The Common Agenda Between Old Women,Women with Disabilities and All Women

Popular belief assumes a common agenda between old women and women with disabilities. The stereotype is that all old women are disabled and all women with disabilities may as well be old; both groups are stigmatized and marginalized, even in the feminist community. While the two groups share social invisibility and oppression, they are different in terms of their history, political goals and philosophy. Both groups desire to distance themselves from each other; those who are disabled because they have too often been warehoused into nursing homes with the old, the old who may not be disabled and don't want to face that possibility. Yet there exists compelling common ground as both groups struggle against their oppression. All women face a dual task: to confront their oppressor as well as their own internalization of that oppression. Since women with multiple oppressions are more sharply confronted with both tasks, they are on the cutting edge of the vital issues all women face. They can therefore become the teachers and heroes for all women in the common struggle for empowerment and freedom.     

Whiteness and Disability: Double Marginalization

Whiteness involves a set of privileges that are lost or removed when a person becomes, or is perceived to be, disabled. For European American women, disability impacts femininity, the part of identity that differentiates them from European American men who hold maximal power and privilege in U.S. society. Disability represents a health issue, a barrier to social participation, and vulnerability to individual and societal abuse. Development of a healthy disability identity allows European American women to negotiate the multicultural situation of being White, women, and disabled.     

Toward a feminist theory of disability

We need a feminist theory of disability, both because 16 percent of women are disabled, and because the oppression of disabled people is closely linked to the cultural oppression of the body. Disability is not a biological given; like gender, it is socially constructed from biological reality. Our culture idealizes the body and demands that we control it. Thus, although most people will be disabled at some time in their lives, the disabled are made "the other," who symbolize failure of control and the threat of pain, limitation, dependency, and death. If disabled people and their knowledge were fully integrated into society, everyone's relation to her/his real body would be liberated.     

Women,Work, and Disability

This article describes career development, labor market utilization, occupational and career mobility, achievement, and attainment paths of both women and disabled women as workers.     

Perceptions of Deservedness of Social Aid as a Function of Prenatal Diagnostic Testing1

This study examined whether judgments of deservedness of social aid subsequent to the birth of a disabled child vary as a function of prenatal diagnostic testing (PDT) use as predicted by the attribution‐affect‐action model (Weiner, 1980). A sample of family physicians/obstetricians (n= 341) and a university employee sample (n= 281) made attribution ratings in 3 scenarios in which an at‐risk pregnant woman gave birth to a disabled child. The findings indicate that women who chose not to use PDT or who chose to continue the pregnancy following a diagnosis were judged more responsible, more to blame, and less deserving of both sympathy and social aid subsequent to giving birth to a disabled child than were women to whom testing was not made available.     

A Good Abortion Is a Tragic Abortion: Fit Motherhood and Disability Stigma

In the context of abortion stigma, most abortion stories remain untold. The stories we do tell of abortion are often told to morally recuperate the status of the woman who has an abortion through a recourse to tragedy. Tragedy frames experiences where every choice produces some suffering, so decisions are geared toward maintaining individual integrity rather than adherence to absolute moral truths. This article argues that one dominant tragic abortion narrative, that of the disabled fetus, works to recuperate the moral status of “fit” mothers while actively constructing disabled lives as unlivable and undesirable. The option to stigmatize disability in recuperating the moral status of the woman who has an abortion relies on eugenic logics that also construct a variety of women (racialized, poor, disabled, and young) as illegitimate reproductive subjects. The article analyzes narratives of Sherri Finkbine's 1962 abortion in relation to contemporary narratives of late‐term abortions involving nonviable fetuses to expose how investment in medical judgments of good births enables particular women to make use of tragic narratives to maintain their status as moral mothers without disturbing broader abortion stigma or eugenic logics.     

Views on Aging: How Caring for an Aging Parent Influences Adult Daughters’ Perspectives on Later Life

Approximately 24 million Americans provide informal (unpaid) care to a family member or friend who is disabled or ill. The most common informal caregiving relationship is that of an adult child providing assistance to an elderly parent. Women in midlife represent most of the unpaid caregivers for older adults, yet little is known about how providing care affects women’s beliefs about and desires for their own aging. The purpose of this study was to understand how being a caregiver affected adult daughters’ perspectives on their own late life. In-depth interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of 15 women between the ages of 50 and 65 who were providing care to an ill and disabled parent or parent-in-law. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed that caregivers were affected by the caregiving experience in five ways: gaining awareness, provoking fears, providing a comparison for current functioning, providing firsthand knowledge about aging, and providing an example of how to age. This study offers an alternative perspective on the well-documented negative consequences of caring for an older person, suggesting that caregiving encourages personal growth for adult daughters in midlife.     

