Search results

The purpose of this research was to determine the current status of the library services for visually impaired and physically handicapped people in Argentina.

A survey was made of 20 different libraries throughout Argentina that provide services for visually impaired and physically handicapped people. A questionnaire composed of 114 questions based on American Library Association guidelines was developed and delivered by e‐mail and post to participating libraries. Additionally, visits were made to ten of these libraries with the objective of obtaining information by means of interviews with their respective directors as well as library personnel and users who were present at the time of the visit.

It was concluded that these libraries are not in a position to provide the best library services for visually impaired and physically handicapped individuals: it was seen that there are still many things to correct and improve.

It is considered that the present model of special libraries in Argentina is a possible contributor to the isolation and confinement of visually impaired and physically handicapped people. For this reason a new model of service should be considered. This should take into account an integrated library approach based on the Unesco manifesto 1994 for public libraries. It is suggested that the Unesco model of integrating universal library services will effectively ensure access to information for visually impaired and physically handicapped people, thus ensuring “a public library for everyone”.

In the 1970s, the United States Congress enacted two statutes that have had dramatic and far‐reaching effects on the education of handicapped children by public schools. These two laws, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Education For All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (known as Public Law 94–142), have required local public school agencies to provide new eductional programs for thousands of handicapped children not previously served by the public schools. Counselors, principals, and teachers were quickly informed of the law's requirements and willingly began the task of main‐streaming and assimilating these children into various curricula. Their physical needs were attended to rapidly; their societal and emotional needs, unfortunately, lagged behind. Within the past seven years, there has been an increase in books, articles, and films specifically addressed to counseling the handicapped. Unlike past literature which focused only on the vocational aspect of rehabilitation counseling, current writing emphasizes personal counseling meant to assist a disabled child to participate fully in the problems and joys of daily living.

Citations are presented to recent sources, both books and articles, dealing with the problems of providing library services to the disabled, especially to the visually impaired, and to sources which describe technological equipment in detail. Also suggested are ways to identify libraries which use the equipment, in order to obtain evaluative information.

Conducts two studies, one among working women and one among the employed physically handicapped, to assess their feelings about the recent introduction of equal opportunity legislation in Hong Kong. Provides some background statistics on Hong Kong and outlines the development of anti‐discrimination legislation. Asks 78 women and 10 physically handicapped people if they thought discrimination was serious in Hong Kong and if the anti‐discrimination legislation and the Equal Opportunities Commission were effective in combating discrimination. Describes the methodology used and discusses the results. Reveals that both groups surveyed were ambivalent about discrimination, stating that legislation enforces behavioural changes but that they are only skin deep. Points out also that it is difficult to quantify discriminatory practices. Notes similarities between east and west, particularly with research suggesting that the only way forward in promoting equality is to reduce status distinctions for everyone and to make organizations much more democratic.

It has proved useful in studies of the personal social services, and in other areas of social policy, to make a distinction between final and intermediate outputs. Final outputs measure changes in individual client well‐being compared with changes in well‐being in the absence of a caring intervention. In other words, final outputs measure the degree of success of a service or a care unit in meeting its client‐level policy objectives, where due consideration is paid to client states had care not been available. In contrast, intermediate outputs are operationally defined in terms of the care services themselves rather than the effects of these services on clients.

The research for this study engages and assesses the relationship of the media from the 20th to the 21st century, combining scholar activism and public leadership in the disability rights movement. Having chronicled the disability rights movement from its roots, this chapter presents the discourse of media and movement, sampling mainstream media along with the advocacy and alternative media in support of disability rights. A range of media forms are engaged from advocacy bulletins to mainstream news media to public broadcasts that represent the diversity and complexity of the movement as it continues into the 21st century, pressing for the universalism of human rights for all.

Over the past two decades, a number of social and legislative forces have had the effect of increasing disabled peoples' attendance at institutions of higher education. Major national legislation, such as the landmark Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, requires provision of equal access for people with disabilities to educational programs that receive federal funding. The more recent Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law by President Bush on 26 July 1990; considered by some the “Bill of Rights” for people with disabilities, the ADA extends opportunity in the areas of employment, housing, and a number of other basic civil rights.

The perception among carers and health professionals is that the health care system remains limited in its effectiveness and accessibility to non‐institutionalized people with a mental illness. The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of the care recipient's main disabling condition (either physical or mental) on the carer's perceived need for assistance in their role as carer.

Based on the data collected from the Australian Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, the investigation involves the non‐institutionalized recipients of care with profound and severe disabilities, aged 15 years and over, residing in private dwellings and their primary informal carers.

Regression analysis reveals that carers of those with a mental disability are 2.7 times more likely to report care needs unmet compared to carers of those with a physical disability. Further analysis using interactions shows that carers who are the adult children of mentally disabled parents report a comparatively very large amount of perceived unmet need.

If equity is measured in terms of perceived need rather than finite resources a case is made that primary carers of people with a mental disability experience greater burdens in care.

To focus on the importance of providing appropriate and specialized services for the senior population.

Body of knowledge compiled by author from current news, professional sources and personal topical files.

Libraries in the US have a wide variety of creative programs and services for senior‐aged patrons, as well as handicapped users.

The column stresses the importance of libraries to study and plan for the challenges of serving a rapidly growing senior population.

We believe that the inclusion of people with disabilities (PWDs) in the workplace, the provision of the right of PWDs to decent work involves an exemplary field of social issues that provides a firm foundation for exploring the nature and interplay of (EU and local) policies and also it could be interesting to relate this to the policy changes of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

In our chapter we decided to have a look at these relationships on a national level, but we believe that the points raised reach far beyond the borders of Hungary and Central and Eastern Europe.

First, we provide a short summary of the development of European and Hungarian policies and regulations considering the employment of PWDs and their connection to the development of EU level and Hungarian CSR policies. We identify three phases in both topics and highlight their parallel developmental shift at the beginning of the 2000s. Second, we highlight the very recent governmental policies of CSR and employment/inclusion (especially the rehabilitation contribution). Third, we argue that whilst PWDs as a topic is relevant in the declarations, guidelines and policies of international and national organizations, the rights of PWDs, their inclusion in society and the world of work are neither among the current topics of enterprises’ and corporates’ CSR practices nor in scientific debate.

Based on two case studies, we show some good practices and formalize general learning points, opportunities and the potential risks of employing PWDs as part of CSR activities.