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Purpose: The hospitality industry is labour intensive. Currently, in India, hotels have a high employee attrition rate. This study aimed to explore the attitudes of hotel managers towards recruiting persons with disabilities as employees, a move which could benefit all concerned.

Method: A structured survey instrument was sent to 31 employers in star category hotels.

Results: Employers’ attitudes have a significant influence on the recruitment of persons with disabilities. While the intention to hire persons with disabilities is positively associated with quality of work, loyalty, and dependability, it can also be negatively associated with lack of skill, work experience, poor time management and absenteeism.

Conclusion: It is concluded that employers hire person with disabilities to work in hotels as they are more reliable and loyal towards the organisation. This attitude from the side of employees with disabilities will also help to overcome the problem of high employee attrition that has a deleterious effect on profitability in the service industry.

Limitation: The data is collected from hotels in a single city, which may limit the generalisation of the findings.

Purpose: This study investigated the attitudes of secondary school teachers towards students with blindness or partial sight in selected states in Nigeria.

Method: The authors utilised the modified version of a previous instrument to collect data from 306 secondary school teachers in Nigeria. Six basic questions were established to address: respondents’ attitudes towards inclusion; training acquired related to teaching; knowledge pertaining to policy and legislation; confidence levels to teach students with disabilities.; impact of geographical location; and differences in attitudes by the variables of subject(s) taught, school level taught, and years of teaching experience.

Results: Attitudes of participants were mixed but were generally positive. The level of training was low, with teachers showing limited knowledge of policy and legislation. A little over a quarter (27%) of them lacked confidence in teaching. There were differences in attitudes related to the geographical location of respondents. Those who taught at the senior secondary school level tended to have higher attitude scores on average than their counterparts at the junior secondary school level.

Conclusion and Limitations: This study used self-report measures, although observations and interviews could be additional ways to evaluate the attitudes of participants throughout the country. Moreover, in-service programmes may need to be implemented to increase teachers’ knowledge base and expand their experiences in line with established policies and legislation.

Purpose: To analyse physical activity of patients during their hospital stay and to explore the relationship between physical activity and barriers to physical activity.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of physical activity data for patients admitted to the internal medicine and surgical wards. Physical activity data, collected with a wireless patch sensor, was operationalized as time spent lying, sitting/standing, and walking. Barriers to physical activity included patients’ pain levels, the use of urinary catheters, intravenous tubing, oxygen lines, drains, and level of dependence. Regression analysis explored the relationship between physical activity and barriers to physical activity.

Results: Physical activity data were collected in 39 patients (aged 27–88, mean 54 years) during hospital stay. Patients were admitted for a median of 10 d (interquartile range [IQR]: 7–15 d). These patients were lying for a median of 12.1 h (7.6–17.7), sitting/standing 11.8 h (6.3–15.7), and walking 0.1 h (0–0.3) per day. Time lying during the day related to pain levels (β = 0.4 h per unit increase in pain, p < 0.01) and drain use (β = 3.1 h, p < 0.01).

Conclusions: Patients spent the most time during the hospital stay lying in bed. Improved pain management and decreased drain use may be worth exploring to increase inpatient physical activity.

Purpose: The study aimed to assess the barriers faced by children with disability, both qualitatively and quantitatively, from the perspectives of caregivers and dental practitioners.

Methods: A concurrent mixed method design was used. A sample of 195 dentists and 100 caregivers was selected through convenience sampling. A prevalidated questionnaire was used to assess the barriers faced by the children with disability in their care. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were conducted with caregivers. Descriptive statistics were computed using SPSS version 20 and thematic analysis of qualitative data was done using NVivo software.

Results: 195 dentists and 100 caregivers responded to the survey. Majority of practising dentists (83.7%) reported inadequate training in handling children with special needs, while caregivers (38%) reported fear of dentist among the children as major barriers experienced in utilising dental services.

Conclusion and Implications: This study helps to identify the barriers faced by children with special healthcare needs. The findings highlight the need for hands-on training to be incorporated into the dental curriculum. It also suggests that improvements be made in dental clinics to accommodate these children in comfort. Due to limitations of the study, it is suggested that there is a need for further longitudinal studies that involve other family members of children with disability.

Purpose: This study primarily aimed to find the factors which can facilitate or, alternatively, hinder inclusion efforts.

Method: Results from a number of student theses, which dealt with common issues in the area of inclusion of pupils with special needs, were brought together systematically. The method has been called area-delimited meta-study, where increased validity and generalisability are expected to strengthen development at the schools where the thesis work is carried out. A total of 18 thesis projects with a representation of 24 classrooms were included. The results of these projects have been categorised with the help of two models, positive and negative labelling, as well as inner and outer inclusion capital.

