Doctoral Dissertation: Living With Disabilities in Ecuador

本论文研究的目的是通过探索基多残疾儿童的生活，审查围绕厄瓜多尔残疾人康复和教育的结构和文化问题。该项目以现有研究为基础，考察了在一个围绕残疾问题的正式结构尚未充分发展的社会中，残疾经历是如何形成的。它探讨了政策结构、国际社会对各国解决残疾问题的压力、个人与正式制度的关系以及个人的残疾个人经历是如何影响残疾经历的。这项研究将首先评估厄瓜多尔针对残疾人的政策和服务发展情况。其次，通过引出父母、照顾者、教师、治疗师和残疾儿童关于他们的生活经历的叙述，这项研究将提供一个多声音的描述，说明残疾是如何在这种背景下生活的。最后，通过对接受健康和教育服务的家庭和没有接受服务的家庭进行量化比较，将评估参与这些机构对个人和家庭如何构建残疾的意义，或他们的“残疾模式”的影响。结果将鼓励残疾学者(人类学内外)和那些研究政策形成力量的人之间的对话，从而将残疾问题添加到关于照料的社会位置的文献中。这项研究的更广泛影响这项研究的目标将有利于与残疾人口相关的学科的课程和计划的发展。这些数据将有助于在特殊教育中制定有效的模式和教学方法。此外，通过说明政策和经验之间的联系，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，这项研究还将有助于培养一位年轻的社会科学家。

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.