The female sexual delinquent]

Among 371 adult sexual delinquents, there were only 14 women. From a total of 16 female sexual delinquents, 9 were feeble-minded, 4 mentally disabled, 3 were physically disabled, and almost all were uneducated and solitary people. The personality was distinguished by emotional disturbances, unsteadiness, impulsiveness, and often anti-social behaviour. Only in the cases of incest between brother and sister were cases of inhibited female character discovered. Among others, 3 cases of sexual crimes against children, and one case of probable fetishism are presented. Traditional moral inhibitions, passivity and an extensive lack of aggressiveness in the sexual behavior of woman, together with a stronger mental link between eroticism and sexuality than with the male, are seen as the main causes for the low figure of female sexual delinquents.     

Examination of potential disparities in suicide risk identification and follow-up care within the Veterans Health Administration

To improve the identification and intervention of suicide risk, the Veterans Health Administration implemented the use of electronic patient record flags (PRF) to indicate when a veteran is identified as high risk for suicide and to increase the clinical contacts made with the veteran. The current study utilized an intersectional approach to assess potential disparities in the likelihood of receiving a PRF and the likelihood of receiving post-PRF follow-up care among veterans with substance use disorders (SUDs). Among 458,092 veterans who received a SUD diagnosis in 2012, Black veterans were less likely to receive a PRF, although Black-disabled veterans and Black-female veterans were more likely to receive a PRF. Homelessness was related to greater likelihood of receiving a PRF and post-PRF care. Hispanic/Latinx veterans who experienced homelessness were more likely to receive post-PRF care, while disabled veterans who experienced homelessness were less likely. Hispanic/Latinx, female veterans, and Black-disabled veterans were significantly less likely to receive post-PRF care. Overall, few marginalized or intersecting identities were associated with decreased PRF or decreased follow-up care. There are opportunities for specific strategies that promote engagement in VA follow-up services for veterans identifying as Hispanic/Latinx women, disabled Black veterans, and disabled homeless veterans.     

Who's counting? Access to UK counsellor training: A demographic profile of trainees on four courses

This paper examines the profiles of students entering four British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) recognised counsellor training courses in the North of England. Data were collected by means of self‐completed questionnaires. The majority of students were white women; a significant percentage were registered disabled and on low incomes. Contrasts between entrants to HE and FE training institutions were found. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Training Counselors for Work with Special Populations: A Second Look

Literature on the counseling needs of special populations typically has focused on the inadequate treatment those populations receive. Counselor education programs have responded by developing courses that target specific populations such as women, minorities, or disabled people. There are serious drawbacks, however, to this proliferation of specialized courses. In this article the authors discuss those drawbacks and argue that counselor education programs should include an integrated course that facilitates student self-awareness in conjunction with practical experience with a variety of clients.     

Impact of Applicant Disability on Selection: The Role of Disability Type, Physical Attractiveness, and Proximity

A laboratory experiment contrasting disabled and non-disabled job applicants assessed the impact of disability type, physical attractiveness, and proximity of the job opening to the decision maker. Physically disabled applicants were rated higher than either non-disabled or mentally disabled applicants. However, some evidence was found of a bias against disabled applicants, particularly the mentally disabled, when the position involved was in close proximity to the decision maker.     

Depression and achievement in subgroups of children with learning disabilities

Eighty-five learning disabled children were assigned to four subgroups and administered measures designed to assess the relationship between depression and academic achievement. As a group, these children were more depressed than nondisabled children. The subgroups, which were identified as learning disabled only, learning disabled with low IQ, learning disabled with socio-emotional disturbance, and learning disabled with hyperactivity, did not differ in magnitude of depression; however, the relationships between depression and achievement and IQ were substantially different in each subgroup. For the two largest subgroups, learning disabled only and learning disabled with socio-emotional disturbance, it was suggested that depression is the consequence of learning failure in the former and a possible cause of learning failure in the latter. These findings underscore the importance of depression, a heretofore neglected variable, for the understanding and remediation of learning disabilities.     

Verbal rehearsal and selective attention in children with learning disabilities: A developmental lag

To investigate the development of verbal rehearsal strategies and selective attention in learning disabled children, Hagen's Central-Incidental task was administered to younger learning disabled (M CA = 8.68 years) and normal (M CA = 8.62 years) boys in Experiment 1 and to intermediate (M CA = 10.18 years) and older (M CA = 13.48 years) learning disabled boys in Experiment 2. Also, in Experiment 2, an experimentally induced verbal rehearsal condition was included to determine its effects on serial recall and selective attention performance. In Experiment 1, the serial postion curve of the normals revealed both a primacy and a recency effect, whereas that of the learning disabled revealed a recency effect only. In Experiment 2, both the intermediate and the older learning disabled exhibited both primacy and recency effects under both standard and rehearsal conditions. A developmental analysis of central recall for the three learning disabled groups revealed constant age-related increases in overall central recall and in primacy recall. That the normals recalled more central, but not more incidental, information than the learning disabled in Experiment 1 suggests that the learning disabled are deficient in selective attention. Correlational findings suggest that the selective attention of the learning disabled improves with age. The results were interpreted as support for the hypothesis of a developmental lag in the learning disabled population.     