Results: The respondents in the various studies were quite positive towards inclusion. The teachers stated that inclusion offers a range of possibilities even if problems often occur during implementation. For efforts to succeed, personnel should internalise the values intrinsic to inclusion. Staff knowledge, perception and empathy are examples of the inner inclusion capital necessary to achieve the goal of inclusion. Courage, self-confidence and self-awareness are additional factors that are essential for success. Outer inclusion capital such as clear leadership and effective teamwork are conditions that promote inclusion.

Conclusion: Based on the results, it would be logical to invest in the positive labelling factors that are identified and at the same time work towards minimising the negative factors. The work can be further developed with area-delimited meta-studies, and future thesis projects could be initiated with a structure that is more participatory and action-oriented.

Limitations: One problem in evaluating the circumstances around inclusion is that the respondents' interpretation of the definition of the word inclusion may vary. Even the experience of how inclusion works can differ between the teachers involved in the study. Despite these difficulties, the overall results provide a robust picture of the problems and opportunities that fit within the area. Differences in teacher interpretation could also be an important element for the research.

Purpose: Inclusive education and post-school life are crossover issues that cut across societal lines and therefore need a multisectoral approach. This study examines the educational opportunities of children with disability and their post-school life in rural Sri Lanka.

Methods: The research was implemented with multiple sectors in a rural area of the North Central Province, from January - November 2014. Mixed methods were applied as follows: surveys with children with disability aged 2 to 18 years (n=103); case studies of children with disability who dropped out of or did not attend school (n=3); semi-structured interviews with ex-students with disability who had attended special needs classes (n=13); and, informal interviews with a CBR core group officer. Data was mainly analysed with qualitative procedures.

Results: The study consists of 3 parts. The first part revealed that in terms of the current educational opportunities among children with disability aged 2 to 18 years, approximately 31.1% utilised educational resources whereas 38.8% were at home with no special social activities. The case studies in the second part revealed the reasons for limited educational opportunities in the area and the barriers to educational access, which included family members’ attitudes and socio-economic aspects such as poverty. The third part, consisting of semi-structured interviews with ex-students with disability who received education but did not participate in the CBR activities, revealed 3 types of post-school lifestyle: ‘time mostly spent at home’, ‘household chores’ and ‘temporary agricultural work’. The interviews also indicated other barriers to post-school participation, such as a lack of network and information, negative experiences during the schooling period, and families’ priorities. 

Conclusions: Inadequate educational opportunities among children with disability and barriers to post-school social participation in rural Sri Lanka are revealed. This study argues the importance of the multisectoral approach to find unidentified children as well as to conduct comprehensive programmes.

Purpose: Rehabilitation with assistive devices is of great benefit to people with limb disabilities, enabling them to lead independent and productive lives. While assistive devices improve the quality of life of persons with lower limb disabilities by facilitating activities of daily living, there are also many barriers to their use. This study aims to describe these barriers among community-dwelling persons with lower limb disabilitiesin central Sri Lanka.

Methods: A community survey was conductedmong adults between 18 and 59 years of age, to find persons with lower limb disabilities in Kandy Municipal Council area, in the central province of Sri Lanka. This was followed by purposive sampling to select a sub-sample of 12 individuals with unilateral lower limb disabilities for a qualitative study using in-depth interviews. Unilateral lower limb disabilities were identified using a clinical examination and World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0). A qualitative thematic content analysis was used to evaluate the interview text.

Results: Participants described several barriers in using assistive devices, such as unaffordable assistive technology like wheelchairs and artificial limbs, unavailability of appropriate assistive technology, difficulties associated with repair and maintenance, and problems in accessibility. Limited knowledge of modern technology also restricted their choice of better devices. Psychological barriers and stigma in using assistive devices directly affected their social lives and day-to-day activities as well.

Conclusion and Implications: People with lower limb disabilities face multiple barriers in using assistive devices. These barriers need to be addressed by improving local infrastructure and accessibility facilities, public awareness and funding, and ensuring continuous supply and maintenance services.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore and understand the challenges that are encountered by Malaysians with disabilities in the world of employment.

Method: A survey was undertaken in four Northern Malaysian states (Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Perak) to obtain the primary data. Two sets of questionnaires were formulated. The first questionnaire was addressed towards Malaysianpeople with disabilities, while the second one was for the employers. Descriptive statistics were used to explore, summarise and describe the data collected.

Results: This paper argues that integrating people with disabilities into the mainstream workforce should be the way forward, given that they are a pool of untapped human resources. Crucially, this study also highlights some of the key challenges faced by Malaysian people with disabilities, such as discrimination and exploitation at work.

Conclusions: This paper concludes that equal employment and training opportunities should be extended to Malaysian people with disabilities, in an effort to integrate them into the mainstream workforce. The existing Disability Act 2008 should be revised to address the challenges and issues highlighted in this paper.