Exploring the barriers of disability – Social Space Analyses within international research-based

teaching projects

Presentation within session: WS 086 User involvement for people with disabilities (1:2) 10 July 2012, 4-5.30 p.m.

Joint World Conference on Social Work and Social Development: Action and Impact. Stockholm, 8-12 July 2012 :

Prof. Dr. Christian Spatscheck (Hochschule Bremen)Prof. Dr. Karin Wolf-Ostermann (Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin)

Prof. Dr. Kerstin Svensson (Lund University)

Research-based teaching: disability in spatial contexts Educational interest • M.A. Social Work – International teaching projects (since 2008)• Social Work as a research-based profession• Consciousness and understanding about discrimination and exclusion• Personal and ethical approaches

Special focus of the project• To understand life conditions of people with disabilities • Four day project: active social space analyses • to learn about borders, prejudices and limits of disabled in communities. • To make excluded persons visible and heard in public discourses.

Disability? Multi-level understanding of disablity

“Disabled person” as product of intertwined discourses on (at least) three levels: a) The factual properties/handicaps a disabled person has

b) Personal and individual images and coping strategies

c) Shared discourses in families, neighborhoods and society (Results: exclusion, marginalization, discrimination and expectations for confession to the status of the “disabled”

To understand: Regard levels in intersection

Spatial dimensions?

Social spaces (defined by Löw et al.):

- Relational alignments of (zoological) animals and social goods at common places

- Interaction and construction: Spaces are dynamic

Research on local live conditions from life-world perspectives

How to analyse spaces?

- Methods of qualitative and quantitative spatial research to gain knowledge about life conditions in local communities and inhabitants

- e.g. mapping, needle method, walks, interviews, observations, etc.

Participatory social space analyses Level 1: Action research• Methods: To learn to carry out social space analyses• Understanding: To decipher, how disability is “done” within social

interaction, individual construction and structural influences • Direct experience: to experience factual borders, prejudices and

limits for the disabled in local communities • Transformation: To bring results in debates; based on concrete and

current issues• Wheelchair drivers in café, night club, library, student home (walks,

observations, interviews, etc.)

Level 2: Participatory research• Direct involvement of affected groups, citizens, service users• To develop common strategies against exclusion and discrimination

and find solutions for more barrier free communities and societies.

Experiences

Key results

• High discrepancies between declarations, law and reality• Direct experience of exclusion, marginalization,

discrimination and expectations for confession to the status of the “disabled”

• To learn about concrete problems: Often will is there, but solutions are missing

• The need to integrate affected persons in research designs• More need for debate based on concrete and current

issues and facts• To include everyday situations into analyses and further

steps of action.

References to the Spatial Paradigm in Social Pedagogy:

Spatscheck, C./ Wolf-Ostermann, K. (2009): Social Space Analyses and the Socio-Spatial Paradigm in Social Work. Working Paper 2009-1, School of Social Work, Lund University. http://www.soch.lu.se/images/Socialhogskolan/WP2009_1.pdf

Deinet, U. (ed.) 2009: Methodenbuch Sozialraum. Wiesbaden.Deinet, U. / Krisch, R. (2006): Der sozialräumliche Blick der Jugendarbeit. 2nd edition, Wiesbaden.Deinet, U. / Reutlinger, C. (eds.) (2004): 'Aneignung' als Bildungskonzept der Sozialpädagogik. Lernorte. Wiesbaden.Kessl, F. / Reutlinger, C. / Maurer, S. / Frey, O. (eds.) (2005): Handbuch Sozialraum. Wiesbaden.Kessl, F. / Reutlinger, C. (2007): Sozialraum. Eine Einführung. Wiesbaden.Reutlinger, C. (2008): Raum und soziale Entwicklung. Weinheim.

Online journal: www.sozialraum.de (Open access)

References

Prof. Dr. Christian Spatscheck, Hochschule Bremen, Faculty of Social SciencesNeustadtswall 30, D-28199 Bremen, Germany +49 421 5905-2762christian.spatscheck@hs-bremen.de www.christian-spatscheck.de

Prof. Dr. Karin Wolf-Ostermann, Alice Salomon University BerlinAlice Salomon Platz 5, D-12167 Berlin, Germany +49 30 99245-507wolf-ostermann@ash-berlin.euhttp://www.ash-berlin.eu/hsl/wolfoste

Prof. Dr. Kerstin Svensson, Lund University, School of Social WorkPO Box 23, 221 00 Lund, Sweden + 46 46 222 04 61 Kerstin.Svensson@soch.lu.sewww.soch.lu.se

Contact

• Abstract id no: 2392962• Abstract title: Exploring the barriers of disability - Social Space Analyses within international research-based teaching projects•

Session name: WS 086 User involvement for people with disabilities (1:2) • Session date: 2012/07/10, session start time: 4:00:00 PM, session end time: 5:30:00 PM •  • 10 minutes, including questions and discussion.