The impression that I get : educational inclusion explored through the voices of young people with vision impairment

Despite the notion of educational inclusion of students with disabilities increasing in popularity, the day-to-day reality of its effectiveness remains mostly unknown. This paper reports key findings of a small-scale qualitative study that was conducted with a group of young people with vision impairment who attended an inclusive secondary school. The aim of the research was to ascertain their voiced experiences of their inclusion. Relevant to the study was the researcher’s insider status, which allowed for his unique insight and shared experiences with participants to influence data collection and analysis. The students reported a constant trade off that occurred between their aspirations for access and autonomy and practices of other stakeholders in the school that both facilitated and inhibited their inclusion. In sum, the students’ inclusion was ineffective because of habitual inhibiting actions of others. Recommendations are made based on Slee’s (2001) call for altered teaching and learning realities to promote educational inclusion, and a model of social justice that could bring about increased student agency (Higgins, Macarthur & Kelly, 2009)

Factors Limiting Organic Carbon Degradation by Antibiotic-Resistant Heterotrophic Microorganisms in Wastewater Contaminated Sediments

This study aims to assess the interactions between antibiotic resistance and the ability of heterotrophs effected by highly polluted environments to remediate antibiotics from soil via biodegradation. These findings would reveal whether a self-cleaning process is occurring in the waters of Western NY. Water and sediment heterotrophs were obtained from wastewater contaminated environments to understand the factors influencing metabolism. A total of 113 isolates from Charlotte, Durand, and Payne Beaches, the Genesee River, and Hemlock Lake were cultured and detected for antibiotic resistance to 24 different antibiotics. Of these, seven robust bacteria from sediments were considered for their ability to use a single antibiotic as their sole carbon source — available carbon limited substrate utilization. Microbes were able to remediate antibiotic substrates from soil between 18.1-42.1% at one-times the concentration, whereas two and three times the original concentration was impotently degraded by 13.4-24.0% and 5.7-18.2%, separately. Heterotrophs also demonstrated unique substrate binding affinity for alternative substrates, which were discovered to be degraded between 1.05% to 72.96%. We found the best alternative substrates with enzyme activity to be tetracycline (70.26-72.96%), chloramphenicol (49.28-66.78%), and trimethoprim (54.51-57.22%). An assessment of antimicrobial susceptibility revealed that the highest resistance was observed to aminoglycoside antibiotics, followed by cephalosporins, beta-lactams, and fluoroquinolones. A robust isolate from Durand Beach was resistant to 19 out of the 24 antibiotics under evaluation. We posit that heterotrophs of highly polluted environments are restricted by carbon-availability, have unique binding affinity for alternative substrates, and are multidrug-resistant

Urban vegetation, wellbeing and pro-environmental behaviour: a socio-ecological experiment in Wellington City, New Zealand

Investigates whether engagement with urban nature influenced the wellbeing and pro-environmental behaviour of residents of Wellington City, New Zealand. Abstract The challenges ahead for sustainability and biodiversity conservation require a better understanding of the relationship human beings have with the natural environment. The evidence that nature has a positive influence on human wellbeing is extensive but there is uncertainty about the influence of urban vegetation in the immediate vicinity of residents’ homes. Current research is also inconclusive as to the mechanisms that underlie the relationship between nature, human wellbeing and pro-environmental behaviour. Investigates whether engagement with urban nature influenced the wellbeing and pro-environmental behaviour of residents of Wellington City, New Zealand. Engagement with nature was specified by the amount of vegetation cover in urban neighbourhoods and participation in a community-planting scheme. Wellbeing was assessed by measures of mental and physical health and satisfaction with life. &nbsp

The “inclusion” of students with vision impairments: generational perspectives in Australia

In this paper I draw upon findings of a recent qualitative project conducted in Queensland, Australia in which all actors – the researcher and 5 participants aged 13-17 years — were linked together by our shared experiences of being students with impaired vision (VI) and who were educated in inclusive secondary schools in Australia during the last two decades. The narrative demonstrates the alienating legacy of two everyday routines of schooling, the placement and the daily commute. In the paper I show how referential knowledge acquisition of a trans-identity research alliance can reveal barriers to inclusion that might be ordinarily overlooked. Theoretically I map the research relationship formed between myself and participants using both Foucault’s analysis of how human beings are made subjects (1982) and Bourdieu’s understanding of reflexive interviewing in qualitative research (1998). The empirical contribution of this paper is to demonstrate how special education discourses render subjects more “special” than the sum of their actual impairments, and methodologically to highlight the role of qualitative inquiry in the field of inclusive schooling

Experiences of Pregnancy Loss in Low- and Low-Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-synthesis

