‘The blind leading the blind’: a phenomenological study into the experience of blind and partially sighted clients with a sighted therapist

The focus on blindness and partial sightedness and improving the lives of those living with blindness and partial sightedness has increased in UK public policy and discourse over the last decade. However, there has been little focus on the psychological and emotional needs of those living with sight loss and how emotional support services may work effectively with this client group. This investigation, using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), examines the experience of nine blind or partially sighted people, aged between 22 and 75 years of age, living in the UK who have had psychological therapy with a sighted therapist in the last two years. The findings highlight various aspects of the participants’ experience under four meta-themes: 1) Struggles between the two worlds, 2) Bringing the ‘elephant’ into the therapy room, 3) Non-verbal communication and 4) Verbal communication and the power of the therapeutic relationship. The discussion highlighted areas for consideration for sighted counselling psychologists and other mental health professionals who may work with clients who are blind or partially sighted. It also explores three major areas: (i) for counselling psychology as a profession to consider how it supports clients who are blind or partially sighted, (ii) for sighted counselling psychologists and other mental health professionals to examine their own attitude toward disability and how they work with this in their profession and (iii) for sighted counselling psychologists to challenge traditional ways of working with touch, silence and talking when working with blind or partially sighted clients

Sexual diversity in the judiciary in England and Wales; research on barriers to judicial careers

Debates about the diversity of the judiciary in the UK have been dominated by gender, race and ethnicity. Sexuality is notable by its absence and is perceived to pose particular challenges. It is usually missing from the list of diversity categories. When present, its appearance is nominal. One effect of this has been a total lack of official data on the sexual composition of the judiciary. Another is the gap in research on the barriers to the goal of a more sexually diverse judiciary. In 2008 the Judicial Appointment Commission (JAC) for England and Wales undertook research to better understand the challenges limiting progress towards judicial diversity. A central gaol of the project was to investigate barriers to application for judicial appointment across different groups defined by “sex, ethnicity and employment status”. Sexual orientation was again noticeable by its absence. Its absence was yet another missed opportunity to recognise and take seriously this strand of diversity. This study is based on a response to that absence. A stakeholder organisation, InterLaw Diversity Forum for lesbian gay bisexual and transgender networks in the legal services sector, with the JAC’s approval, used their questionnaire and for the first time asked lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lawyers about the perceptions and experiences of barriers to judicial appointment. This paper examines the findings of that unique research and considers them in the light of the initial research on barriers to judicial appointment and subsequent developments

Book Review: Bad Girls: Young Women, Sex, and Rebellion before the Sixties

Review of Bad Girls: Young Women, Sex, and Rebellion before the Sixties by Amanda H. Littauer. University of North Carolina Press, 2015

When Hercules Met the Happy Prince: Re-Imagining the Judge

Although often dismissed as a myth, the image of the judge as a Herculean superhero whose mission is to apply the law in a straightforward way retains a tenacious grip on our understandings of the judge and judging. The relationship between Oscar Wilde\u27s Happy Prince and Hercules is one of uncomfortable similarity and difference. Like the Happy Prince, the Herculean judge who inhabits the legal imagination stands alone high upon Mount Olympus invisibly clothed with the appearance of neutrality and objectivity, our infatuation with this aesthetic image securing his position and role, his imposed beauty mirroring the golden facade of the Happy Prince. Yet, increasingly this image of the Herculean judge, like that of the Happy Prince toward the end of his story, is perceived to be somewhat shabby and in need of renovation. However, unlike Hercules, stripped of his aesthetic facade, the Happy Prince retains his appeal. Although this is not traditionally part of the Herculean myth, can we not look for it nevertheless? At the very least, we might seize the opportunity presented by Hercules\u27s apparent need for renovation to envisage a judge with an appeal not dissimilar to Wilde\u27s statue, to consider the importance of empathy and connection in judgment and, in so doing, begin to reimagine the judge

Mapping Knowledge Units Using a Learning Management System (LMS) Course Framework

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to examine the outcomes of using a Learning Management System (LMS) course as a framework for mapping the Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD) 2019 Knowledge Units (KU) to college courses. The experience shared herein will be useful to faculty who are interested in performing the mapping and applying for CAE-CDE designation

Gender Performance, Trauma, and Orality in Adichie\u27s Half of a Yellow Sun and Purple Hibiscus

This thesis examines Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie\u27s Half of a Yellow Sun and Purple Hibiscus in order to explore the implications of trauma on middleclass Igbo women\u27s gender performance. The traumas that the women encounter within the novels occur within the domestic sphere and are results of the Biafran War in Half of a Yellow Sun and domestic abuse in Purple Hibiscus. This thesis interrogates women\u27s experiences within the domestic sphere, ultimately reflecting a larger national trauma that Biafra and later Nigeria undergo as a result of colonial occupation. This thesis concludes with an exploration of the culturally specific practice of orality and storytelling that occurs within both novels that ultimately initiates the healing process for the individual, as well as the nation

Mortality, violence and lack of access to healthcare in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The people of the Democratic Republic of Congo for decades have been living in a situation of chronic crisis. Violence, population displacement and the destruction of infrastructure and health services have devastated the health of the population. In 2001, Médicins Sans Frontières conducted a survey in five areas of western and central DRC to assess mortality, access to health-care, vaccination coverage and exposure to violence. High mortality rates were found in front-line zones, mainly due to malnutrition and infectious diseases. In Basankusu approximately 10 per cent of the total population and 25 per cent of the under-five population had perished in the year before the survey. Humanitarian needs remain acute across the country, particularly near the front line. Infectious-disease control and treatment are a priority, as is increasing access to health-care. Humanitarian assistance must be increased considerably, especially in rural areas and zones that have been affected directly by conflict

Constitutional Law - Local Government Action - Standing to Challenge Restrictive Zoning Ordinances

The Supreme Court of the United States has held that minority nonresidents lack standing to attack a town zoning ordinance where they cannot show that but for the ordinance they could have obtained affordable housing, or that if granted relief they would benefit. Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490 (1975)