Right to Work in Article 27 of the UNCRPD and “Sweatshops for Severly Handicapped Persons”

In Germany since generations sweatshops for persons with severe handicaps do exist. As to § 56 of the Social Code IX these institutions have to develop, improve, unfold or restore the capabilities of persons with severe handicaps. They are addressed to persons, who are—depending on the manner and severity of their handicap—cannot be employed on the general labour market. They should contribute in sweatshops to a minimum standard of economic production and their transition into the general labour market should be supported.

Lives as Collections of Strands: An Essay in Descriptive Psychology

In this article I generalize the notion of multiple self-aspects to create a descriptive framework in which lives are partitioned into containers of activities called strands. Strands are nearly decomposable life modules, structured, stable, and concurrent longitudinal streams of extended duration whose momentary cross-sections constitute self-aspects. They are differentiated by five features: the person’s role, the cast, the setting, norms and values, and habits and routines. Strands contain projects and episodes and are replete with narrative. Each strand is continuous (i.e., strands persist when a person moves between them), and for the most part strands are mutually asynchronous. From a first-person perspective, the strands are continuous and concurrent, but only one strand is in the foreground at a given time (i.e., transitions between strands are akin to a figure-ground reversal). Furthermore, a life is different from the sum of its strands: It is a nonlinear system that can take on configurations not predictable from a comprehensive description of the individual strands. Two such examples are the achievement of greatness despite severe handicaps and instances of extreme self-sacrifice. I also discuss the research potential of a proposed smartphone app called LifeMaps.

Lives as Collections of Strands: An Essay in Descriptive Psychology

In this article (in press, Perspectives in Psychological Science) I generalize the notion of multiple self-aspects to create a descriptive framework in which lives are partitioned into containers of activities called strands. Strands are nearly-decomposable life-modules, structured, stable, and concurrent longitudinal streams of extended duration whose momentary cross-sections constitute self- aspects. They are differentiated by five features: (a) the person’s role, (b) the cast, (c) the setting, (d) norms and values, and (e) habits and routines. Strands contain projects, and episodes, and are replete with narrative. Each strand is continuous (i.e., strands persist when a person moves between them), and for the most part strands are mutually asynchronous. From a first-person perspective, the strands are continuous and concurrent but only one strand is in the foreground at a given time, i.e., transitions between strands are akin to a figure-ground reversal. Furthermore, a life is different from the sum of its strands: it is a nonlinear system that can take on configurations not predictable from a comprehensive description of the individual strands. Two such examples are the achievement of greatness despite severe handicaps and instances of extreme self-sacrifice. I also discuss the research potential of a proposed smartphone app called LifeMaps.

A Quantitative Approach to Understanding the Mind of Children with Special Needs

This paper uses data acquired from a visit to ASHA (Academy for Severe Handicaps and Autism), a charitable trust in Bengaluru. The response of the students at ASHA to three different games was obtained for statistical analysis. They were assessed on three different parameters namely time, accuracy and difficulty. A comparison was done between the response of the children at ASHA and the response of children without special needs to the same. It was quantitatively realised that children with special needs exhibited lower levels of accuracy and alertness, apart from taking a large amount of time to complete a certain task.