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Press
Release
Carrying Out Work & Research With an Intellectual
Disability
A research project currently being carried out by the Austrian Science
Fund (FWF) is examining how intellectually disabled people experience
the process of entering and contributing to the working world. In contrast
to the few comparable studies - which tend to adopt the perspective of
professionals - this project focuses on the actual experiences of the
individuals affected. As part of the project, people with intellectual
disabilities are also involved in the interpretation of the data as "experts
in their own field".
Although various projects have demonstrated that people with intellectual
disabilities can hold their own in the mainstream job market if given
appropriate help and assistance, in Austria they are reliant almost exclusively
on sheltered employment facilities offering work therapy and occupational
therapy. This unsatisfactory situation is due in no small part to a lack
of social awareness and also to the absence of appropriate and fundamental
scientific research. A project by the Faculty of Philosophy and Educational
Sciences at the University of Vienna is now seeking to establish the data
platform so urgently required for this.
Participating in the World of Work
As head of the study, Prof. Gottfried Biewer of the Department of Education
and Human Development at the University of Vienna outlines the ambitious
aim of this extensive project in a few short words: "We are collecting
and analysing the subjective experiences of intellectually disabled people
during their time in the working world and also during the transition
period between school and work. These experiences are often marked by
slights and rejections, despite representatives of the educational and
social sector acting with the very best of intentions. That is why it's
so important to speak to the individuals themselves and to use this data
to build up a picture of their lives, taking into account the personal,
family and work environments."
Career & Research
This research is primarily a long-term study which focuses intensively
on the participation experiences of two groups representing different
stages in life. One group represents young school-leavers who go through
a problematic period of transition before finding a role in the working
world that often corresponds neither to expectations nor potential. The
second is made up of adults who have rarely been able to gain acceptance
on the regular job market and whose working activities are viewed as work
and occupational therapy. The participatory research will concentrate
predominantly on the data for this long-term study. Disabled people offer
their own interpretations of statements made in interviews, and often
help to expand the views of the professional researchers in unexpected
ways. This activity will also be examined as part of the research project
and reviewed from an epistemological perspective.
Data on the Job Market
In addition to entering new territory in the realm of methodology, the
study is also using conventional methods to collect extensive data on
the relevant job market. A full census of structural data on sheltered
employment and data on how intellectually disabled people can access support
services relating to the job market is to be carried out at the beginning
of the year. Ideally, details of all Austrian schoolchildren with intellectual
disabilities who leave school in 2009 and enter the working world will
also be recorded as part of an ongoing analysis. This will take place
from spring onwards. Prof. Biewer is delighted by the considerable interest
public bodies and organisations representing disabled people have expressed
in these plans. The plans focus exclusively on data that could provide
the foundations for planning in the social and educational sector but
has never yet been recorded systematically in Austria. As a result, the
programme of nationwide data collection is supported by the Austrian Federal
Ministry of Social Affairs and Consumer Protection and the Federal Ministry
for Education, Arts and Culture. The project's integration into the teaching
and research activities of the university has proved helpful. Dr. Helga
Fasching, who works on the project alongside Oliver Koenig and Petra Pinetz
(who are funded by third parties), comments: "We can only cope with
the scope of the data collection by involving a large number of students
who can use their degree dissertations to make an important contribution
to gathering data while also demonstrating their methodological skills."
Scientific Contact
Prof. Gottfried Biewer
University of Vienna
Department of Education and Human Development
Universitätsstr. 7
1010 Vienna
Austria
T +43 / 1 / 4277 - 46800
E gottfried.biewer@univie.ac.at
Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
Mag. Stefan Bernhardt
Copy Editing & Distribution
PR&D - Public Relations for Research & Education
Campus Vienna Biocenter 2
1030 Vienna
Austria
T +43 / 1 / 505 70 44
E contact@prd.at
W http://www.prd.at
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