The purpose of this study is to look into what part libraries take in the integration of mentally Disabled persons into the society. What I wanted to know more about was how the mentally Disabled persons experience the library. I also wanted to find out what librarians and persons working with mentally Disabled persons have to say about the part libraries take in the integration of mentally Disabled into the society. The study is based on interviews and literature studies. I have interviewed two librarians, four mentally Disabled persons and two persons working with mentally Disabled people.

This qualitative study investigates the conditions on the labour market for Disabled people by examining which factors and processes contribute to Disabled peoples inclusion to, or exclusion from the open labour market. Stigmatisation is also used as an analytical tool to better understand the exclusion of Disabled people from the open labour market. The material to this study is drawn from qualitative interviews with the employees of the Swedish Employment Agency which specialises in supporting Disabled people to find employment.  In conclusion, Disabled people face several barriers which makes them more susceptible to become excluded from the open labour market. Such excluding barriers include a demand for high efficiency and productivity from employers, bigger cooperation?s and public organisations unwillingness to employ Disabled people and prejudices from employers, especially against people with psychiatric disabilities. The employees of the Swedish Employment Agency suggest that they would be able to work more efficiently to help Disabled people find employment if they had to do less administrative work, and would be able to work with fewer clients per employee.

AbstractGrowing up with a functionally Disabled sibling can bring joy and positive experiences, but also complications. The purpose of this paper is to describe the experience of growing up with a functionally Disabled sibling. I have chosen to focus the examination on how individuals with functionally Disabled siblings believe they have been affected by their relationship to their functional Disabled sibling and whether it has continued to affect them in adulthood.The examination was qualitative and conducted through interviews. The results showed that siblings of functionally Disabled individuals tend to grow up with strong feelings of responsibility and anxiety that continue to affect them into adulthood. The investigation further showed that all interviewed chose occupations in care, and that they give great attention to relationships to others.

Aim. The aim of this study is to analyze the living conditions of physically Disabled people from the viewpoint of sexuality issues with regards to personal assistance services, identity and attitudes in society on disability and sexuality. Background. Not much research is done on sexuality issues for physically Disabled people. Even though we live in a society where sexuality takes up a lot of space in the media, the culture and is acknowledged to be of great importance for every person?s wellbeing, the sexuality of Disabled people is often not recognized and discussed.

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to examine the accessibility and barriers of public libraries to intellectual and mentally Disabled children and young people. This we will do by examining whether the library staff acts according to policies of the libraries. Our method has been qualitative interviews with library staff and we have also observed the environment, media and marketing of these libraries. As a theoretical starting point of the analysis we use Michael Buckland?s different aspects of access to information.

Abstract The 1st of January 2009 there will be a new discrimination law in Sweden. That means that the Parliament finally will interpret three EC-directives in there entirety. The new law means that the present discrimination laws will be merged to one law. The situation for Disabled persons on the labour market has improved, since the discrimination law was founded in 1999. The Labour Court got some cases to judge and media has attracted attention to Disabled persons rights.

The study has answered the questions to what extent people with disabilities are involved in SVT- and TV4- news reports and how people with disabilities are represented in news reports. The material is based on 140 news items.The study has demonstrated that news reports SVT and TV4 have different grades of misconceptions about Disabled people. Disabled people are constantly being reinforced by negative disabling terms, the disability being of central importance for the news broadcast and they still occur in stereotypical depictions. Through the image of Disabled people forms the bed-rock on which the attitudes towards, assumptions and expectations of Disabled people are based on. They are fundamental to discrimination and exploitation that people with disabilities face on a daily basis, and contributes significantly to their systematic exclusion from mainstream society.

As a soccer coach for youths with disabilities and as active soccer players, our thoughts regarding the basic principles of sports where awakened and how it corresponds with the possibilities of Disabled youths participating in club organized sports. From that thought came the idea that, with our team as the point of original we should contribute with increased knowledge regarding the experiences of Disabled youths doing sports. Using ethnography and co-operative observations we have researched both including and excluding factors that contribute to the possibilities of Disabled youths opportunity to do sports. We have been able to distinguish that the youths in question feel that sports can be identity-building as well as give a sense of community. The study shows that the basic principles of sports does not correspond with reality because the lack of availability is the determinant factor. .

