https://www.mdu.se/

Intellectual disability is often discussed in terms of dependence, social support and participation. The right to participate is important in different social contexts; however, because of able-minded judgement there are diminished opportunities within these contexts for disabled people to experience social justice. How intellectual disability and participation are talked about (re)constructs discourses and affects individuals within these discourses. This study explored how staff and leaders talk about participation and intellectual disability. Ten social support services staff and disability sports leaders were interviewed, and the interviews were analysed using discursive psychology. The study showed that intellectual disability is constructed through discourses of being (ab)normal and as an inconvenience for participation. These discourses diminish disabled people’s abilities, rendering participation powerless.

Introduction The ableist rhetoric around sexuality in disability services and beyond can hinder subjective sexual expression and have a powerful impact on health, self-esteem, and everyday life through internalized ableism, structural marginalization, and interpersonal discrimination. The aim of this study was to explore the ableist rhetoric of sexuality and its impacton sexual scripting for people with intellectual disability.

Methods A thematic analysis was carried out on data generated through ethnographic fieldwork at five sheltered accommodations and semi-structured interviews with ten individuals with intellectual disability.

Results The results show that people in Sweden with intellectual disability are desexualized within a moral order that ismaintained in post-institutional social care. Through this moral order, which is deeply embedded in an ableist rhetoric about sexual relationships, sexual scripting for disabled people is constrained both inside post-institutional social care initiatives, and in the broader community of “ableist environments.” In response, disabled people employ various strategies of resistance.

Conclusions A rhetoric of positive sexuality should be a guiding principle for successfully supporting the development of sexual agency on each individual’s own term.

Policy Implications We conclude by encouraging the development of initiatives that will empower and support people with intellectual disability to learn about their sexual rights and to find solutions that allow for development of sexual agencyand subjectivity.

Many children nowadays do not meet the recommended amount of physical activity during a day and are more sedentary, which is accompanied by decreased physical and social health, and well-being. For some children, the school can be the only outlet for playful and organised physical activity. Almost all children attend school for a large part of their day, which makes school an important context for fostering positive attitudes towards physical activity. The purpose of this study was to explore how children in low to middle school talk about physical activity during recess time. A total of 18 students were interviewed using a semi-structured approach. The results show that physical activity during recess is talked about as forming social groups and community and a way to counteract loneliness. There are also contextual categories and behavioural codes in children's talk about physical activity that shape their tendency to participate, be admitted in, and denied from physical activity during recess. The results highlight the power of language and how it can position and shape children's relationship with, and expected outcome of, physical activity. Conclusively, the study shows that physical activity affects children's social well-being and identity construction.

Background: Society is full of norms categorising and labelling people on the basis of abilities, traits, and appearance. People who deviate from normative ideals are subjected to practices of able-mindedness that can stigmatise and marginalise norm-breaking functionality and invoke intellectual disability labels. People on the margins of (dis)ability are often excluded from societal domains such as the labour market and sports and may need help and support in their daily living, which can limit opportunities for participation. As an effort to prevent exclusion for people with intellectual disability labels, specific dis-locations were created; that is, daily activity services, group homes and disability sports.

Aim: The overall aim of the dissertation was to explore and discuss how and for whom participation was constructed in relation to practices of able-mindedness and position in (dis)ability.

Method: The empirical data for the dissertation consists of four studies. Study I used qualitative semi-structured interviews to explore the experiences of people’s participation in daily activity services; the interviews were analysed with qualitative content analysis. Study II employed the observer-as-participant role to obtain observations, with analysis focusing on the discursive patterns in how power affects conditions for participation among residents in group homes. Study III used qualitative open-ended interviews that were analysed with thematic analysis to explore the experiences of participation among athletes in disability sports. Finally, study IV used semi-structured/open-ended interviews that were analysed with discourse analysis to explore how staff in social support services directed to people with intellectual disability and leaders in disability sports talk about participation.

Results: The results show that practices of able-mindedness create codes of conduct and contextual limitations to the construction of participation. People with intellectual disability labels are positioned on the margins and in dis-locations; however, the normatively deviant margin can also be the centre. Participation is encouraged and indeed an overarching aim of social support services and disability sports but only within those dis-locations.

Conclusion: Able-mindedness affects one’s right to participation and position in the societal hierarchy. Locations created for people with intellectual disability labels have good outcomes but are also ableist. The dissertation presents a base of knowledge for constructions of participation in central life contexts for people with intellectual disability labels and ideas of how able-mindedness influence participation. The results are vital for social work practices’ assessment of support services, how to work with participation and in challenging preconceptions about intellectual disability.

In a group home with several apartments along a corridor we noticed that atmidday many of the residents’ doors were open, meaning that everybody whowalks along the corridor of the group home could see into the apartments and see what the resident did. We noticed that there are many scheduled supportservices during this time and asked the staff members why the doors are open.It is because it is easier to provide support

This study explored how participation constitutes and is constituted by practices of power in group homes for people with intellectual disability. The study used disciplinary power as theoretical perspective and was based on 50 h of observation in two group homes with a total of 15 residents. The analysis identifies practices of power and their relationship to individual agency and participation. The results show that institutional structures construct practices of power that define codes of conduct for the group home residents and their possibility for participation. This study offers implications for the daily lives of residents in group homes for people with intellectual disability.

This study sought to explore different understandings of participation in daily activity services among people with intellectual disabilities. Using a pedagogical sociocultural perspective, the research focused on individuals’ perspectives and understandings as well as their account of social interaction, working and learning. In all, 17 people working in daily activity services were interviewed once, and, of these, 14 were interviewed a second time. Using qualitative content analysis, two themes and three categories were singled out. The results show that participation can be understood in two major ways: social interaction and performing work tasks.