Purpose Design policy and regulations within our cities can significantly impact the accessibility and social participation of people with disability. Whilst public, wheelchair-accessible bathrooms are highly regulated spaces for this reason, very little is known about how wheelchair users use them or what wheelchair users think of current design standards. Design/methodology/approach This exploratory inquiry adopts an embodied approach to investigate the perspectives of powered and manual wheelchair users on public bathroom usage and design. The study encompasses twelve interviews, delving into how participants utilise accessible bathrooms based on mobility, disability, support levels, wheelchair types, urinary/bowel regimes and catheter use. Findings A thorough analysis of individual public bathroom elements (layout, toilet, handwashing and grab rails) discussed in the interviews reveals themes of safety, hygiene, planning/avoidance and privacy and dignity. Strikingly, many wheelchair users invest significant effort in planning for bathroom use or avoid public bathrooms altogether. The ongoing maintenance and regular cleaning of bathrooms, something not captured in regulatory standards, has been highlighted as something of critical importance to the ongoing accessibility and safety of public bathrooms for wheelchair users. This points to a relationship between the design and the maintenance of public bathrooms as influencers of health, well-being, community inclusion and the social participation of people with disability. Research limitations/implications This qualitative research is exploratory and contributes to a growing body of evidence that explores how public spaces are experienced by diverse members of our communities, including people with disability. To date, there have been very few investigations into the embodied perspectives of wheelchair users about public bathroom design. Practical implications The findings can potentially drive innovative and inclusive approaches to bathroom design regulations that include operational and maintenance guidance. Social implications The research aims to inform design regulations, standards development and practices of designers, architects, facilities managers, developers and planners, ensuring public spaces are designed to support more accessible, inclusive and socially sustainable cities. Originality/value Whilst wheelchair-accessible bathrooms have been designed and constructed for public use (in many countries) for many years, we know very little about how wheelchair users actually use them or what wheelchair users think of current design standards.

An important measure of the success of a tertiary education programme is the attributes that graduates possess at the completion of their studies. Universities have sought to address this issue by developing formal curriculum and programmes such as internships and work-integrated learning. However, little is known about how university-based extracurricular activities contribute to graduate attributes. The purpose of this study is to explore participation in extracurricular activities from a student perspective. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 student leaders of university-based sporting, social and academic clubs. Data collection and analysis were guided by a qualitative approach to thematic analysis. The findings indicate that students developed a range of graduate attributes in areas such as such as leadership, teamwork, communication and resilience. The theory, communities of practice, is used to interpret the participants’ experiences which was found to coalesce around their social interactions and relations. The study concludes with several recommendations for universities to create greater opportunities for their students to participate in extracurricular activities.

Purpose of ReviewThe widespread use of social media and recent development and use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has implications for the advancement of inclusive communication technologies to benefit people with developmental communication disability. This paper synthesises and critiques recent research on social media use in populations with developmental communication disability, discusses the intersection of social media and GenAI that could impact this population, and provides directions for future research.Recent FindingsThere is encouraging growth in the use of innovative methods to gather the views of people with developmental communication disability on their use of social media, advancing understanding of the risks they face and how they and their supporters manage these risks. However, there continues an underutilization of social media data published by and with people with developmental communication disability and a lack of co-design. Moving beyond patterns and purposes of use, future inclusive and co-designed research with this population should (a) include social media data, whether independently or co-produced with supporters; (b) explore the under-researched legal, ethical, and safety issues; (c) measure the outcomes and impact of social media publication in relation to the user or user group’s emancipation, education, and enablement; and (d) consider the impact of GenAI on social media use for this group.SummaryContinued attention to the safe and enjoyable use of social media for all those who wish to use it, and foundational research on the uptake and use of GenAI, will be important to understand and support the advanced communication technology support needs of people with developmental communication disability. To inform future advances in both social media and GenAI for populations with developmental communication disability, future research directions are proposed.

This study challenges the claim that in a university, a discourse of containment is predominant in the relationships that exist around students with disability and their requests for accommodations. It explores the work knowledges of those involved with the implementation of the processes of granting learning accommodations: the disability services staff and the academic staff liaison officers. Innovative analytical techniques were applied to interview data that identify the lexicons used by each group indicating they had different ways of conceptualising the process, with the former focussing on the development of the documentation that would stand as surrogate for the student and the latter concerned with tricky processes of negotiation with teaching staff, and problems arising from insufficient funding. These distinct work knowledges indicate the ‘messiness’ that predominates in the process of ensuring that students with disability can study ‘on the same basis’ as others.

