In Kenya, there is a growing population of deaf individuals, creating a higher demand for inclusion and acceptance of deafness, as well as resources to best educate deaf youths. Despite the increasing presence of deaf individuals in Kenya, a hegemonic view of deafness as a form of deviance persists and fosters stigmatizing beliefs towards the deaf community. The hegemonic view of deafness as a form of deviance permeates into not only societal and familial acceptance of deaf individuals, but educational, medical, and political institutions, as well, and is unsustainable and destructive towards the advancement of Deaf culture in Kenya. This thesis examines the context of deaf education in Kenya, currently and historically, through a critical and theoretical examination of research, monitoring use of a resource-based website, and receiving feedback from local topic experts.

In an analysis of federal ADA law, we find that the ADA—the law that protects disabled people from exclusion in public spaces—has a fundamental inefficiency: the only way to fix accessibility issues under the ADA is to file a civil or Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit. This challenge leads to the perpetuation of inaccessibility and accessibility problems in public settings. To examine this issue on the Arizona State University Tempe (ASU Tempe) campus, I walked through 55 ASU Tempe classroom and research buildings and compiled a list of each accessibility problem present; I created digital floor plans detailing the location of each accessibility concern; and I worked with ASU professionals—such as Arizona State’s Coordinator of Accessibility (ADA) Compliance and professional staff at the Disability Resource Center—to remedy these accessibility issues. Through my research, I identified two areas of improvement regarding accessibility at ASU Tempe: the need for a streamlined tracking and fixing process of accessibility problems on-campus; and the need for an easy-to-access online form where students can report accessibility issues on-campus. I also discovered that despite the problems that need to be addressed, ASU’s professionals are committed to accessibility compliance compared to other institutions. However, despite the commitment from ASU professionals, as well as the ASU charter stating that “[ASU] is ...measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed,” expansion of accessibility for students with physical disabilities on the ASU Tempe campus remains a needed area of change. This will ultimately promote equal educational opportunity for all students, regardless of ability. Furthermore, accessibility involves a continual process of assessment and improvement in spite of budgetary limitations and widespread disability stigmatization.

Medical policies, practices, and definitions do not exist solely in the clinical realm; they show up in the lived experiences of patients. This research examines how people with the chronic illness called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) define their own illness experiences. They have situated knowledge about their illness onset, search for care, and clinical encounters. Their knowledge complicates and challenges the existing norms in clinical practice and medical discourse, as the experience of searching for care with ME reveals weaknesses in a system that is focused on acute care. Patient narratives reveal institutional patterns that obstruct access to medical care, such as disbelief from clinicians and lack of training in chronic illness protocols. They also reveal patterns in physician behavior that indicate the likelihood of receiving effective care. These patient narratives serve as a basis for continued examination of ME as well as further reconstruction of medical practice and procedure.

Contemporary Christian American politicians have diverse identities when integrating their faith with their political ideology and have developed their worldviews and interpretive schemas and have defended, enacted, and given meaning to their positions, knowingly or unknowingly. There are two distinct theoretical clusters which are a result of an already existing dichotomy. This ideological divide happens along the philosophical notions of individualism or communitarianism, libertarianism or egalitarianism, capitalism or collectivism, literalism or hermeneutics, orthodoxy or praxis. One cluster, Institutional Christianity, exerts a dominating influence on the political and cultural landscape in the US, particularly during the last ten years, and could be considered a hegemonic discourse; while the other, Natural Christianity, serves as the counter-hegemony within a political landscape characterized by a two party system. This study explores the relationship of these dichotomous clusters with contemporary Arizona Christian politicians. Using a phenomenological, qualitative study, interviewing sixteen Arizona Christian politicians, this study yielded ten themes, and binary meaning units within each theme, that describe the essence of politicians' faith and political behavior as they intersect. Finally, this study found, as reported by each subject, what political perspectives generally created a sense of dissonance with one's faith and what perspective exhibited a unified sense of congruence with their faith and political behavior.