the construction of disability and health: institutionalization, isolation, integration....inclusion
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Check out these slides to learn more about the distinction between integration and inclusion of people with disabilities as well as the socio-spatial isolation that is perpetuated throughout systems and practice. How can we move beyond isolation and even integration and into inclusion?TRANSCRIPT
The Construction of Disability & Health:
APHA Disability Section Chair’s Forum 2013
Integration vs. InclusionInstitutionalization and Isolation
Integration vs. Inclusion Mary Olson and Robert Liston
“…if the way that disabled people are expected to get into a building is round the back, past the bins and through the kitchens, what does that message communicate? How will it make a disabled person feel?” ~Napolitano, 1995
“Good inclusive design will send positive messages to disabled people, messages which tell them: ‘you are important’; ‘we want you here’; and ‘welcome’…”
~Napolitano, 1995
Integration• You can legislate integration and
accessibility- but not attitudes or inclusion
• Barriers to inclusion• Space is organized to perpetuate the
dominance of ‘able-bodied’ people
Inclusion• A belief that communities are better when
representing all people.
• Being in the community vs. being part of the community.
• Special Places
• Environments that exclude people with disabilities are constructed
For Your Consideration• What would a world of inclusion vs. integration look
like? • How can we change landscape to facilitate
inclusion?
Institutionalization & Isolation
Mary Olson and Robert Liston
“An understanding of how disabled people become marginalized and excluded within society cannot be understood without an appreciation of the socio-spatial processes that reproduce social relations .”
~Kitchin, 1998
Institutions as Exclusionary Spaces
• As a way to separate those who are “deviant”
• Creation of institutions• Types of Institutions across time• Modern Definition: Places people live
without choice or as default
Socio-spatial IsolationHistorical interactions create culture
• Where do people belong?• Where can people’s needs be met?
What spaces teach us• Out of sight, out of mind• “Othering”, difference is “bad”• Culturally reinforcing
• Perceptions of where people with disabilities fit & how they belong
The Role of SystemsState Sponsored Isolations
• Institutional bias in Medicaid’s long-term care• Economic benefit to communities
Possibilities• Money Follows the Person• Community First Choice Option
For Your ConsiderationHow do isolation and institutionalization influence:
–How we perceive people with disabilities?–How we run our services? –How we build our environments?