Challenging Perceptions of Disability through Performance Poetry Methods: The "Seen but Seldom Heard" Project.

This paper considers performance poetry as a method to explore lived experiences of disability. We discuss how poetic inquiry used within a participatory arts-based research framework can enable young people to collectively question society’s attitudes and actions towards disability. Poetry will be considered as a means to develop a more accessible and effective arena in which young people with direct experience of disability can be empowered to develop new skills that enable them to tell their own stories. Discussion of how this can challenge audiences to critically reflect upon their own perceptions of disability will also be developed

Whose problem? Disability narratives and available identities

In this article, the author demonstrates that contemporary cultural disability discourses offer few positive resources for people with impairments to draw upon in constructing positive personal and social identities. Examining the emergence of the Disability Arts Movement in Britain, consideration is given to alternative discourses developed by disabled people who have resisted the passive roles expected of them and developed a disability identity rooted in notions of power, respect and control. It is suggested that these alternative discourses provide an empowering rather than a disabling basis for community development and community arts practice and should be embraced by workers in these fields

Tragic but brave or just crips with chips? Songs and their lyrics in the Disability Arts Movement in Britain

Disability culture is a site within which social and positional identities are struggled for and dominant discourses rejected; in which mainstream representations of people with impairments – as victims of personal tragedy – are held to the light and revealed as hegemonic constructions within a disabling society. Drawing upon styles that range from jazz, blues and folk to reggae, performance poetry and punk, disabled singers and bands in the Disability Arts Movement in Britain have been central to the development of an affirmative disability discourse rooted in ideas of pride, anger and strength. Examining lyrics by Johnny Crescendo, Ian Stanton and the Fugertivs – performers emerging as part of this movement in the 1980s and 1990s – this article considers the dark humour which runs through much of this work. It is suggested that these lyrics' observational reflections on everyday experiences of being oppressed as disabled people have been overlooked within critical disability studies to date, but are important in developing an understanding of positive disability identity as a tool available to disabled people in order to make sense of, and express themselves within, the world in which they find themselves

"Just coming in the door was hard": supporting students with mental health difficulties

A student in your writing center displays such high level of anxiety that it also begins to impact on those working in the writing center. The student's behavior might tip over into the unacceptably aggressive and thus provoke a sharp response from the writing center director. Is this just everyone having a bad day or could it indicate a much deeper problem?. Students with mental health difficulties have been a growing concern for us in recent years in our study support team in a UK university. The UK Higher Education Statistics Agency indicates that, in 2003-4, 12.03% of the total numbers of students declaring a disability disclosed a mental health problem. In our college, LCC (London College of Communication, University of the Arts London), our statistics showed that 29.5% of our students, declaring a disability, had disclosed a mental health issue by the end of the same academic year. We are at present half way through our 2005-6 academic year and that number has increased to 37.14% of our students with disabilities. Students will frequently not disclose their disability before they apply because they are worried that they may not be accepted onto the program or even because the initial onse

New Audiences for the Arts: The New Audiences Programme Report

This 269 page report gives a detailed overview of a £20 million funding programme ‘New Audiences’, designed to foster new practice in audience development by arts organisations in England. It was the culmination of a five-year scheme which supported 1200 audience development initiatives across the country. Glinkowski was one of a team of seven researchers who compiled the report: ACE Research Officers, Clare Fenn, Adrienne Skelton and Alan Joy compiled the statistical information for the report appendices; the main body of the report, from Executive Summary to Conclusions, was written by a team of three consultant researchers, Glinkowski, Pam Pfrommer and Sue Stewart, working under the supervision of the ACE Head of New Audiences, Gill Johnson. The report was a summary, compilation and interpretation of key themes emerging from the material contained within around 1150 evaluations of projects funded by the £20 million ‘New Audiences’ programme during the 5-year period from 1998-2003. The interpretative work and writing up was undertaken collaboratively by the consultant researchers and Glinkowski’s particular input was to the Executive Summary; Introduction; General Audiences; Disability; Social Inclusion; Rural; Older People; General Findings; and Conclusion sections of the report. He was also the principal author (although in keeping with ACE practice on advocacy material, not formally credited) of the ‘New Audiences Advocacy Document’ (ISBN 0728710331), produced in conjunction with the main report with introduction by Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State, Department of Culture, Media and Sport and Peter Hewitt, Chief Executive of Arts Council England. The full report is published online, with a companion volume summarising all projects undertaken within the ‘New Audiences’ programme. Additionally, Glinkowski was commissioned to contribute case studies to the ‘New Audiences’ website (http://www.newaudiences.org.uk/index.php), including 'Open Studios/Artists Presentation Research' (http://www.newaudiences.org.uk/project.php?id=680)

For the Benefit of Our Workers: The Massachusetts Nonprofit Employee Benefit Study

Analyzes survey results on the types and costs of benefits offered to employees of Massachusetts' large nonprofit institutions, small grassroots organizations, and safety-net organizations. Includes comparisons with those in other states

below the neck, above the knees

My thesis explores the act of violation in the context of trauma and healing through the use of personal narratives and experimental film. My research allows personal storytelling to transform into a larger and more universal theme of generational trauma and dysfunction. Through a feminist lens, I challenge social norms of body autonomy for the sick and abused, capitalism’s social effects on the poor, and passed down maternal lessons from the women who are doing the best that they can with the lives and opportunities that they have been given. This work is created in spite of the labels my mother, the women before her, and I may hold. It is an act of resistance to who and what is allowed to be seen or heard. It is my confession, but it is not my confession alone

Students With Disabilities and California's Special Education Program

Provides an overview of the state's special education programs, including eligibility, enrollment, student performance, time spent outside regular classrooms, spending, and financing, compared to national trends. Considers policy implications

Managing depression through needlecraft creative activities: A qualitative study

This qualitative study explored the personal meanings of needlecrafts and their role in the self-management of depression. Written and spoken narratives from 39 women were studied. Respondents described themselves as experiencing chronic or episodic depression (e.g. associated with stressful work situations, bereavement or caring for an ill relative). Some had received treatment for depression but most had not. When analysing the therapeutic effects of creative activity, most women described the experience of intense concentration in the task as providing distraction from worry and relief from depressive thoughts. Creative activity was often described as enhancing self-esteem. The adaptability of the occupation to suit time available, mood and other factors facilitated a sense of empowerment or control. Creative arts activities could also challenge depression from enabling social contacts. Most respondents had taken up their favoured creative activity in adulthood, commonly in response to stressful life events and with some self-awareness of its therapeutic potential. The diversity of subjective benefits support further research into the self-management of depression through creative activities, in both patient and non-patient groups. Managin