The Effects of Effort on Helping the Physically Disabled

Abstract

Interactions with physically disabled people often elicit both the desire to avoid the stigmatized and dependent person and feelings of responsibility to help the disadvantaged. This study examined the effort required to help, the helper's gender, and the help received by disabled and nondisabled confederates in searching for a lost object. One confederate was actually disabled and totally dependent on others for completing the helping task, but the other confederate was not disabled. Results indicated a significant interaction of effort and confederates' level of ability. Post hoc tests indicated no differences in helping disabled and nondisabled confederates in the low-effort condition, but, in the high-effort condition, the disabled confederate received significantly more help. These findings suggest that when costs of helping were low, decisions about helping each confederate did not appear to differ; but when costs were high, feelings of social responsibility outweighed both the additional effort involved and tendencies for avoidance in decisions to help the disabled confederate.     

基于文本阅读的间接接触也可改善公众对残疾人的态度

以镶嵌残疾人图片的正性行为描述性信息为文本阅读材料,以大学生为被试,采用概念启动范式,考察了健全人对残疾人态度改善的可能性.研究结果表明,阅读残疾人正性行为描述性材料不仅可以降低健全人对残疾人的负性认知评价,而且可以提高其对残疾人的钦佩感和减弱其对残疾人的嫌弃感,同时也可提高健全人对该类人群的积极趋近行为和减弱对该类人群的消极趋近和消极回避行为,从而证明基于文本阅读的间接接触可改善公众对残疾人的负性态度的假设.因此,创造条件鼓励残疾人尽力发挥其积极的社会功能,引导和塑造其身残志不残的品质,有助于改善健全人对该类人群的消极态度.     

Allocation of study time and recall by learning disabled and nondisabled children of different ages

Study time and recall by learning-disabled and nondisabled children of five different ages were examined in a task requiring recall of digits that were presented at the child's own rate. Recall increased with age and was significantly higher by nondisabled than disabled children, particularly at older ages. As additional digits of each sequence were presented, study time by 8-year-old disabled and nondisabled groups were relatively constant, increased in older disabled and nondisabled children, but increased more in older nondisabled children than older learning disabled children. Instructions in hierarchical grouping of digits increased recall by all groups to a similar degree, but the increase by younger children and learning disabled children was associated with longer study times. The results suggest that allocation of study time and recall are developmentally delayed in learning disabled children.     

SEX DIFFERENCES AMONG THE LONG-TERM MENTALLY DISABLED

Although the "chronically mentally ill" have become a subject of national concern and although differences among the young, old, and minorities have been recognized, sex differences have been largely ignored. The authors describe the experientially determined problems of long-term mentally disabled women. Research is presented from a review of 320 hospital records of patients served in seven community and state hospitals throughout Michigan, encompassing client variables and service information. Significant sex differences were found for client age, marital status, living arrangement, diagnosis, functioning level, voluntary/involuntary status, admission information, medications, medical care and destination post-discharge. Many of the results confirm stereotypes of sex differences in institutionalized populations (age, diagnosis, and so forth). Other results, such as more women living independently and no sex differences in violent behaviors, are contrary to popular assumptions. Using case studies, the authors further discuss the important issues suggested by the results, e.g., why women become psychiatric patients, discharge planning, and over-medications. A plea is made for a greater amount and intensity of research on women with long-term mental disabilities.     

Is self disclosure by a physically handicapped proband reciprocated by the interaction partner? An experimental study of the effect of physical handicap on interaction behavior with non-handicapped interaction partners

An experimental study tested whether an able-bodied person's positive disposition toward a disabled interaction partner was effective in the amount of reciprocation given to the disabled partner's self-disclosure. Sixty female subjects were confronted with either a disabled or nondisabled conversation partner who showed either a high or a low amount of self-disclosure. We anticipated that a "sympathy" effect of disablement in the amount of the subjects' self-disclosure would result from the nondisabled partner's overcompensation. This arises from an effort to compensate the negative, stereotyped attitudes to the disabled in actual behavior toward a single, disabled person by more strongly reciprocating the self-disclosure of a disabled interaction partner compared to a nondisabled one. Results showed that, contrary to expectations, self-disclosure was equally reciprocated with both a disabled and a nondisabled partner. However, a "sympathy" effect was found in the impression judgments on the disabled partner who had shown a high amount of self-disclosure in the previous conversation. The lack of a "sympathy" effect in the amount of self-disclosure was possibly the result of (1) the reciprocation of self-disclosure not being exclusively determined by intentional control processes; and/or (2) the evaluative significance of the amount of self-disclosure not being clear to the subjects in the interaction studied. It is concluded that the efforts of the nondisabled to show an unprejudiced attitude toward a disabled interaction partner are mostly effective in other aspects of behavior than the amount of self-disclosure.