Transition Trials

• In Event: Roundtable Session 33
  In Roundtable Session: The Complexities and Intersections of Dis/ability Identity in Political and Educational Contexts

Abstract

Students with significant disability have dismal outcomes in their transition from school to community life (Rusch, 2009). We conducted an ethnography of transition from the perspective of individuals living the experience. Trialling, in which students try out community options, was found to be a constituent feature of transition in New Zealand. Using Nussbaum’s (2011) construct of “central human capability of affiliation”, participants’ work experiences are discussed as a functional example of trialling. Results indicate that trialling appears to be a term relegated to individuals with significant disability, which stalls their potential to contribute to, and socially engage within, their wider community.

Authors

• Sarah M Hart, Auckland University

• Janet S. Gaffney, The University of Auckland

• Mary F. Hill, University of Auckland