Conceptualising and representing sex and gender diversity in sex education material in the context of disability: The TRASE Word Bank

Conceptualising and representing sex and gender diversity in sex education material in the context of disability: The TRASE Word Bank According to the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD, 2006), people with disabilities are entitled to respect for privacy (Art. 22), home and family (Art. 23) and education (Art. 24), including sex education. Considering the ideological and structural impediments to sexuality and reproduction (cf. Löfgren-Mårtenson, 2014; Desjardins, 2012) and the high risk of experiencing sexual violence people with intellectual disabilities face, appropriate sex education takes on a pivotal role in safeguarding a self-determined sexuality and the right to reproduction. From Sept. 2015 to Aug. 2017, the University of Luxembourg was involved in the transnational and interdisciplinary ERASMUS Plus project “Training in Sex Education for People with Disabilities” (TRASE). The objective of this follow-up project to the Grundtvig-funded SEAD project was to design a course sensitive to cultural, national and institutional conditions to train professional carers of people with intellectual and cognitive disabilities to talk about sexuality and to acknowledge the sexual and reproductive rights of their clients. The 13-module-course includes revisions and the development of new tools that are altogether accessible to a broad range of people with learning, intellectual, cognitive and communication difficulties and devised to facilitate communication on issues regarding sexuality. One of the major questions for revising existing or devising new tools, respectively, was how to conceptualise and represent human diversity featuring in contemporary Western societies, hence avoiding that people with intellectual disabilities, who cannot or do not want to follow conservative sexual and gender norms are rendered ever more vulnerable. The TRASE Word Bank draws upon social constructionist and deconstructionist theories of gender and sexuality (e.g. Garfinkel, 1967; Weeks, 1989; Butler, 1990; 1997; Hirschauer, 1994; 1999; Cromwell, 1999; Fausto-Sterling, 2000; Schirmer, 2010) and critical race and intersectional theories (e.g. Crenshaw, 1989). Methodologically, it severs gender from morphology and bases gender on self-definition instead, whilst continuing to acknowledge common genders; presents a variety of body parts in a non-polarising way in its pictograms; uses gender-neutral terminology to describe sexualised body parts; addresses a host of sexual arrangements; devotes equal attention to reproduction and contraception, hence avoiding the widespread notion that people with disabilities cannot or should not reproduce (cf. Siebers, 2012) and presents humans in a non-racialised way. As a result, the TRASE Word Bank attempts to enable people with intellectual and learning disabilities with basic reading competency or who can read with assistance to understand that human sexualities, bodies and genders are diverse, to become aware of sexual options that best suit their individual personalities, to learn to accept themselves as unconventional men, unusual women, trans, non-binary or intersex people, to reinforce their right to decide responsibly on issues relating to reproduction and to learn to respect human diversity. The Trase project home page is available at: https://www.traseproject.co

European Semester 2020-2021 country fiche on disability equality Luxembourg

There is a great discrepancy between the omnipresent demands for inclusion published by official bodies and ministries and the actual participation of people with disabilities in social life. The policy cultivates the rhetoric of inclusion in programmatic and conceptual formulations, while at the same time maintaining or even expanding separative institutions for those that are considered not to be eligible for inclusion in the fields of education and employment (see competence centres in education and ‘inclusion’ in sheltered workshops, or the persistent exclusion of persons under guardianship from the right to vote). Inclusion is viewed primarily from an economic and neo-liberal perspective, without questioning the basic principles of a meritocratic society oriented towards proven performance. Performance appraisals, especially in the area of education and work, are largely based on the performance demanded and shown without sufficiently taking into account the way the performance is achieved. In the educational sector, the incompatibility of introducing educational standards and achieving full inclusion is not recognised. Separating establishments are renamed to inclusive settings without any fundamental reorientation. The former regional special schools for pupils with cognitive impairments were re-branded as competence centres for intellectual development. With the introduction of the competence centres, no longer official figures are published regarding pupils who are taught separately. There are also no official figures on how many pupils were assigned to the competence centres from regular schools and vice versa. It is therefore impossible to give comparative statistical evidence of the extent to which inclusive education has currently developed in Luxembourg. With regard to employment, the same problems remain as those already identified in the first Action Plan. People with disabilities experience considerable difficulty in finding a job in the mainstream labour market. Unemployment is disproportionately high among people with disabilities and lasts much longer than among job seekers without disabilities. People with disabilities are increasingly oriented towards working in a sheltered workshop under the national guidelines of the Employment Agency. The employment quotas for people with disabilities, which are legally mandated, are largely not met and are not monitored or imposed by the state. Also, some social problems already addressed in the first Action Plan have still not been tackled, such as the legal incapacity of people under guardianship. People with disabilities under guardianship are extensively excluded from self-determination and political participation. They may not vote nor may they run as candidates. As a result, almost 10 years after the introduction of the UN-CRPD no improvement has been made in this area. Furthermore, there are still problems in the implementation of the accessibility of buildings and infrastructure for public use

Prepared enough to practise? Evaluating a study programme in social work

Summary: Following the so-called Bologna reform in Luxembourg, 70 supervisors assessed the knowledge and skills of employees having qualified with a Bachelor’s degree under the recently introduced curriculum in social work and pedagogy. The supervisors were solicited as part of quality assurance regarding the study programme and their assessments were gathered by means of a questionnaire. The University of Luxembourg funded the study. Findings: The newly qualified practitioners were evaluated as adequately trained, while the need was highlighted for a better understanding of the process through which beginner practitioners are socialised into the profession. The results furthermore suggest that practice proficiency extensively draws on generic skills of particular relevance to the social professions. Applications: The findings prompt a more specific focus on generic skills and their role in developing proficiency during practice placements as well as during the first year of employment. Overall, the study serves as one example of how to evaluate the readiness to practise of newly qualified practitioners in the social professions. The output of such skills assessments could inform on any need for curriculum revision at a local level. With a cross-national and comparative approach, evaluations of this kind could potentially guide any adaptations needed in response to the increasing internationalisation of social problems. Keywords Social work, competence, evaluation, fitness to practise, quantitative research, social work education, social work skill

The role of empathy in casemanagement: a pilot study

The article taccles the question what role plays empathy in social work practice and how are empathic ability and the skills practitioners draw on for case management intermingled with each other?. A case vignette study shows that social work professionals and students drew upon empathy in responding to the vignette based on a case management task

Supporting young adults with special educational needs (SEN) in obtaining higher qualifications

Supporting young adults with special educational needs in obtaining higher qualifications is an ambitious, desirable and noble project, occasionally labeled “university for all” or “full inclusion in higher education”. But there is a risk, that beyond inclusive rhetoric, universities persist in being perceived by national policymakers and also perceive themselves as elite organizatins, that is only accessible to highly educated and highly skilled persons that will be successful in labour market competition and so promise to recapitalize (increasingly high) investments in higher education. Not inclusion efforts and individuals with disabilities, but rather national economic growth and international competitiveness are in the centre of contemporary concerns, despite the worldwide ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and global acknowledgment of inclusive education as a human right. While some students with disabilities certainly do manage to adapt to the existing systems of higher education, especially when they receive reasonable accommodations they deserve, but there will be other students with more severe disabilities who may need more support to reach their individual learning goals and who may not promise to 'return' the invest. Yet not only those students with disabilities who are labeled as incompatible with employment remain persistently excluded from higher education. Having in mind this risk, the rhetoric of “university for all” has to be reconsidered. At the same time that many universities are seriously challenged by reductions in public funding, universal design principles diffuse worldwide, and the UN Convention mandates accessibility at all levels of learning, including higher education