Revisiting the mainstream: the meaning of work for people with acquired disabilities / Revisitando o tradicional: o sentido do trabalho para pessoas com deficiência adquirida

Purpose: The study aimed to investigate the meanings attributed to work by people with acquired disabilities. Originality/value: The study unveils a new understanding of the meaning of work for people with acquired disabilities. Design/methodology/approach: There were conducted in-depth interviews with ten people with acquired disabilities and inserted in the labor market. Findings: The results of this analysis suggest that, for the interviewed group, the work shares its importance with other spheres of life, like the affective one and the family circle. Among the meanings discussed in the scholarly literature, such as pleasure in working and the work as a form of social interaction, there were also new specific meanings attributed by the group, related to the identity of the person with disability, like barriers overcoming, the combat against the stigma of incapacity and the positive impact generation. On the other hand, remuneration and career progression appear as a consequence of work, rather than a factor that brought meaning to their work activities. The findings of this study contributed to a better understanding of the different meanings attributed to work by people with an acquired disability. Among that, the results pointed to the existence of other meanings than the usually addressed in the scholarly literature of the theme, what reinforces the contribution of this article to the study of the meaning of work. Objetivo: O estudo teve como objetivo investigar os sentidos atribuídos ao trabalho por pessoas com deficiência adquirida. Originalidade/valor: As pesquisas nacionais sobre o tema pouco têm focado no entendimento do sentido do trabalho para trabalhadores com deficiência. Design/metodologia/abordagem: Foram realizadas entrevistas em profundidade com dez pessoas que adquiriram uma deficiência e estão atualmente inseridas no mercado de trabalho. Findings: A análise sugeriu que, para o grupo entrevistado, o trabalho compartilha sua importância com outras esferas da vida, como as afetivas e familiares. Além dos sentidos tradicionalmente discutidos na literatura sobre o tema, tais como o prazer em trabalhar e o trabalho como forma de interação social, há novos sentidos atribuídos ao trabalho por este grupo, associados à identidade da pessoa com deficiência, como a superação de barreiras, o combate ao estigma da incapacidade e a geração de impacto positivo na sociedade. Por outro lado, a remuneração e a progressão na carreira apareceram como consequências e não como fatores de geração de sentido. As descobertas desse estudo ajudaram a compreender melhor os diferentes sentidos atribuídos ao trabalho por pessoas com deficiência adquirida. Ademais, seus achados indicaram a existência de “outros” sentidos, além daqueles usualmente abordados na literatura sobre o tema, o que reforça a contribuição desse artigo para o campo de estudos sobre sentido do trabalho

The teacher perspective

As indicated in other chapters of this book, the School for Student Leadership has a focus on relationships and development or growth in understanding of self and others. Not all teachers would choose to teach in this type of school, so this chapter on the teachers’ perspective highlights some of the hopes and aspirations of the teachers working in the SSL. A number of studies within the longitudinal project have included teachers, but the study discussed in this chapter involved a mixed methods study of the 33 teachers working across the 3 campuses of the school during 2010. They were surveyed and interviewed about their perceptions of being a teacher in the SSL. The findings illustrated a genuine commitment to the principles underpinning the core moral purpose of the school and the concomitant level of involvement required to teach in such an environment. While most reported that they did not see their role as ‘teacher’ in this environment to be substantively different from original perceptions they held of themselves as teachers, there was an acknowledgement of the different emphasis that was both possible and necessary within the distinctive context of the setting