vocational training centres and even day activity centres. The scheme of working from home was not as obvious or facilitated for this group, as for other employees. When also visits were banned and common areas for socialisation were locked down, the consequences of these lockdowns were exacerbated. In this chapter we have examined and discussed the COVID-19 restrictions in Norway and how they affected the basic human rights of persons with cognitive disabilities, and also how such rights can be promoted through legislation, governance and service provision.

The purpose of this study is to determine the nature of financial inclusion for individuals with various types of disabilities.

Data from 2015, 2017 and 2019 FDIC Survey of Household Use of Banking and Financial Services was pooled, and binary logistic regressions were used to investigate differences in barriers to financial inclusion (e.g. unbanked) between people with different types of disabilities (e.g. cognitive) and those without such disabilities.

Using five separate barrier measures, the authors found specific disability types face different barriers to financial inclusion. For example, respondents with cognitive, ambulatory or two or more disabilities were more likely to use nonbank transaction products and alternative financial services. And, those with vision or cognitive disabilities were more likely to be denied or receive reduced credit. When examining aggregate barriers to financial inclusion (total number of barriers faced) respondents with cognitive, ambulatory, hearing or two or more disabilities experienced the lowest degree of financial inclusion in the authors’ dataset.

Causal inference cannot be made due to the cross-sectional nature of the data. The data only covers the US population, and the measurement of disability type could include those with short-term impairments. Further, there may be an omitted variable bias.

Best practices to maximize financial inclusion for those with different disability types should address accessibility issues, bank staff education, financial literacy education and poverty issues. Additional government policies and oversight are also needed to protect and enhance the overall financial inclusion of people with disabilities.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to examine the relationship between various barriers to financial inclusion and aggregate barriers to financial inclusion by disability type. Specific disability types are found to face different barriers to financial inclusion.

In Italy, policies and services devoted to persons with disabilities, particularly those with cognitive disabilities, are still characterised by institutional segmentation and are focused on the medical model and therefore on rehabilitation, rather than on social participation, despite the formal ratification of the UNCRPD in 2009. This chapter analyses the pandemic impact by focusing on daily services, as a central service of welfare disability policy, and investigating if the pandemic has strengthened the dominant medical view, or if it has been an opportunity for a more integrated (social and health services) provision of services for people with disabilities, particularly with cognitive disabilities, and their families. Data on two regional case studies show severe differences in implementing national regulation to manage the pandemic at regional level. The difficulties experienced by both families and healthcare and social professionals are similar in the two regions, but the different organisational system concerning social and health care services outlines contexts with different rights.

Current technology offers many possibilities for remote communication. Nevertheless, people with cognitive and communicative disabilities have limited access to common communication technology like text messaging via a mobile phone. This study is part of the project Text messaging with picture symbols ‐ possibilities for persons with cognitive and communicative disabilities. Semi‐structured interviews were used to investigate the experience of using Windows mobiles with adapted functions for text messaging by three men and four women. The participants' opinions about the content and organisation of the project were also evaluated. All participants except one experienced increased possibilities for remote communication via text messaging. Increased participation was another relevant finding. Technical aids and interventions were individually tailored and the majority of the participants thought that Talking Mats for goal setting and repeated interviews during the project had been successful methods.

This chapter assesses how gender and disability status intersect to shape employment and earnings outcomes for working-age adults in the United States.

The research pools five years of data from the 2010–2015 Current Population Survey to compare employment and earnings outcomes for men and women with different types of physical and cognitive disabilities to those who specifically report work-limiting disabilities.

The findings show that people with different types of limitations, including those not specific to work, experienced large disparities in employment and earnings and these outcomes also varied for men and women. The multiplicative effects of gender and disability on labor market outcomes led to a hierarchy of disadvantage where women with cognitive or multiple disabilities experienced the lowest employment rates and earnings levels. However, within groups, disability presented the strongest negative effects for men, which created a smaller gender wage gap among people with disabilities.

This chapter provides quantitative evidence for the multiplicative effects of gender and disability status on employment and earnings. It further extends an intersectional framework by highlighting the gendered aspects of the ways in which different disabilities shape labor market inequalities. Considering multiple intersecting statuses demonstrates how the interaction between disability type and gender produce distinct labor market outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the associations between minor women’ (girls’) disability status and victimization via minor sex trafficking.

