There are many barriers and obstacles that need to be removed to make the urban environment more accessible for people with disabilities. There are currently no adequate tools for urban planners to assess and address these obstacles. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) provide powerful methods for the visualization and analysis of spatial data, including the kind of data important in studies of accessibility. This study suggests a method urban planners can use to identify accessibility obstacles and to propose future actions to fix them.A literature review was conducted to find out what has been done and what is new regarding the accessibility issues. Different methods were evaluated which in turn led to the construction of a multi-step analytical strategy.

The number of students who finished special upper secondary school for pupils with intellectual disabilities without an employment has drastically decreased over the last decades. The purpose of this paper is to increase the knowledge of how career counselors at special upper secondary schools collaborate with the Employment Service, and how the special upper secondary school prepares their pupils for working life. The collection of data started with a national questionnaire survey which was directed to career counselors at schools.The result shows that the collaboration appears foremost in the pupils last year in special upper secondary school, and that the special upper secondary schools do not use the Employment Service's assistance to any great extent. In addition, the collaborative process consists of both inhibiting and promoting factors.The results also indicates that the collaboration between the special upper secondary schools and the local labor market can be developed more for the pupils to gain experience from working life..

För att undersöka eventuella skillnader mellan vilka matematiska kompetenser som prövas på IB-programmet och svenska nationella program har en analys av matematikuppgifter från de olika programmen genomförts. På IB-programmet har uppgifter från final exam i mathematical studiesstandard level gjorts och från de svenska en analys av uppgifter från nationella prov i matematik B och C. Analysen har genomförts med hjälp av kompetensramverk framtaget av Palm et al. (2004). Med hjälp av kompetensramverket har nyckelord och uppgiftstyper för de olika kompetenserna tagits fram för att kategorisera in uppgifter till en kompetens som är kärnan i uppgiften.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate in what ways librarians and schoolteachers can co-operate and combine their professional skills in order to help and motivate children with reading and writing disabilities, and how audio books can be useful in this work. The main source of information is interviews with teachers from ten schools in the province of Scania, southern Sweden. Those teachers, their schools and their local libraries all took part in a project spanning from 1993 to 1996, aiming at increasing the use of audio books in combination with the corresponding printed versions in work regarding the here addressed problem. This study was made with a qualitative empirical method supported by a normative theory belonging to the new institutional theory school. There are no statistical conclusions in the report.

The aim of this study is to fill the gap in mathematics education research concerning the relationship between identity and positioning in mathematical collaboration in groups. This study elaborates on the relationship between how pupils see themselves as math students in sixth grade, how they show their identities as math students, in contrast to how they position themselves reflexively in group collaboration while engaging in mathematical problem solving. The theoretical concepts linked to this study are discourse, identity and positioning. Discourse is used to describe and form the setting and context of the study. Identity is seen as a transient and elusive concept formed by the students own perceptions of self through narratives.

This essay deals with the support and help offered to elderly people over 65 with mental disabilities out of personnel from a special support team. We have chosen to use the qualitative method to answer our questions. We have four semi-structured interviews with all staff from the support team we have been in contact with, three nurses/nursing assistants and project manager for the support team. We have recognized five themes and divided the text into six different categories and disciplines that answers and highlights the importance of meeting clients' needs, increase their independence and quality of life. Our theme is security, continuity, time, treatment and relations.

AbstractHow do pupils with intellectual disabilities experience participation and involvement in school work? It was a question I had in mind when I was formulating the thesis statement. I wanted to catch pupils? experiences and analyze them from the sociology of childhood. Do pupils want more involvement and what obstacles and opportunities do pupils find to exert participation and involvement?The study is based on six interviews conducted with pupils enrolled in the compulsory school for pupils with intellectual disabilities.

Previous research has shown that children with multiple disabilities have been able to learn to make choices. Practising choice making is a good way to introduce an intervention using Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC). Choice making with objects should then be trainded before choice making with pictures. The present study is a single subject experimental design and was accomplished at a center for children with disabilities in Tanzania during 12 weeks. The primary purpose was to examine if the number of choices made by two boys with cerebral palsy increased after communicationintervention with objects and pictures.

