Núcleo Disca

Disability and citizenship

Author Archives: Comunicaciones Núcleo DISCA

  1. “Look at Me!”: The Public and Digital Political Campaigns of People With Disability During Chile’s Sociopolitical Crisis

    Leave a Comment

    In a context of multiple crises, an important number of people with disability competed to participate in drafting a new constitution in a remote Latin American country. Their experience shows how the way of looking at disability is structured. Based on interviews with candidates to be members of the Chilean constitutional convention, the study examines how they react to contemptuous, deindividualizing, and assistencialist ways of looking that devalue, invisibilize, and cancel them. However, both on the streets and in digital networks, they deploy strategies to counteract this “distribution of the sensible.” An adaptative strategy seeks assimilation through a “we are not different” and “we are equally capable” response to looking. A second strategy, based on differentiation, seeks to build recognition of uniqueness, with candidates hoping to receive a look that recognizes them and allows them to position themselves as leaders to follow: “I saw you, I recognize you, I follow you.”

     

    Note: This article was originally published in English.

  2. Study of a set of reading precursors among Chilean children with Down syndrome

    Leave a Comment

    This article, published in Frontiers in Psychology, presents important findings on reading acquisition in Chilean children with Down syndrome.

    Points of interest:

    • This study explores the performance of 42 Chilean children with Down syndrome on a set of reading precursors (phonological awareness, visual recognition, vocabulary, letter knowledge, and verbal reasoning). The age of these children ranges from 6 to 11 years.
    • 23 participants attended special schools and 19 attended regular schools. The analysis led to reflection on the transformations that should be considered when designing educational programs aimed at reading instruction for children with Down syndrome.
    • The results suggest that children with Down syndrome exhibit a significant improvement in performance after the age of 7, based on the differences found among the three age groups compared in this study.
    • There is a general delay in reading precursors within the group, indicating that children with Down syndrome require even more time to strengthen these skills and, thereby, progress in the formal process of learning to read.
    • The results obtained also suggest that the reading skills of a group of Spanish-speaking children with Down syndrome are sensitive to change and improve with age.

     

    Notes:

    • The following summary was prepared by Núcleo Milenio DISCA and is based exclusively on the original publication. Therefore, it should not be used for citations or references.
    • This article was originally published in English.

  3. Politico-Epistemic Tensions Regarding Personal Assistance and Care for People with Disabilities: An Integrative Literature Review

    Leave a Comment

    Since the 1960s, the Independent Life Movement has demanded personal assistance as a right for people with disabilities to access autonomy. In turn, feminist movements have shown a special concern for the care and profile of the providers. Both postures have created tensions around the provision of personal assistance and care for people with disabilities.

    Aim: To know and analyze the scientific evidence regarding approaches to personal assistance and care for people with disabilities.

    Methods: An Integrative Literature Review using five databases: Dialnet, Scielo, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. The Boolean combinations were: “Personal assistance AND disability”; “Personal assistance AND care AND disability”; “Care AND disability” in English, and “Asistencia personal AND discapacidad”; “Asistencia personal AND cuidados AND discapacidad”; “Cuidados AND discapacidad” in Spanish. A total of 31 scientific articles were obtained. A content analysis was then, with five analysis dimensions emerging.

    Results: The articles approached the positive aspects of personal assistance. Others established the need for more resources in order to not be an exclusive reality for developed countries. Profiles were made of racialized, young, migrant women as the identity behind (informal) care. From the perspective of a feminist disability care ethic, new forms of providing care are proposed, by changing the focus from individual and family responsibility, towards a social and collective focus.

    Conclusion: The evidence analyzed considers various dimensions of the epistemo-political tension between personal assistance and care. The meeting point between both perspectives is interdependence and autonomy; on the one side, for people with disabilities, and on the other, for the women profiled as the main caregivers.

     

    Note: This article was originally published in English.

  4. Are We Closing the Gap? Reforms to Legal Capacity in Latin America in Light of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

    Leave a Comment

    This Article examines the the reforms developed in Latin America over the last decade that have adapted domestic legislation regarding legal capacity toward the support model of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Our examination of the reforms in Costa Rica, Argentina, Peru, and Colombia focuses on the adoption process of the reforms, the main characteristics of the implemented support model, some transitional and implementation aspects of the reforms, and a critical examination of their relationship to the CRPD. Finally, this Article explores some weaknesses related to the reforms’ implementation processes.

     

    Note: This article was originally published in English.

  5. Barriers in the Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health: Experiences of women with disabilities in the far south of Chile

    Leave a Comment

    In this article published in Ex Aequo – Journal of the Portuguese Association for Women’s Studies, important findings are highlighted regarding the exercise of sexual and reproductive health rights among women with disabilities.

    Points of interest:

    • This study explores the barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health services for women with disabilities within the public system in the Magallanes region.
    • The 15 women interviewed express low satisfaction with the quality of sexual and reproductive health services.
    • Women with disabilities report limitations caused by healthcare staff, physical environment barriers, and administrative constraints.
    • There is a double discrimination against women with disabilities in healthcare settings: they are discriminated against both for being women and for having disabilities.
    • They emphasize that their needs are not considered during interactions with healthcare personnel, and they are not allowed to make decisions independently.

     

    Notes:

    • The following summary was prepared by Núcleo Milenio DISCA and is based exclusively on the original publication. Therefore, it should not be used for citations or references.
    • This article was originally published in English.

  6. What Do a Group of Chilean Youth with Down Syndrome Know About Puberty, Romantic Relationships, and Reproduction?

    Leave a Comment

    This article, published in the journal Siglo Cero and available only in Spanish, presents important findings related to the sexual and reproductive health of young people with Down syndrome.

    Points of interest:

    • This study describes the knowledge that young people with Down syndrome have about puberty, romantic relationships, and reproduction.
    • The 12 participants with Down syndrome, aged 13 to 18 and divided into two focus groups, demonstrated limited understanding of basic concepts such as puberty, romantic relationships, and reproduction.
    • The female participants had never heard the word “sexuality,” while the male participants associated the term with “sex,” “romantic relationships,” and “family.”
    • Both groups held misconceptions about the beginning of human life and reproduction.
    • Most participants received information about sexuality from their families. This underscores the need for more formal education in this area, such as sexuality education programs specifically designed for youth with Down syndrome.

     

    Notes:

    • The following summary was prepared by Núcleo Milenio DISCA and is based exclusively on the original publication. Therefore, it should not be used for citations or references.
    • This article was originally published in English.