This essay is a qualitative study concerned with questions about disability. I set out from a definition of disability which highlights non-Disabled peoples´ participation in making a Disabled person ?the Other?. My aim is to contribute to an understanding of the experiences of Disabled people as well as problemize the way that normality and disability is socially constructed. The empirical material of the essay consists of qualitative interviews with Disabled men and women and the essay is written with a critical perspective.

The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate the social identity of students at upper secondary school for physically Disabled students. The youths I drew my attention to suffered from severe physical disabilities and therefore received specially adapted education in small classes, but integrated at an ordinary upper secondary school.By "social identity" I mean how the students view themselves as a group, how they value their membership of the group and how they relate to non-Disabled students at school. I wanted to investigate the connections between these students' social identity and the problems of marginalization of Disabled people in society.According to qualitative methods I interviewed five physically Disabled students, aged 18-19, at upper secondary school level taking part of especially adapted education. The study showed that these students regarded themselves as a segregated group at school. None of them associated with non-Disabled students at school.

The purpose of this essay was to investigate the view of what kind of role the personal assistant has in Disabled people´s life and sexlife and how conceptions of a "normal" life and "to live like others" can be identified related to this. My research questions was: What does the expression "to live like others" mean to the organisations? What is the view in the organisations of the personal assistant´s role in the client´s life? What is the view in the organisations of the personal assistant´s role in the client´s sexlife? What is the view in the organisations of Disabled people´s rights to get assisted help with sex? I chose to do semistructured interviews with different organisations related to disability and assistance and I analysed the interviews with theoretical aspects of social constructivism, the principle of normalization and the theory of SRV (Social Role Valorization), autonomy, individualism and models of action. My main conclusion were that the views of Disabled people´s sexuality and the personal assistant´s role in Disabled people´s sexlife were widely separate. However, almost all of the organisations were pointing out the autonomy of the individual and the importance of setting the limits.

The aim of this master thesis is to study what relationship mentally Disabled adults have with the public library and what factors affect their meeting with the library. The work of the library is also studied so that the experiences of the mentally Disabled can be put in relation to the work performed for the group. The method used was interviews with four mentally Disabled adults and one librarian responsible for the social function and availability at the library. As a theoretical framework Marianne Andersson and Dorte Skot-Hansen?s model over the profiles of the library and Michael Buckland?s barriers, which must be overcome to achieve full access to information, were used.

The purpose of this Master Thesis is to investigate the quality of the library service at the City Library of Uddevalla. In particular this thesis will examine the quality of the library service to people who are Disabled. This applies particularly to the service to people with reduced ability to move or to see, which also includes people with infirmities due to old age. We also have investigated how well the library itself is adapted to the Disabled. In order to get more information about the library service to people who are Disabled, we have studied literature on this subject and the Master Thesis contains a summary of those documents.

The aim of this study has been to investigate whether people with siblings that have disability have been personally affected when making choices about their studies and careers based on their upbringing with their siblings. The method chosen was qualitative data and consists of six interviews with people who are familiar with the chosen problem area. In conclusion, our results do not show a link between choices of study in relation to the sibling's disabilities. However a link was found between career choices, many choose to work in the area of health and well-being. This link was also found in literature we have researched, people living with Disabled siblings have chosen careers and jobs within health and well-being..

The concept of citizenship was created in Greece about 600 BC, and has for most of the time been treated as a philosophical concept, or as a concept of political science. In spite of the fact that sociologists have taken an interest in the concept in the second half of the 20th century there is hardly any empirical research to substantiate how the common man perceives and defines the concept. Disabled people to a great extent perceive themselves as belonging to a forgotten sector of society in that they experience administrative barriers, shortcomings in the way individuals and institutions behave towards them, institutional discrimination, being socially dead, etc. ?The aim of this study has been to explore how citizenship is perceived and defined by Disabled people in Great Britain and Sweden, focusing on the perception of rights and obligations, and how these rights and obligations have been made available to them by society.?The study was carried out as a qualitative study.