Quali-TYDES

Project summary: Aims and objectives The purpose of the Quali-TYDES project is to investigate and explain how new developments in national, European and global policies are impacting on the lives of young disabled adults in six European countries. By combining qualitative longitudinal methods (life stories) with critical policy analysis, the project aims to generate policy-relevant knowledge that is grounded in the experiences and aspirations of young disabled people themselves. Using these methods, the study aims to generate a comparative understanding of national policy regimes in relation to disability, family, work and welfare. As a consequence, the project also aims to investigate the potential for using qualitative case study methods to assist in monitoring states` implementation of international policy obligations, such as those arising from the United Nations and the European Union. The research draws on the lived experiences of one generation of young disabled adults, in six European countries, to explore the following key research questions: 1. What kinds of disability policy developments are evident at the national level, and how do these relate to (a) national traditions, and (b) European and global frameworks of governance? 2. What does adulthood mean to young disabled people, and what are their aspirations and goals for adult life (e.g. in relation to work, family and community life)? 3. What are the qualitative life experiences of young disabled adults, in terms of opportunities, barriers, choices and outcomes experienced over time? 4. What kinds of agency, strategy, support, resources and capital do young disabled adults draw upon to reduce disabling barriers and to build enabling opportunities in their lives? 5. How does the intersection of other significant statuses (such as gender, class, ethnicity, age, sexuality or religion) influence the choices available to young disabled adults in planning their lives? 6. How successful are national and European policy frameworks in supporting young disabled adults to realise the kinds of rights enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities? The key objectives are to: (a) establish a new qualitative research archive of longitudinal/biographical panel data, highlighting the life choices and experiences of disabled people in different European countries; (b) compare and evaluate these life experiences with reference to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, European and national disability policies/strategies; (c) explore how policies, institutions and relationships shape the life choices and chances of young disabled adults, in six European countries, and the extent to which young disabled people`s choices in early adulthood are shaped by their relational and biographical experiences as children; (d) assess the extent to which the aspirations and plans young disabled adults accord with actual outcomes over time, and to identify the ways in which policy implementation shapes key barriers, opportunities, and turning points in this process. Non-technical summary This is a six country study that combines critical policy analysis with qualitative longitudinal methods (life stories) to explore the impact of national, European and global policies on the lives of young disabled adults. Disability has emerged as a significant dimension in understanding European citizenship, social exclusion and equality yet there is an almost complete absence of systematic international comparison grounded in the real life experiences of disabled people themselves. The European Union`s landmark signature of the new UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the development of its EU Disability Strategy demand added European value, and a co-ordinated response to this task. The research will be conducted in six European countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Ireland, Norway, Spain, and the UK). This combination of countries is purposeful and important to the overall comparison, including the representation of diverse national cultures, policy and welfare traditions, EU membership and non-membership. While each country case study has intrinsic national importance the key value of the project is in the comparison and synthesis of experiences from different national cultures, state types and policy contexts. The empirical work will focus on following the life experiences of a single generational cohort of young disabled adults (born in the 1980s, now aged 19-29). This sample is significant, because there is an opportunity to follow them at a formative period in their work and family lives and because they are the first generation to forge their adult lives within a comprehensive international rights framework. Qualitative tracking methods will involve life history interviews and follow-up interviews with a minimum of 20 participants in each country, in three waves of data collection, over a three year period (i.e. involving a minimum panel of 120 individuals). However, this is much more than a `life history` project. The biographical data will be combined with three waves of documentary analysis, including: reviews of national research evidence; critical reviews of developments in national and European policies; comparative reviews of findings from the research across all countries. The purpose is to reveal how policies, social relations, institutions and barriers affect the lives of disabled people and to learn more about `what works` in real lives lived over time. Connecting micro-level accounts with macro-level analysis offers a powerful approach to understanding disability and builds on the applicants` prior contribution in defining and developing `life course` approaches to critical disability studies. The project offers timely and significant benefits in the development of academic and policy knowledge and provides, for the first time, a systematic comparison of the real life implications of changing disability policy frameworks in European countries.

Quali-TYDES aimed to investigate if and how policies influenced the lives of young disabled persons in different European States. The cohort focussed within the project, participants who were born in the 1980ies, has often been considered as the 'first integrated generation' of disabled persons, as they potentially witnessed the change from segregated settings of education, work and living to more inclusive ones. Across Europe, a wide range of policies governed these changes on different levels, all aiming to modify rights, services and institutions to allow for participation and inclusion of disabled people. While these efforts on the policy level were seen as a radical shift, enabling persons to live their lives as full citizens rather than objects of care, relatively little is known about the impact of these policies on the biographies of the addressed subjects. The project sought to research into this gap by collecting life stories of disabled persons born in the 1980ies in four different European countries (Austria, Ireland, Spain and Czech Republic). Data was analysed by a specific framework that was developed within the project partnership with Universities of these 4 countries, combining critical policy analysis, life course theory and qualitative research. In the analysis, the partnership focused on the area of education, as, on the one hand, this area can be considered as the most prominent within the efforts for change, and, on the other hand, school has proved to be the most crucial phase for following life phases, determining future opportunities and trajectories. Results show that, on the policy level, in each country different, but strong efforts were taken to move from segregated education of disabled children and young people in special schools to more inclusive settings in mainstream schools. On the 'micro level' of individual biographies we can see, that these changes indeed allowed some disabled students to spend their school life in general schools and proceed to tertiary education. However, analysis showed that only those persons, who possessed a high level of social and cultural capital, could assess this pathway through mainstream education. Here, families played a significant role, as they - different to families of nondisabled children - had to ensure participation of their children by offering special support that the schools did not provide, or fighting for access to mainstream schools. Disabled students in general schools were often bullied and had to develop techniques to make their way through hostile social environments. Developing and performing resilience, allowing to reject ableist attributions and discourses, was regarded as key for surviving this normalcy by participants. In addition to these phenomena at peer level, ableist regimes of mainstream schools were uphold by professional practices that need to be considered as highly problematic, such as separating students with special educational needs from 'regular' students. However, most students who made their way through mainstream school settings continued their educational trajectory at universities or colleges. At this stage, the implementation of polices on personal assistance seemed to have a serious impact, as this service was considered as facilitating greater educational attainment and increasing opportunities for self-determination in post school life. Taking a retrospective view on their educational trajectories, participants who went through special schools, complained about a low level of academic learning and an often excessive focus on therapeutic aspects in these settings. These participants reported of bullying by peers, too - and ableist assumptions of their cognitive potential by teachers. At the transition to working life, most participants of this part of the sample reported of few choices, leading them from one segregated setting to the other, from special school to sheltered workshops. In sum, across participating countries, policies on inclusive education led to the opportunity to get enrolled to mainstream schools, but maintaining on this pathway was only possible if possessing a high level of social and cultural capital. On the other hand, analysis reveals that a lot of participants of this cohort, spent their school life in special schools that appeared to offer only a low quality of learning, failing to equip their students with the skills they needed for participating on the first labour market.