Social Construction of Disabled Adulthood

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Social Construction of Disabled Adulthood

• Background
• Method
• Themes
• Discussion

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Two questions

• What do the young disabled adults, their parents,
  teachers and friends, believe hinders them most
  in pursuing their learning, work or participating
  in society as adults?
• What are the young disabled peoples hopes and
  expectations for their future as adult members of
  society?

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Goales of the study

• Make visible the important, but not always
  acknowledged, perspective of young disabled
  people about their own situation and future
  posibilities as adults
• Explain how choices made by parents and children
  through childhood and adolescence impact their
  situation as young disabled adults
• Explore how parents, professionals, and the young
  disabled personssocial relationships play an
  important role in framing their experiences and
  their expectations about adulthood

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Three new questions

• What does it mean to be an adult with
  disabilities in Iceland?
• How do young people see themselves reach that
  milestone when they have significant imparements,
  and how do they negotiate adult status?
• How is the adulthood achieved by young people
  with disabilities related to the parenting they
  receive, including parents actions, choices,
  social status and approach to social service
  bureaucracy? Does the role of parents influence
  vary according to the young persons age, type of
  disability label and need for support?

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Modes of Inquiry

• Sample
• Interviews
• Interpretation

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Three Dimentions of Adulthood
The Personal Dimension The Cultural
Dimention The Familial Dimention
From Ferguson, D. L. and Ferguson P. M. 1996
Communicating Adulthood. In Topics of Language
Disorders 16,352-67
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Adulthood -Social Construction
The status of adulthood is most often correctly
assumed as part of a tacit exchange of complex
information through the interactive elements of
language, social context and cognitive
interpretation of relevant information about age
(e.g. the appearance, voice, size and so
forth). Bates 1975
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Findings

• Two roads and the social construction of
• adulthood with a difference
• Group A in the mainstream
• Group C in the special world of disabled people
• The Nomads in the wasetland, group B in a limbo

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Group B
Group A
Group C
All types of schooling
Inclusive schooling
Special school / class
Jump between the two worlds belonging to neither
Advocate and fatalistic
Self advocates
Fatalistic / Accepting
No friends or Hi-friends only.
Friends both disabled and non disabled
Disabled friends only or paid friends/ relatives
Difficult to accept adulthood as applying to self
or struggle to get there by steeple-chase and
sheer will
Reach adulthood slowly, but surely or die
With exceptions They think of themselves as much
younger
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Discussion
1. What is the difference between the social
construction of typical young adulthood and that
of young disabled adulthood?

2. Is it possible to gain normative adult
status if you have disabilities?
3. How do parents, professionals / teachers and
the youths wider social network help or
hinder their transition towards adulthood?
4. What are the roles and statuses available to
disabled adults?
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Allies and Gatekeepers

• Parents
• Teachers
• Other Professionals and Staff
• Friends

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Peter Pan or Adulthood with a Difference and
the Quality of Life