Rural social organization in Dent County, Missouri

Also available online.Digitized 2007 AES

Disability in higher education: do reasonable adjustments contribute to an inclusive curriculum?

The study focuses on the importance of inclusive curriculum design in Higher Education (HE) and the impact of reasonable adjustments in ensuring inclusive practices. Although making reasonable adjustments attempts to ensure inclusivity, the data gathered suggests that some staff struggle to accommodate disabled students, due to a lack of knowledge, training and awareness of disability. The findings are drawn from qualitative data collected from five participants by way of in-depth interviews. The study explored the perceptions of staff members in a Law School, and attempts to offer practical recommendations to ensure HE institutions adopt inclusive practices in their curriculum design. The findings suggest that having an inclusive curriculum can in some cases minimise or obviate the need to make reasonable adjustments. It is suggested that HE institutions should now switch their focus to the social model of disability which focuses on attitudes, so as to transform the perception of staff towards disabled students. Additionally, practical solutions are provided in an attempt to recognise that disabled students may need to be treated differently, in order to achieve their full potential, which ultimately ensures inclusion within the curriculum

Bridging the gap: an exploration of the use and impact of positive action in the UK

Despite laws in Britain permitting limited positive action initiatives to combat disadvantage faced by minority groups in employment since the mid-1970s, the subject has notoriously been a neglected and highly controversial area in the UK. Notwithstanding the potential provided by sections 158 and 159 of the Equality Act 2010, it still appears that organisations prefer to steer clear of this opportunity to address disadvantage suffered by protected groups. Whilst there is a body of work considering the theoretical importance of positive action in the UK, there is a lack of empirical exploration of the practical implications of these provisions. This paper will provide a brief overview of the theoretical context and current positive action legislative provisions within the UK. In light of this context, the early findings of a small-scale qualitative study carried out by the authors will be discussed looking at the experiences of a purposive sample of public and private employers in relation to the positive action provisions of the Equality Act 2010. Early research findings suggest that whilst there was a clear willingness and openness by employers to use of outreach measures in order to redress disadvantage, there was evident wariness regarding a move towards preferential treatment as expounded by section 159. Whilst respondents appeared to appreciate the business case for and utility of the positive action measures under section 158, there was far less enthusiasm for more direct preferential treatment, with many respondents raising serious concerns regarding this. These concerns often reflected a highly sensitive risk-based approach towards any action that could expose their organisation to the possibility of “reverse discrimination”

Establishing a meaningful human rights due diligence process for corporations : learning from experience of human rights impact assessment

The United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Business and Human Rights, Professor John Ruggie, has constructed a new international framework, which is set to become the cornerstone for all action on human rights and business at the international level. The principle of human rights due diligence (HRDD) is the central component of the corporate duty to respect human rights within that framework. This article argues that Ruggie's HRDD principle contains the majority of the core procedural elements that a reasonable human rights impact assessment (HRIA) process should incorporate. It is likely that the majority of corporations will adopt HRIA as a mechanism for meeting their due diligence responsibilities. However, in the context of the contentious debate around corporate human rights performance, the current state of the art in HRIA gives rise to concerns about the credibility and robustness of likely practice. Additional requirements are therefore essential if HRDD is to have a significant impact on corporate human rights performance – requirements in relation to transparency; external participation and verification; and independent monitoring and review

Performance of the 2007 WHO Algorithm to diagnose Smear-negative Pulmonary Tuberculosis in a HIV prevalent setting

The 2007 WHO algorithm for diagnosis of smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) including Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) culture was evaluated in a HIV prevalent area of Kenya

Combatting disability discrimination: a comparison of France and Great Britain

This article examines disabled people’s employment in Great Britain and France. Although both countries have poor rates of employment for disabled people compared to non-disabled people, Great Britain’s disabled people’s employment rate is lower than France’s. Possible explanations include weak enforcement mechanisms in Great Britain, British judicial resistance, the lack of an institutional role for British trade unions resulting in an implementation gap and the proactive form of French law, a quota-levy scheme, which has no British parallel. The conclusions suggest which of these explanations are the most plausible and propose that Great Britain considers adopting some French provisions, thus tempering Britain’s voluntarist approach

Participatory budgeting, community engagement and impact on public services in Scotland

The institutional engagement and analysis needed to effectively integrate the requirements of equality legislation into participatory budgeting (PB) processes requires a transformational approach. Equality processes appear to exist in parallel with PB activity, rather than being operationalized as integral to the objectives and character of PB activity at local level. This paper proposes that PB and the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) in the Equality Act 2010 share a transformative intent and potential, but that this is undermined by siloed thinking on equalities and enduring discriminatory behaviour and practices. The paper concludes with propositions for aligning the conceptual links between equality and community empowerment and, thereby, participation in local financial decision-making in practice

Unconscious bias and the medical model: How the social model may hold the key to transformative thinking about disability discrimination

This article seeks to gain access to a new way to engage with disability discrimination and the legal approaches to it by focusing on the two central models: the medical and social models. It discusses how the law has based the definition of disability on the medical model and suggests that this may strengthen some of the underlying factors that contribute to segregation and discrimination of disabled people. This article argues that the law should now switch focus to the social model, in an attempt to transform people’s attitudes towards disabled people and become a positive force to reduce discrimination. It makes reference to the reasonable adjustment duty contained in sections 20 and 21 Equality Act 2010, the Framework Directive and by way of comparison the American with Disabilities Act 1990. Relevant critical theories are integrated as a means to explore the conception and the hierarchy that exist between able-bodied individuals and disabled individuals

Regulating working families in the European Union: a history of disjointed strategies

Families in market economies worldwide have long been confronted with the demands of participating in paid work and providing care for their dependent members. The social, economic and political contexts within which families do so differ from country to country but an increasing number of governments are being asked to engage, or better engage, with this important area of public policy. What seems like a relatively simple goal – to enable families to better balance care-giving and paid employment – has raised several difficulties and dilemmas for policy makers which have been approached in different ways. This paper aims to identify and critique the nature and development of the means by which legal engagement with work-family reconciliation has, historically, been framed in the European Union. In doing so, and with reference to specific cohorts of workers, we demonstrate how disjointed the strategies are in relation to working carers and argue that the EU is unlikely to provide the legal framework necessary to bring about effective change in this fundamentally important area of social policy

'Education, education, education' : legal, moral and clinical

This article brings together Professor Donald Nicolson's intellectual interest in professional legal ethics and his long-standing involvement with law clinics both as an advisor at the University of Cape Town and Director of the University of Bristol Law Clinic and the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic. In this article he looks at how legal education may help start this process of character development, arguing that the best means is through student involvement in voluntary law clinics. And here he builds upon his recent article which argues for voluntary, community service oriented law clinics over those which emphasise the education of students