Youth Studies Australia v.12 n.1
March 1993

Disabilities legislation in the US: A brief note on the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), by Eugene Clark (senior lecturer in Law, University of Tasmania).
Youth Studies Australia, v.12 n.1, pp.2-3.
In this article Eugene Clark summarises recent United States legal developments which are having and will continue to have a major impact on the rights of the disabled, and which may well have an influence in Australia.

Living with Tourettes: It's just a part of me, by Shannon Rogers
Youth Studies Australia, v.12 n. 1, pp.14-20.
Shannon spent two months in Tasmania in 1992 doing the fourth year practicum for her Bachelor of Arts in Child and Youth Care. During her stay Shannon visited the Youth Studies Australia office and talked with us about her own experience as a child and as a young woman with Tourette Syndrome, and about her plans for a career in child and youth care.

Finding a way in: Researching the experiences of young deaf people, by Fiona Prosser (studying Law at Sydney University, Australia).
Youth Studies Australia, v.12 n.1, pp.21-27.
To assist in the development of policies and programs designed for specific groups, it is helpful to be able to refer to social science research which focuses directly on the experiences of the individuals concerned. The traditional research approach, with its focus on hypothesis testing and control of variables is useful but often fails to take into account the range of influences on and experiences of the subject. This can result in the development of programs and reforms which have few positive results for groups such as the Deaf. It is upon this community, specifically young deaf people, that the research process described here is focused.

Friendships and Feelings: Young women with disabilities talk about their personal lives, by Jenny Bramely, Christa van Kraayenoord and John Elkins (reported in "Understanding Young Women with Disabilities (available from the Fred & Eleanor Schonell Special Education Research Centre, University of Queensland, Australia)).
Youth Studies Australia, v.12 n.1, pp.28-34.
This report looks at adolescent girls and young women with mild or moderate disabilities and covers aspects of their school lives, home lives and post-school years. It makes extensive use of the responses of the young women themselves, and includes comments by parents and professionals. The edited extract presented here looks at personal issues in the lives of the young women, including peer friendships, social activities and boyfriends.

Disabling or Enabling?: The rhetoric and practice of integration, by Roger Slee (lecturer in the Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology, Australia), and Sandy Cook (lecturer in the Department of Legal Studies, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia).
Youth Studies Australia, v.12 n.1, pp.35-39.
Roger Slee and Sandy Cook look beyond the rhetoric of integration to examine the continuing vulnerability in education of young people who are considered disabled.

Policing or Serving?: The role of police in the criminalisation of young people with mental health problems, by Roger Hearn
Youth Studies Australia, v.12 n.1, pp.40-44.
A shortfall in services for young people with mental health problems has resulted in increased contact with police. This study reveals that police are often ill-equipped to respond effectively with this group.

The Homelessness Agencies Resource Project, by Rick Pawsey and Andrew Fuller (both clinical psychologists with the Austin Hospital Department of Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatry in Melbourne, Australia).
Youth Studies Australia, v.12 n.1, pp.45-47.
The Homelessness Agencies Resource Project (HARP) is the collaborative response of the youth housing services and adolescent psychiatry services of North-East Melbourne, to the Burdekin health initiatives arising out of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission report (1989). It is a response to the double disadvantage faced by young homeless people with psychological and psychiatric vulnerabilities. They not only miss out on help for their "challenging behaviours", but these behaviours make them more difficult to accommodate, creating a vicious cycle in which these most vulnerable young people receive inadequate assistance for both their psychological and housing needs. HARP is a resourcing response to this problem, taking adolescent psychiatry services information and expertise to youth housing services.

Shelter in Crisis: Providing emergency accommodation services for young people with intellectual disabilities, by Roderick Underwood (Professor of Human Services at Edith Cowan University), Robert Jackson (Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for the Development of Human Resources, Edith Cowan University), and Michael Lee (Head of the Department of Community and Behavioural Studies, Edith Cowan University).
Youth Studies Australia, v.12 n.1, pp.48-50.
The research reported here seeks to establish the extent to which youth workers in emergency accommodation agencies are required to assist young people with intellectual disabilities; the presence and type of any problems experienced by youth workers in providing services to these young people; and the quality of the support services for people with intellectual disabilities available as a resource to youth workers.

Perspectives on a journey to independent living, by Charles Ringma (at the time of writing, was a researcher with the Department of Social Work and Social Policy at the University of Queensland), Stephen Jeanneret (formerly a researcher, is now with the Department of Family Services and Aboriginal and Islander Affairs) and Chris Brown (senior lecturer in the Department of Social Work and Social Policy at the University of Queensland).
Youth Studies Australia, v.12 n.1, pp.51-57.
Consumer satisfaction is one indication of service effectiveness, and Commonwealth disability policy requires that services it funds be determined in consultation with consumers based on an assessment of their needs. In the research reported here, 14 young people who received services from a Brisbane-based independent living skills program for young people with mild intellectual delays shared their perceptions and experiences of this program. They comment on each element of the program and highlight basic aspects of the service that could be modified and improved.