19 Stories of Social Inclusion
Research
What does the research tell us?
The 19 Stories Project used a method of 'appreciative inquiry' by looking at stories of success told by people about their lives. To complement this, researchers at the Disability Research Initiative at the University of Melbourne conducted a systematic literature review. The authors looked at research on social inclusion in Australian policy and practice. A working paper by the researchers is available below, which is currently under review in an academic journal. In addition, policy academic, A/Prof Helen Dickinson, provided a brief paper considering the policy messages of the 19 Stories Project.
------
Disability and Social Inclusion ‘Down Under’: A Systematic Literature Review
- Dr Piers Gooding, Ms Julie Anderson, Prof Keith McVilly
This article provides a systematic literature review investigating how the social inclusion of adults with disability is understood in research concerned with policy and service provision in Australia. The review summarises the literature, and clarifies its relative strengths and weaknesses. The review is grouped into themes that reoccur in the literature, namely: deinstitutionalisation, the changing nature of the disability services toward personalised support, different forms of ‘community engagement’, and socially valued roles, particularly in areas of employment, volunteering and consumer transactions. Several gaps emerge in the literature, such as the unique exclusion facing Indigenous people with disabilities (and solutions generated by Indigenous communities), ambiguous understandings of social inclusion, and attention to prominent critiques of social inclusion. The review builds on these findings to make recommendations for policy, practice and research.
To read the full working paper, click here.
------
Disability and Social Inclusion: What are the Policy Messages in the 19 Stories?
- A/Prof Helen Dickinson
In recent years we have seen a growing amount of attention being paid to issues of disability and to social inclusion. This is a welcome addition given that it is well-evidenced that people with disability face profound marginalisation and report poor outcomes in terms of levels of income, labour force participation, health inequalities and levels of violence. In this piece I reflect on the narratives set out in the 19 Stories initiative and the systematic review by Gooding et al (2017) and consider what these tell us about policies to drive more effective social inclusion of people with disability.
To read the full paper, click here.
It is also important to note that the systematic literature review only considers academic literature. However, there are far more resources out there, including material created by disabled peoples organisations, family leadership co-operatives, government agencies, local councils, service providers, and so on. See the Resources section of this website for more.