Social Sciences

Honour-based violence can be considered a serious global problem that involves violations of human rights, and having a disability may increase the risk of being subjected to violence. The purpose of this study was to investigate the situation and needs of persons with disabilities who have been subjected to honour-based violence. Interviews were conducted with a sample of seven women and three men aged 20–60 from different minority groups living in Sweden. All had different disabilities, including intellectual disabilities, PTSD, neuropsychiatric disabilities, mental illness, impaired hearing, deafness or deaf blindness. Thematic analysis was used, identifying four themes: A family context in the shadow of violence, Violence in different forms, Conditional belonging and The price of freedom. An intersectional perspective highlights how disability, in combination with gender, age, culture, religion and honour norms, increases vulnerability to control and violence. The common thread was the group’s specific exposedness to various forms of violence. The results point to the importance of recognising the complexity of having a disability in an honour-based context. A broader perspective is necessary to develop both measures to prevent and combat this violence and support for those who have disabilities and live with protected identities.

Even when designed by and for members of (multiple) oppressed groups, nightlife is generally an unsafe experience. In response to this, awareness teams have emerged internationally in recent years, ensuring that members of these groups can continue to participate in nightlife. Based on semi-structured qualitative interviews with activists in Graz, Austria, contextualised with autoethnography as well as a discourse analysis of policies and recommendations from activists in the broader Austrian and European contexts, I explore in this paper how awareness labour can contribute to transformative justice. I argue that by preventing the most vulnerable members of oppressed groups from being excluded from nightlife and educating everyone who engages with them within nightlife about oppression and privilege, awareness labour sits at the intersection of care and activism. As such, it bears potential to effect social change by teaching a broad segment of society about different practices of coming together that are not based on exploitation, extraction, or oppression. Awareness labour broadens our understanding of activism by intervening in the unjust distribution of care. The paper concludes by proposing areas for further research to determine how to realise the transformative potential of awareness labour.

Faculty with disabilities are under-represented in institutions of higher education (IHE). Barriers to full inclusion and access have been described in recent syntheses and include issues surrounding in/visibility, disclosure concerns, stigma, denial of access needs, and feelings of isolation, among other concerns. Although IHE in the United States are bound by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and related legislation, accommodations for faculty are often provided slowly, sometimes reluctantly, and through arcane structures that prove difficult to navigate and involve decision-makers with limited training in disability. Creating equitable futures for individuals with disabilities requires a systematic approach that redresses prior harms, acknowledges present challenges and successes, and works toward ameliorating social, cultural, and physical environments to maximize inclusion and access. To better understand the needs of faculty with disabilities and to inform efforts to redress associated harms, we opportunistically analyze data from a survey of faculty with disabilities conducted at a public university in the American Southwest. We provide descriptive statistics of quantitative data and thematic analysis of qualitative findings. Themes address the need to prevent discrimination and stigma experienced by faculty with disabilities, to reduce inconsistencies in the provision of accommodations, and to be proactive and inclusion-oriented (rather than compliance-oriented) when designing and implementing solutions. We conclude with general guidance for institutions seeking to create such cultures.