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Disability And Modern Fiction: Faulkner, Morrison, Coetzee And The Nobel Prize For Literature (PDF)
by Alice HallFocusing on Faulkner, Morrison and Coetzee as authors, critics and Nobel Prize-winning intellectuals, this book explores shifting representations of disability in 20th and 21st century literature and proposes new ways of reading their works in relation to one another, whilst highlighting the ethical, aesthetic and imaginative challenges they pose.
The Staff Of Oedipus: Transforming Disability In Ancient Greece (PDF)
by Martha L. RoseAncient Greek images of disability permeate the Western consciousness: Homer, Teiresias, and Oedipus immediately come to mind. But The Staff of Oedipus looks at disability in the ancient world through the lens of disability studies, and reveals that our interpretations of disability in the ancient world are often skewed. These false assumptions in turn lend weight to modern-day discriminatory attitudes toward disability. Martha L. Rose considers a range of disabilities and the narratives surrounding them. She examines not only ancient literature, but also papyrus, skeletal material, inscriptions, sculpture, and painting, and draws upon modern work, including autobiographies of people with disabilities, medical research, and theoretical work in disability studies. Her study uncovers the realities of daily life for people with disabilities in ancient Greece and challenges the translation of the term adunatos (unable) as "disabled," with all its modern associations. ISBN: 9780472035731 (paper) ISBN: 9780472026265 (e-book)
Aesthetic Nervousness: Disability And The Crisis Of Representation (PDF)
by Ato QuaysonFocusing primarily on the work of Samuel Beckett, Toni Morrison, Wole Soyinka, and J. M. Coetzee, Ato Quayson launches a thoroughly cross-cultural, interdisciplinary study of the representation of physical disability. Quayson suggests that the subliminal unease and moral panic invoked by the disabled is refracted within the structures of literature and literary discourse itself, a crisis he terms "aesthetic nervousness. " The disabled reminds the able-bodied that the body is provisional and temporary and that normality is wrapped up in certain social frameworks. Quayson expands his argument by turning to Greek and Yoruba writings, African American and postcolonial literature, depictions of deformed characters in early modern England and the plays of Shakespeare, and children's films, among other texts. He considers how disability affects interpersonal relationships and forces the character and the reader to take an ethical standpoint, much like representations of violence, pain, and the sacred. The disabled are also used to represent social suffering, inadvertently obscuring their true hardships.
Disability On Equal Terms (PDF)
by Sally French John SwainDisability on Equal Terms presents an authoritative collection of writings that examine and challenge traditional notions of disability. Edited and written by leading experts in the field, the book offers a multidisciplinary approach to disability studies, incorporating perspectives from a wide range of health and social care services, as well as a distinct and unique emphasis on the personal testimonies of disabled people themselves.
Disability On Equal Terms
by Sally French John SwainDisability on Equal Terms presents an authoritative collection of writings that examine and challenge traditional notions of disability. Edited and written by leading experts in the field, the book offers a multidisciplinary approach to disability studies, incorporating perspectives from a wide range of health and social care services, as well as a distinct and unique emphasis on the personal testimonies of disabled people themselves.
Developmental And Adapted Physical Education (PDF)
by H. Clarke David ClarkeThis comprehensive book on developmental and adapted physical education is intended for physical educators in schools and colleges, although applications to physical reconditioning and corrective therapy in hospitals and rehabilitation centers can readily be made.
The Biopolitics Of Disability: Neoliberalism, Ablenationalism, And Peripheral Embodiment
by David T. MitchellIn the neoliberal era, when human worth is measured by its relative utility within global consumer culture, selected disabled people have been able to gain entrance into late capitalist culture. The Biopolitics of Disability terms this phenomenon "ablenationalism" and asserts that "inclusion" becomes meaningful only if disability is recognized as providing modes of living that are alternatives to governing norms of productivity and independence. Thus, the book pushes beyond questions of impairment to explore how disability subjectivities create new forms of embodied knowledge and collective consciousness. The focus is on the emergence of new crip/queer subjectivities at work in disability arts, disability studies pedagogy, independent and mainstream disability cinema (e. g. , Midnight Cowboy), internet-based medical user groups, anti-normative novels of embodiment (e. g. , Richard Powers's The Echo-Maker) and, finally, the labor of living in "non-productive" bodies within late capitalism.