Families of children with disabilities often have many different contacts with professional representing different principals. This places high demands on their professional work together to meet the needs of families and use resources efficiently. The method used is a literature review which aims to describe what is needed to achieve good collaboration between different professions around families with children with disabilities, and that from an organizational perspective to examine why there are often gaps in collaboration and how this affects the parents' life situation.The theories in this study originated from organizational and sociological theories. The most central concept in this study is collaboration from an organizational perspective. The results show that the interaction is problematic, due to that collaborative organizations often have rules which are incompatible and a lack of accountability on who is liable makes impairment in the interaction.

Akademiska Hus owns and manages the university facilities in most university towns in Sweden. Bilbergska house in Örebro was built in 2008 by Akademiska Hus, and designed by White Architects. Today's buildings must meet accessibility requirements determined by Swedish Board of Housing, and it is the developer who must ensure that they are fulfilled. Swedish Board of Housing requirements are often vaguely written and interpretation space is large.This report aims to investigate how much of the requirements which are set towards the University and landlord Akademiska Hus are being achieved. This is done by studying the requirements that are set.

AbstractOur study illustrates how disabled high school students, their assistant and physical education teacher experience inclusion within the physical education. A total of seven interviews have been done to show their experiences. The questions we have chosen are: How do the student, assistant and physical education teacher experience their relationships? How do the student, assistant and physical education teacher experience the physical education? How do the student, assistant and physical education teacher experience inclusion of the student in the physical education?To illustrate their experiences a total of seven interviews have been done. They were carried out at the students schools, in the environment they are familiar to.

The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to present an overviewof a number of libraries? specially adapted media forchildren with special needs.We also wanted to see how the librarians worked to helpchildren with special needs, to take advantage of the librariescollections and activities. These special needs could bedyslexia but may also be disabilities which have resulted inthem being unable to read literature other than specialadapted literature. Examples of this literature are DAISY,book & DAISY, pictogram, bliss, ISAAC, easy reading,Braille, tactile picture books, and computer programs thatmake it easier for people to read in their own way with theirown skills.Using qualitative interviews we have interviewed sevenlibrarians. Through this process we have been able toascertain which methods public libraries use to meet theneeds of those children whose disabilities relate to reading.The interviews also explored how they are working withchildren who need more time than other children does whenit comes to reading.The results of the interviews showed that the librariesprovided a lot of special adapted media.

The Squares Family is a game developed as a learning aid in mathematics. With its graphical representation of the decimal system, the four basic arithmetic operations and positive and negative numbers together with a learning agent as pedagogical approach, the game?s primary purpose is to motivate students in their learning of mathematics. Although the game is strictly based on mathematical rules it attempts to encourage students to play and work with math without experiencing it as mathematics as this is initially not obvious. The game being internationally tested on normal performing students, this project introduced the game to six Swedish students who experience low motivation for and/or difficulties in mathematics.

Author: Gabriella Agné and Helena LarssonTitle: Disability policy program ? a case study of a municipals implementation of UNs Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.Supervisor: Marianne Westring-NordhAssessor: Ulf DruggeThis study aims to examine how a small municipal in southern Sweden works with the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and examine the assistant officers knowledge about this work and user organizations inclusion and user involvement.The study operates from a qualitative approach based on the results of nine semi-structured interviews with local politicians, assistance officers and representatives from three different user organizations.The results show that the municipal has chosen to work with the implementation of the convention by creating policy programs for their departments through dialogue with user organizations, and by mapping the accessibility to public places. The results also show that the assistant officers have been given no information regarding the convention or the policy programs from their employers and instead operate from national legislations and prepositions. The user organizations feel that they were initially included in the process, but that their impact has later been removed due to structural reorganization..

The aim of this Masters thesis is to, from a users perspective, investigate which factors affect the library use for six persons with disabilities or visual handicaps. My method has been a case study and the methods applied are interviews and observation. As a theoretical framework I use Tom Wilsons theories and models about information behaviour and transform them to a model about library use. Answers are sought to the following questions: - What does the library use look like for six persons with disabilities or visually handicaps? - How do they experience the library in their own municipality? - Which factors affect the disabled persons library use and experience of the library? All interviewees showed a very positive attitude towards the library and the majority of them visited the library regularly or received audio books by mail.