Debbie Kramer-Roy

Academic qualifications

PhD (Brunel University 2010)

MA Education and International Development (Institute of Education 1999)

Bachelors in Occupational Therapy (The Netherlands 1989)

Currently enrolled in the Professional Development in Academic Practice (PDAP) programme.

Profile

After graduating as an occupational therapist in the Netherlands I came to England to work in a rotational post in a general hospital, covering both inpatients and out-patients (mainly neurology and hand injuries).

I then spent three years in Karachi, Pakistan, with Voluntary Service Overseas, working with poor communities to develop Community Based Rehabilitation. On return to England I worked in a Child Development Centre in the West Midlands where my experience of living in Pakistan and my Urdu language skills proved to be very useful. In 1999 I went back to Pakistan to take up a lecturing role at the Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development, where I developed a new programme component to develop Inclusive Education for children with special needs. In 2006 I returned to England to start my PhD studies at Brunel University. After two years of working in the community children’s occupational therapy service in Ealing I was appointed as a lecturer in the School of Health Sciences and Social Care in February 2011.

Admin responsibilities

Teaching responsibilities

Teaching on BSc and MSc programmes

Research interests

PhD research explored the support needs of Pakistani families with disabled children using Participatory Action Research. Thesis available online http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/4377

In a previous position I conducted Action Research with primary school teachers in Pakistan to explore how they could include children with special needs more effectively. I also took the lead in the development of a scale for assessing a school’s climate (the RESPONSE Scale -“Relationships that Enable Student Participation and Opportunities to Nurture Self Esteem”), through a participatory approach involving a large number of school teachers and academic colleagues. I took the lead in preparing a research proposal to pilot the use of the scale with local schools, but the research took place after I left.

Main interests for future research:

• Religion / faith and disability
• Cross-cultural care
• Participatory and emancipatory approaches
• Inclusive education
  
• Supporting students with dyslexia, disability or mental health issues on the occupational therapy programme
• Family centred practice, including support groups for parents and siblings  

Occupational therapy / occupational science in Pakistan / South Asia

Conferences

Conference Presentations

May 2011: Master Class Symposium, Centre for Professional Practice Research, Brunel University. Learning from Pakistani families with disabled children.

July 2009: PhD Students Conference, Brunel University. Reflecting on Religion and Relationships: Pakistani families with disabled children explore their support needs through participatory action research (poster; Vice Chancellor’s Conference Prize).

November 2008: Inclusion and Exclusion Conference 2008. Race Equality Foundation, the Social Studies Research Group and INVOLVE, London. The outcomes of a participatory action research project exploring the support needs of Pakistani families with disabled children in the UK. A collaborative presentation by research participants and the lead researcher.(VC Travel Prize).

September 2008: Disability Studies Association Conference (DSA), Lancaster. Concepts of and attitudes towards disability in the Pakistani community in the UK. (VC Travel Prize).

June 2008: College of Occupational Therapists (COT) Annual Conference, Harrogate. Concepts of disability and occupation in Pakistani families with disabled children in the UK (oral presentation) and Crossing borders: career progression for the wandering OT (poster). (Student bursary provided by COT).

May 2008: Council of Occupational Therapists for the European Countries (COTEC) Conference, Hamburg, Germany. Occupational Justice in the lives of Pakistani families with disabled children in the UK: a PAR study.

December 2007: Researching Children Conference Innsbruck, Austria. Participatory Action Research by/with Pakistani families with disabled children. March 2008

July 2007: PhD Students Conference Brunel University. Gaining access to Pakistani families with disabled children (Vice Chancellor’s Conference Prize).

January 2007: Inclusion and Exclusion Conference 2007, Race Equality Foundation and the Social Studies Research Group, London. Support needs of Pakistani families with disabled children.

Other external activities

Occasional Member of the Editorial Board (peer reviewer) of Disability and Society

Member of the Research and Development Board of the College of Occupational Therapist (2008-2010)

Publications

Journal Papers

(2012) Kramer-Roy, D., Supporting ethnic minority families with disabled children: Learning from Pakistani families, British Journal of Occupational Therapy 75 (10) : 442- 448

(2007) Kramer-Roy, D., Researching the support needs of Pakistani families with disabled children in the UK, Research, Policy and Planning 25 (2/3) : 143- 153 Download publication

Book Chapters

(2011) Kramer-Roy, D., We want to understand their ‘virtual’ world better, so we can make them happy”: Pakistani children use participatory action research to explore their disabled siblings’ support needs. In: Rizvi, S. ed. Multidisciplinary Approaches to Educational Research: Case-studies from Europe and the Developing World. London : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group (2011)

(2010) Kramer-Roy, D., Occupational injustice in the lives of Pakistani families with disabled children in the UK: a PAR Study. In: Kronenberg, F., Pollard, N. and Sakelliou, D. eds. Occupational Therapies without Borders. Oxford : Elsevier - Churchill Livingstone (Volume 2)

(2004) Kramer-Roy, D., Inclusive education in Pakistan: an occupational therapist’s contribution to teacher education. In: Kronenburg, F., Simo Algado, S. and Pollard, N. eds. Occupational Therapy without Borders: Learning from the Spirit of Survivors. Oxford : Elsevier-Churchill Livingstone 326- 335