Discourses of Disability, the Idea of Fitness to Practise and the Negotiation of Identity Elisabet Weedon Sheila Riddell.

Discourses of Disability, the Idea of Fitness to Practise and

the Negotiation of Identity

Elisabet Weedon Sheila Riddell

Overview

• Background: Discourses of disability and negotiation of identity

• Disability and fitness standards in the professions… with special focus on teaching

• Our project: 4 year longitudinal study• Two case studies: Jean and Andrew:

– Identification of disability– Disability and identity– Experiences of teaching and learning– Work placement – future work

• Conclusion

Tensions within discourses of disability & impact on identity

• Disability and stigma: disability as a deficit• Disability as a political movement: started

by disabled people. Disability seen as a result of barriers in the environment; disability as difference not deficit

• Disability and allocation of resources: disclosure essential for access to resources, e.g. incapacity benefit, or in HE DSA

Disability, fitness to practise and disclosure of disability

• DRC – formal investigation into fitness to practise standards (autumn 2007)

• Medicine and social work professional bodies operate fitness standards; teaching in England does but not in Scotland

• Disclosure discrepancies: 3% of education students in Scotland disclose disability; there are only around 1% of disabled teachers in the workforce

Enhancing the quality and outcome of disabled students’ learning in HE• 4 year longitudinal (2004-2007) ESRC/TLRP• Collaboration between four UK universities• Student survey + interviews with key informants

and academics• Main emphasis: case studies of up to 14

students in each institution: interviews + observations

• Data presented here from one pre-92 university

The institution

• Most undergraduate students study full-time and are young – entry from school via gap year

• High proportion from advantaged background (incl. independent/public schools) – varies in subject areas

• Competitive entry

Issues to be explored

• How is ‘fitness to practise’ understood formally and informally in initial teacher training?

• How do students understand their impairment and how has this evolved?

• At what point do students disclose an impairment to the university and in a workplace?

• Do notions of ‘fitness to practise’ impact on student’s decision to disclose?

• What has been the effect of disclosure (or lack of it) on the individual’s access to resources, reasonable adjustments and identity in the university and on work placement?

Case studies: background

Jean• Mature, married

working class;• Access course prior

to entering university;

Andrew• Single, lived at home

with disabled mother, working-class;

• NC/HNC route to university;

Identification of disability

Jean• Reading, writing but

mainly spelling difficulties at school;

• Not identified as dyslexic until entry to university

Andrew• Cerebral Palsy from

birth which impacted on mobility;

• School supportive & aware of disability

Disability and identity: Jean

Reading and writing difficulties carry stigma (so being identified as dyslexic was problematic):

I come from a generation where it was looked on very badly and you were regarded as stupid … I didn’t tell my mum for ages.

Disability is a negative term:

I don’t like the word … not able, because of the ‘dis’… I still won’t class myself as disabled.

Disability and identity: Andrew

Impairment not defining feature but recognises its impact:

I know that I am impaired to a certain extent … it means you take longer to do things …[and] I can do it [e.g PE] to a certain extent … you do it to your limit

Does not wanted to be seen as different or treated differently:

I don’t want people to say ‘oh look at him, he’s getting extra time’

Teaching, learning and academic support: Jean

Staff were generally supportive and sympathetic but not all were aware of her dyslexia. Some adapted their teaching style:

If she put up an overhead … she would either take another blank piece of paper and [cover part of it] …and she would read it out as well … it was very much you know, you hear one, see one, do one, teach one if that makes sense.

Andrew did not require any specific adjustments to teaching style

Reasonable adjustments at university: Jean and Andrew

• DSA which provided computer and IT support

• Extra time in exams

• In principle they could ask for extensions to coursework but neither of them used it

Lecturers’ understanding of the impact of disability: 1

The teaching courses are slightly different from the average academic course in that these people are all trained to be teachers. They can’t be too disabled or the question would arise about what they are going to do in the classroom (Lecturer 1)

Lecturers’ understanding of the impact of disability: 2

There are people teaching on the social justice and inclusion course who have no awareness of some of the issues around or preferences of people with particular disabilities … just shocking that a course on social justice and inclusion is staffed by people who do not know (Lecturer 4)

Experience of work placement: Jean

• Did not disclose in year 1 and 2 but in year 3 (and later on in year 4)

• Very concerned about other teachers’ attitude to dyslexia

• Very negative response from teacher she was working with when she disclosed (yr3)

• Mixed advice on disclosure from staff at institution

• Decided not to disclose on job application

Experience on work placement: Andrew

No problems year 1 and 2 Major problems in year 3, triggered by

mother’s hip operation – led to stress and was advised to take time off by doctor. School not supportive

His experience in 3rd year led him to disclose his disability on his job application form.

Contradictory discourses

• Disability as a label of ‘administrative convenience’ justifying exclusion from (mainly) labour market

• Disability as ‘spoiled identity’

• Disability as a ‘political category’: difference rather than deficit

Impact of legislation (driven by disability as a political category)

• Universities responded by taking positive action BUT

• Staff within universities do not necessarily accept this interpretation – or lack awareness and understanding of the impact of different impairments

Disclosure: to disclose or not …

• Hidden impairments present particular problem for students

• Students generally do not want to be classed as disabled – but have to in order to gain reasonable adjustments

• Setting impacts on disclosure: There are approx 3% of students on ITA courses that have disclosed a disability; only approx 1% of teachers disclose a disability …

To summarise:

The notion of ‘fitness to practise’ has been discarded as anachronistic and discriminatory; however, it clearly continues to exist in people’s minds, reinforcing the idea of disability as individual deficit and the disabled individual as unworthy of full social inclusion