SIRG Executive
Co-Chair: Petra Björne
I work as a Research and Development Coordinator at the Department for Disability Support in Malmö, Sweden. The department employs about 2500 staff, managers and case officers supporting 2000 service users. People with autism and/or ID are supported through residential services, daily activities, personal assistance, etc. My task is to help staff and managers to develop high quality support within a strong rights-based legal framework.
My clinical work is mainly on challenging behavior and on implementing evidence based practice. Research in recent years has focused on aging with ID, and to some extent the legal framework in Sweden for intervening in challenging behavior. I don’t work exclusively as a researcher, or as researchers traditionally do. But I do know what it means to change, sometimes challenge, services, and put research results to use by involving those concerned.
Co-Chair: Ruth Northway OBE FRCN PFHEA
Ruth Northway is Professor of Learning (Intellectual) Disability Nursing at the University of South Wales, UK. She has co-chaired the Ethics SIRG since 2018. Her areas of research interest relate to the health and well being of people with intellectual disabilities and the use of participatory approaches to research. Both areas have important ethical considerations and hence her interest in ethics is very much linked to application in these contexts and to professional practice when working alongside people with intellectual disabilities.
Access her work HERE.
Secretary/Treasurer: Janet Vogt
Social Media & Communications: Michelle King
Michelle is completing a PhD in law at the Australian Health Law Research Centre at QUT. Her work is about legal and administrative decision-making as people who have severe and profound intellectual disabilities transition to adulthood in Australia. Michelle has worked for many years in the University teaching and research sector. She is a lawyer and a sociologist interested in how law works in people’s lives. She has three children, and is also an advocate and decision maker/supporter of her 24 year old daughter, Daelle, who lives with severe and profound disabilities. Read more about her current work at the Transition to Aduthood Project.
Members:
Sabine Schäper
Sabine Schäper is Professor of Inclusive Education at the Catholic University of Applied Sciences North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany. In her dissertation, she analysed the manifestations and consequences of marketisation in the field of disability services from a theological and social-pedagogical perspective. Her lectures include ethical issues and a human rights based approach to professional practice in disability services. Her research activities focus on ageing and end-of-life care for people with IDD, organizational culture and professional practice around so-called challenging behaviour, and issues around moral distress and prevention of violence in professional practice.
Bill Sullivan
John Heng
David Treanor
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