Doctoral Dissertation: Living With Disabilities in Ecuador

本论文研究的目的是通过对基多残疾儿童生活的探索，研究厄瓜多尔残疾人康复和教育的结构和文化问题。这个项目建立在现有研究的基础上，通过研究残疾经历是如何在一个围绕残疾问题的正式结构尚未充分发展的社会中形成的。它探讨了残疾经历是如何受到政策结构、国际社会要求各国解决残疾问题的压力、个人与正规制度的关系以及个人残疾经历的影响的。这项研究首先需要评估厄瓜多尔针对残疾人的政策和服务发展情况。其次，通过从父母、看护人、老师、治疗师和残疾儿童那里了解他们的生活经历，本研究将提供一个关于残疾如何在这种背景下生活的多声音描述。最后，通过对接受保健和教育服务的家庭与未接受保健和教育服务的家庭进行定量比较，将评估参与这些机构如何影响个人和家庭如何构建残疾的意义，或他们的“残疾模式”。研究结果将鼓励残疾学者（人类学内外）与研究政策形成力量的学者之间的对话，从而将残疾问题加入到关于照顾的社会地位的文献中。研究的广泛影响本研究的目标将有利于与残疾人有关的学科的课程和项目开发。这些数据将有助于在特殊教育中发展有效的模式和教学方法。此外，通过说明政策与经验之间的联系，这项研究提供了与国家和国际残疾政策形成有关的信息。此外，这项研究将有助于培养年轻的社会科学家。

The objective of this dissertation research is to examine the structural and cultural issues surrounding the rehabilitation and education of persons with disabilities in Ecuador through an exploration of the lives of disabled children in Quito. This project builds upon existing research by examining how the disability experience is shaped in a society where a formal structure surrounding disability issues has not fully developed. It explores how the disability experience is influenced by the structure of policy, international pressure on nations to address disability, an individual's relationship with the formal system, and the individual's personal experience with disability. This research will first entail the assessment of policy and service development directed towards persons with disability in Ecuador. Secondly, by eliciting narratives from parents, caretakers, teachers, therapists and disabled children about their life experiences, this research will provide a multi-voiced account of how disability is lived within this context. Finally, through a quantitative comparison of families who receive health and education services and those who do not, an assessment will be made on how involvement with these institutions affects how individuals and families construct the meaning of disability, or their "disability model." The results will encourage dialogue between disability scholars (both inside and outside anthropology) and those who study the forces of policy formation, thereby adding the issue of disability to the literature on the social location of caretaking. Broader Impact of the Research The objectives of this research will benefit curriculum and program development for disciplines that work with disabled populations. These data will be useful in the development of effective models and pedagogic approaches within special education. Furthermore, by illustrating the linkage between policy and experience, this research provides information that is relevant to national and international disability policy formation. In addition the research will contribute to the education of a young social scientist.