Browsing by Author "Rathnayake, Isuru"

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    Embodying (dis)abilities: The Renegotiation of Pedagogical Practices by Women Undergraduates with Disabilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Sri Lanka
    (King's College London (KCL) University, 2022) Niles, Sabreena; Rathnayake, Isuru
    This study explores the potential to renegotiate pedagogical practices in light of the unprecedented transformations necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, through centralising discourses surrounding the body in relation to women undergraduates with disabilities in Sri Lanka. While recent studies have engaged with the heightened sense of marginalisation experienced by individuals with disabilities during this immobilising pandemic, a significant lacuna exists in its involvement with the Sri Lankan higher education sector. Simultaneously, while research on gender responsive education during the Covid-19 pandemic in South Asia has dwelt on the impact of worsening economies and rising domestic abuse upon the education of women, there appears to be inadequate emphasis on the intersections of women and disabilities, particularly in Sri Lanka. The present study thus gathers data from semi-structured interviews conducted with an eclectic group of six women undergraduates with disabilities from three state universities, which is examined using theoretical and conceptual frameworks related to critical disability, feminist and pedagogical theories. While the study highlights the debilitating consequences of functioning in a culture that is disabling for women with disabilities, it dwells on the subversive potential of their bodies (which are constructed within normative discourses on (dis)ability and knowledge), to interrogate ideologies and practices that shape the education system. It further contends that such subversive bodies demand a critical engagement with encroaching neo-liberal values that define our pedagogical practices through laissez-faire economic policies, exposing in that process cracks that may otherwise remain invisible. The study identifies such embodied experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic as critical to rupturing assumptions of women undergraduates with disabilities. It further posits that their bodies may function as sites that dismantle the strict categorisation and hierarchisation of knowledge, thereby challenging and expanding disciplinary boundaries. The study, subsequently, reinterprets the Covid-19 pandemic as a critical point of departure for women undergraduates with disabilities and other marginalised social fractions in Sri Lanka.
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    Terms and conditions: disability representation in newspaper coverage in Sri Lanka
    (The Library, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2023) Hettiarachchi, Shyamani; Shareef, Nisha; Daskon, Lasanthi; Gunewardena, Niluka; Rathnayake, Isuru; Krishnaveni, K.
    Historically, terminology has been a site of struggle, with the disability rights movement rejecting, embracing, and coining new terms, mirroring the changing landscape of the lived experiences of persons with disabilities and our deeper understanding of human rights. Word choice is deemed the embodiment of one’s positionality, with two broad camps of person-first and identity-first terminology emerging. The media, including the press, plays a significant role in informing the public and forming public opinion, making the language choice and sensitivity of portrayal important features of a newspaper article. This study aimed to critically review selected local newspaper articles in Sinhala, Tamil, and English featuring or referencing disability to explore the use of terms or word choice and conditions or representation. An online database search was conducted to identify relevant articles using a range of search terms. The articles identified were critically reviewed for language use and the portrayal of persons with disabilities using the key principles of simple thematic analysis and through the lens of the models of disability and critical disability theory. The key findings are the use of a plethora of terms to refer to disability, suggesting a lack of cohesion and positionality. The word choice used in the press articles ranges from derogatory and archaic to representative of current terms proposed by the local disability rights movement. The five emergent themes in the portrayal of persons with disabilities were to evoke humor/satire, highlighting inequality as recipients of discrimination, objects of pity, or as inspiration.There is a lack of consistency in the terms used within the local press, though there is a trend towards using less derogatory language. The conditions or representation is mixed, with evidence of the charity model and the social and human rights models to inform the portrayal of persons with disabilities. Both the terms and conditions/representation of persons with disabilities must be informed by the disability rights movement with close links advocated, as well as more disability representation in the field of journalism.