PURPOSE: To systematically review the research relating to views and experiences of people with disability eating out in cafés, restaurants, and other settings; and identify factors that impede or enhance accessibility of eating out experiences, inform future inclusive research, and guide policy development. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study involved systematic search and review procedures with qualitative metasynthesis of the barriers to and facilitators for participation and inclusion in eating/dining-out activities. In total, 36 studies were included. RESULTS: Most studies reviewed related to people with physical or sensory disability eating out, with few studies examining the dining experiences of adults with intellectual or developmental disability, swallowing disability, or communication disability. People with disability encountered negative attitudes and problems with physical and communicative access to the venue. Staff lacked knowledge of disability. Improvements in the design of dining spaces, consultation with the disability community, and staff training are needed. CONCLUSION: People with disability may need support for inclusion in eating out activities, as they encounter a range of barriers to eating out. Further research within and across both a wide range of populations with disability and eating out settings could guide policy and practice and help develop training for hospitality staff.

In this paper we examine a community development approach to including people with disability in a sport context within beach precincts for a project called Beach for All Abilities. The aim of this research is to investigate innovative and transformative solutions that enable inclusion. The research design used multiple methods and data sources across 30 projects and three geographically diverse precincts. The theoretical framework brought together community development and the social relational model of disability to inform the research. The findings show how the funded organisation working in partnership with not-for-profit, commercial and government programs, facilitated processes and practices enabling greater access and inclusion for people with disability in the beach precincts. These included solutions to constraints in the built, outdoor and natural environments across mobility, vision, hearing, intellectual and mental health disability from low to very high support needs. Yet, the overall program had a major shortcoming in establishing ongoing beach-related activities for people with disability. The paper concludes with implications for longevity, limitations, and future research.

Research indicates that students’ participation in university-based extracurricular activities contributes to their graduate attributes such as leadership, teamwork, communication and resilience. However, it has yet to be determined which types of extracurricular activities are more impactful. This study inquired if participation in competitive sporting activities compared to social-cultural clubs have a greater impact on graduate attributes. Students attending a large metropolitan university in Sydney, Australia, who participated in extracurricular activities were surveyed (n = 844) with an instrument adapted to measure their degree of club engagement and questions on the skills, knowledge and experience they acquired. The findings indicate that engagement in competitive sport is more effective at contributing to graduate attributes when compared to social-cultural clubs. The study drew on the theories of serious leisure and leisure constraints to interpret this phenomenon. Participation in competitive sport was found to relate to more aspects of serious leisure such as study/work-life balance, stress reduction and skill development such as teamwork, time management and leadership skills. However, there are greater constraints to participating in competitive sport. The study concludes with implications for university administrators and recommendations for facilitating greater student opportunities to participate in all types of extracurricular activities.

Purpose Classification schemes make things happen. The Australian Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), which derives its classification system from the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), legislates for adjustments to support the inclusion of people with disability. This study explores how students with disability enrolled in a university experience the systems intended to facilitate their studying “on the same basis” as students without disability. Design/methodology/approach Through an online questionnaire and interviews comprising open and closed questions made available to students registered with the disability services unit of a university and follow-up interviews with a small number of students, students’ views of their own disability and effects on their participation in learning were gathered, alongside reports of their experiences of seeking support in their learning. Interview data and responses to open-ended questions were analysed using a priori and emergent coding. Findings The findings demonstrate that students are aware of the workings of the classification scheme and that most accept them. However, some students put themselves outside of the scheme, often as a way to exercise autonomy or to assert their “ability”, while others are excluded from it by the decisions of academic staff. Thus, the principles of fairness and equity enshrined in legislation and policy are weakened. Originality/value Through the voices of students with disability, it is apparent that, even though a student's classification according to the DDA and associated university policy remains constant, the outcomes of the workings of the scheme may reveal inconsistencies, emerging from the complexity of bureaucracy, processes and the exercises of power.

This paper seeks to construct an exploratory nationally comparative tourism accessibility measure (TAI) through developing an objective set of metrics in the spirit and intent of the international treaties and missions regarding the rights of persons with disabilities. Applied to Australia and New Zealand (Oceania) and Argentina and Brazil (South-America), the TAI draws upon data collected cross-country, cross-continent and for a period of 25 years (1990–2015) based on factor and principal component analysis. Considering accessibility as the conditions that a destination must have in order to be enjoyed by all individuals with access requirements and as a key factor of destination competitiveness, the TAI is developed based on: socio-demographic data; legal framework, political will and policy actions; and access conditions in tourism attractions. This measure is a useful tool to provide information about the critical elements, stages of development, evolution and understanding of the accessible tourism approaches in each of the studied countries.