Environmental Contexts and Disability

Physical structure, economic expectation or social relationship norms developed within various cultures can either restrict or support the participation of individuals with disabilities in society. The influence of environmental factors can vary significantly according to context, characteristics or by action difficulty. This volume presents papers which address both individual and societal levels of environment and shed new light on the processes involved with creating or modifying these environmental supports or barriers. Several papers approach the societal and intra-societal levels. One paper focuses on the tensions that international disability organizations place on societal NGO's in developing countries in choosing activities to support disabled populations within the country. Another examines how social preferences that can eventually isolate group homes established in communities may be predicted by mathematical patterns. Finally, a third paper demonstrates the prevalence of the experience of barriers among the population with all types of disabilities in the United States, indicating the most common locations and types of barriers experienced.