This investigation used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, a large, nationally-representative sample of in-school adolescents in the USA that began in 1994. The analysis included bivariate associations between physical disability status or low cognitive ability and minor sex trafficking among female survey respondents (n = 5,430).

Girls with any disability had a higher prevalence of minor sex trafficking than their peers without disabilities. Odds of minor sex trafficking were significantly higher for those with severe physical disabilities (5.83) and for those with low cognitive abilities (4.86) compared to the odds of their peers without their respective disabilities. Results for girls with mild or moderate physical disabilities were not statistically significant compared to peers without disabilities.

These nationally-representative survey data reinforce the trends present in smaller populations and case study research: female adolescents with disabilities are at a heightened risk for sex trafficking. On both a national and global scale, the human rights gaps in policy and practice must be addressed to adequately reach, intervene and protect this vulnerable population.

Research about minor sex trafficking typically relies on small-scale surveys and/or convenience samples. This study used a nationally-representative survey to demonstrate the link between disability status and women’s experiences with minor sex trafficking.

This paper examines how developmental risk factors associated with depression in typically developing adolescents may interact with the particular life experience of adolescents with intellectual disabilities and influence vulnerability to depression. We suggest that a consideration of developmental factors and their interaction with the person's social environment may offer a possible framework for prevention and early intervention with adolescents with intellectual disabilities.

Historically, the condition we now refer to as intellectual disability has been conceptualized using models that were extension of the medical model. Recent advances, however, have emphasized person-environment fit models of disability that view disability, intellectual, and other cognitive disabilities, as the lack of fit between a person’s capacities and the demands of the context. This chapter examines these shifts in conceptualization and the ways in which this changes how interventions are designed to provide support to enable people with intellectual disability to live, learn, work, and play in their communities. Such interventions and supports include issues pertaining to Universal Design for Learning, multi-tiered systems of supports, and the primacy of promoting the self-determination of people with disabilities. The importance of efforts to promote social inclusion is also discussed, as well as strategies to promote transition to adulthood. Authors from several countries provide examples of how these new intervention paradigms are being implemented across the world.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the issue of access to digital technology by using the lens of accessibility as set forth by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the American Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. More specifically, this paper focuses on gamification, considers the needs of all learners, including those who identify as disabled, and raises important inquiries about equity and access to technological instructional materials.

Juxtaposing Kapp’s (2012) nine elements of gamification with aspects of accessibility, this paper conceptualizes the challenges and possibilities associated with gamified instructional approaches.

This paper examines gamification in light of potential barriers that exist as disabled learners navigate online courses that include one or more of the following aspects of gamification – game-based, mechanics, aesthetics, game-thinking, engage, people, motivate action, promote learning, and solve problems. Notably, online courses enhanced with gamification elements present potential access barriers and challenges to learners who identify with auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech, or visual disabilities.

This paper initiates an important discussion, and as such, it incepts additional investigations into supporting differently abled learners.

By examining gamification through the lens of accessibility, this paper contributes yet another perspective of teaching, learning, and instructional design.

In addition to socio-economic factors that may preclude one from engaging in a digital play, there is a larger question of how, if at all, gamification is accessible to learners with auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech, or visual disabilities or impairments. This paper raises important questions for educators, education researchers, and game and instructional designers alike to ensure ubiquitous access to gamified digital materials in general, and online, gamified materials in particular.

Individuals with disabilities may not be aware of their communicative, academic, social, and/or vocational needs. Over the last 20 years, self-advocacy has been referred to as a goal for education, a civil rights movement, and a component of self-determination (Test, Fowler, Wood, Brewer, & Eddy, 2005). As a measurable skill, self-advocacy can be specifically defined as a skill that helps “individuals communicate their needs and stand up for their own interests and rights” (Yuan, 1994, p. 305). Individuals diagnosed with a variety of disabilities (learning disabilities, cognitive impairments, language disorders, etc.) experience difficulty in achieving success in situations where they are required to communicate their needs and stand up for their rights. Test et al. (2005) documented 25 definitions of self-advocacy that were published between 1977 and 2002. The most recent definition focused on self-advocacy in the realm of social change and civil rights; the enablement of individuals with disabilities to make decisions, speak for themselves, and stand up for their rights.