This item is only available electronically.Pregnancy loss is an unexpected pregnancy outcome faced by parents around the world. The grieving process is complex and influenced by the type of care and support received. It has been estimated that approximately ninety-eight per cent of stillbirths occur in low-income countries. Despite this high prevalence, limited literature that addresses pregnancy loss in these countries exists. This study aimed to explore experiences of pregnancy loss in low- and low-middle-income countries. Employing a meta-synthesis design, 18 studies from 15 countries comprising 1152 participants who had experienced either a miscarriage or stillbirth were synthesised using a meta-aggregative approach. The meta-synthesis resulted in three findings that explored how parents experience and manage their grief after pregnancy loss, the explanations used to make sense of pregnancy loss, and the experiences of care and support following pregnancy loss. The results have implications for pregnant women living in low- and low-middle-income countries and women of reproductive age from these countries who may have re-located. Pregnant women from low- and low-middle-income countries seeking care in Australia may continue to be impacted by cultural beliefs. Therefore, Australian healthcare professionals should have knowledge about how cultural beliefs influence women’s health behaviours.Thesis (B.PsychSc(Hons)) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 202

Blindness/sightedness: Disability studies and the defiance of di-vision

This chapter explores the potential for disability studies to counter the ongoing marginalisation of people living with vision impairment by interrogating ocular-centric and ocular-normative representations of blindness. Though a generally easy-to-define category of impairment, blindness, or vision impairment, is uniquely positioned socially, culturally, politically and theoretically. Ableist notions have a unique impact on concepts of vision, and thus on blindness, to which disability studies scholarship must respond. Both G. Kleege and M. Schillmeier insist that John Locke’s empirical project on blindness not only privileges visual perception, but also privileges sightedness as an authority to speak of blindness experiences. With specific regard to vision impairment, blindness features in the ancient Greek ‘culture of light’ at the limits of social and cultural boundaries, although paradoxically, vision-impaired people are also celebrated for having superior sight. Whether fully or partially sighted, congenitally or adventitiously blind, each person comes to know blindness in particular ways

'What is History?' Africa and the excitement of sources with Year 7

Many history departments choose to begin their Year 7 curriculum with an introduction to the nature of history and the processes in which historians engage as they develop, refine and substantiate claims about the past. In this article, Adbul Mohamud and Robin Whitburn report on an such an introductory unit, designed with a specific focus on the history of Africa and an emphasis on the work of African historians in constructing interpretations of the past based on archaeological sources (such as artefacts and surviving buildings) as well as written materials. With contributions from Sharon Aninakwa, Ciara McCombe and Nebiat Michael, three history teachers who trialled an early version of the enquiry, they explain its power not only in shaping in students’ understanding of what history is, who engages in it and how they do so, but also in establishing important ideas about the richness and diversity of African history and the deep roots within that continent of both Christianity and Islam..

Anatomy of Enquiry: deconstructing an approach to history curriculum planning

It is almost 20 years since Michael Riley first invited Key Stage 3 history teachers to ‘choose and plant’ their enquiry questions. Many members of the history education community have taken up that invitation, making use of overarching enquiry questions to structure students’ learning. But what is meant by enquiry in this context is sometimes poorly understood by senior leaders and policy makers, particularly those who are not history specialists. In writing this article, Abdul Mohamud and Robin Whitburn seek to clarify what they regard as the essential features of any historical enquiry within the school curriculum. In setting out this detailed anatomy, they draw on seven enquiries developed by different teachers and shared in the pages of Teaching History over the past 20 years. They also draw on three of their own enquiries, developed as directors of Justice to History, working in partnership with others. Just as Riley turned to the idea of garden design, so Mohamud and Whitburn provide readers with a powerful metaphor to enrich the explanation of each of their essential elements

Ontologies of inclusion and teacher education

In the complex of marginalizing theories, policies, and practices, bot h in the academy and education more broadly, the design of inclusive e ducation scholarship is intentionally relational. The purpose of this chapter is to examine how theories affecting inclusion direct the remi t of teacher educators. In particular, attention is directed at interd isciplinary scholarly practice arising from individual and institution al values that can and do go by uncritically questioned. The chapter d escribes the development of a program of inclusive education scholarsh ip within teacher education that emphasizes ontological scrutiny. Lear ning outcomes are made explicit promoting advanced understandings abou t the application of theory, policy, curriculum design, resources, and pedagogy to differentiate teaching programs in ways that are accessib le to learners with diverse interests, needs, and backgrounds. Graduat es are anticipated to meet challenging conditions of resistance to inc lusion and be able to work in and against these with conviction