Cultural Locations Of Disability
by Sharon L. Snyder David T. MitchellIn Cultural Locations of Disability, Sharon L. Snyder and David T. Mitchell trace how disabled people came to be viewed as biologically deviant. The eugenics era pioneered techniques that managed "defectives" through the application of therapies, invasive case histories, and acute surveillance techniques, turning disabled persons into subjects for a readily available research pool. In its pursuit of normalization, eugenics implemented disability regulations that included charity systems, marriage laws, sterilization, institutionalization, and even extermination. Enacted in enclosed disability locations, these practices ultimately resulted in expectations of segregation from the mainstream, leaving today's disability politics to focus on reintegration, visibility, inclusion, and the right of meaningful public participation. Snyder and Mitchell reveal cracks in the social production of human variation as aberrancy. From our modern obsessions with tidiness and cleanliness to our desire to attain perfect bodies, notions of disabilities as examples of human insufficiency proliferate. These disability practices infuse more general modes of social obedience at work today. Consequently, this important study explains how disabled people are instrumental to charting the passage from a disciplinary society to one based upon regulation of the self.
eQuality: The Struggle For Web Accessibility By Persons With Cognitive Disabilities (PDF)
by Peter BlanckNever before have the civil rights of people with disabilities aligned so well with developments in information and communication technology. The center of the technology revolution is the Internet, which fosters unprecedented opportunities for engagement in democratic society. The Americans with Disabilities Act likewise is helping to ensure equal participation in society by people with disabilities. Globally, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities further affirms that persons with disabilities are entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of fundamental personal freedoms. This book is about the lived struggle for disability rights, with a focus on Web equality for people with cognitive disabilities, such as intellectual disabilities, autism, and print-related disabilities. The principles derived from the right to the Web - freedom of speech and individual dignity - are bound to lead toward full and meaningful involvement in society for persons with cognitive and other disabilities.
Aesthetic Nervousness: Disability And The Crisis Of Representation
by Ato QuaysonFocusing primarily on the work of Samuel Beckett, Toni Morrison, Wole Soyinka, and J. M. Coetzee, Ato Quayson launches a thoroughly cross-cultural, interdisciplinary study of the representation of physical disability. Quayson suggests that the subliminal unease and moral panic invoked by the disabled is refracted within the structures of literature and literary discourse itself, a crisis he terms "aesthetic nervousness. " The disabled reminds the able-bodied that the body is provisional and temporary and that normality is wrapped up in certain social frameworks. Quayson expands his argument by turning to Greek and Yoruba writings, African American and postcolonial literature, depictions of deformed characters in early modern England and the plays of Shakespeare, and children's films, among other texts. He considers how disability affects interpersonal relationships and forces the character and the reader to take an ethical standpoint, much like representations of violence, pain, and the sacred. The disabled are also used to represent social suffering, inadvertently obscuring their true hardships.
Disability And Modern Fiction: Faulkner, Morrison, Coetzee And The Nobel Prize For Literature
by Alice HallFocusing on Faulkner, Morrison and Coetzee as authors, critics and Nobel Prize-winning intellectuals, this book explores shifting representations of disability in 20th and 21st century literature and proposes new ways of reading their works in relation to one another, whilst highlighting the ethical, aesthetic and imaginative challenges they pose.
The Metanarrative Of Blindness: A Re-reading Of Twentieth-century Anglophone Writing
by David BoltAlthough the theme of blindness occurs frequently in literature, literary criticism has rarely engaged the experiential knowledge of people with visual impairments. The Metanarrative of Blindness counters this trend by bringing to readings of twentieth-century works in English a perspective appreciative of impairment and disability. Author David Bolt examines representations of blindness in more than forty literary works, including writing by Kipling, Joyce, Synge, Orwell, H. G. Wells, Susan Sontag, and Stephen King, shedding light on the deficiencies of these representations and sometimes revealing an uncomfortable resonance with the Anglo-American science of eugenics. What connects these seemingly disparate works is what Bolt calls "the metanarrative of blindness," a narrative steeped in mythology and with deep roots in Western culture. Bolt examines literary representations of blindness using the analytical tools of disability studies in both the humanities and social sciences. His readings are also broadly appreciative of personal, social, and cultural aspects of disability, with the aim of bringing literary scholars to the growing discipline of disability studies, and vice versa. This interdisciplinary monograph is relevant to people working in literary studies, disability studies, psychology, sociology, applied linguistics, life writing, and cultural studies, as well as those with a general interest in education and representations of blindness.
Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape Of A Misdiagnosed Boy Trapped Inside His Own Body
by Martin Pistorius Megan Lloyd DaviesIn January 1988, aged twelve, Martin Pistorius fell inexplicably sick. First he lost his voice and stopped eating; then he slept constantly and shunned human contact. Doctors were mystified. Within eighteen months he was mute and wheelchair-bound. Martin's parents were told that an unknown degenerative disease had left him with the mind of a baby and he probably had less than two years to live. Martin went on to be cared for at centres for severely disabled children, a shell of the bright, vivacious boy he had once been. What no-one knew is that while Martin's body remained unresponsive his mind slowly woke up, yet he could tell no-one; he was a prisoner inside a broken body. Then, in 1998, when Martin was twenty-three years old, an aromatherapy masseuse began treating him and sensed some part of him was alert. Experts were dismissive, but his parents persevered and soon realised their son was as intelligent as he'd always been. With no memory of the time before his illness, Martin was a man-child reborn in a world he didn't know. He was still in a wheelchair and unable to speak, but he was brilliantly adept at computer technology. Since then, and against all odds, he has fallen in love, married and set up a design business which he runs from his home in Essex. Ghost Boyis an incredible, deeply moving story of recovery and the power of love. Through Martin's story we can know what it is like to be here and yet not here - unable to communicate yet feeling and understanding everything. Martin's emergence from his darkness enables us to celebrate the human spirit and is a wake-up call to cherish our own lives.
Disability In Comic Books And Graphic Narratives (PDF)
by Chris Foss Jonathan W. Gray Zach WhalenDisability in Comic Books and Graphic Narratives invites readers to consider both canonical and alternative graphic representations of disability. Some chapters focus on comic superheroes, from lesser-known protagonists like Cyborg and Helen Killer to classics such as Batgirl and Batman; many more explore the amazing range of graphic narratives revolving around disability, covering famous names such as Alison Bechdel and Chris Ware, as well as less familiar artists like Keiko Tobe and Georgia Webber. The volume also offers a broad spectrum of represented disabilities: amputation, autism, blindness, deafness, depression, Huntington's, multiple sclerosis, obsessive-compulsive disorder, speech impairment, and spinal injury. A number of the essays collected here show how comics continue to implicate themselves in the objectification and marginalization of persons with disabilities, perpetuating stale stereotypes and stigmas. At the same time, others stress how this medium simultaneously offers unique potential for transforming our understanding of disability in truly profound ways.
Reading Embodied Citizenship: Disability, Narrative, And The Body Politic
by Emily RussellLiberal individualism, a foundational concept of American politics, assumes an essentially homogeneous population of independent citizens. When confronted with physical disability and the contradiction of seemingly unruly bodies, however, the public searches for a story that can make sense of the difference. The narrative that ensues makes "abnormality" an important part of the dialogue about what a genuine citizen is, though its role is concealed as an exception to the rule of individuality rather than a defining difference. Reading Embodied Citizenship brings disability to the forefront, illuminating its role in constituting what counts as U. S. citizenship. Drawing from major figures in American literature, including Mark Twain, Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, and David Foster Wallace, as well as introducing texts from the emerging canon of disability studies, Emily Russell demonstrates the place of disability at the core of American ideals. The narratives prompted by the encounter between physical difference and the body politic require a new understanding of embodiment as a necessary conjunction of physical, textual, and social bodies. Russell examines literature to explore and unsettle long-held assumptions about American citizenship.
The Body And Physical Difference: Discourses Of Disability
by David T. Mitchell Sharon L. SnyderFor years the subject of human disability has engaged those in the biological, social and cognitive sciences, while at the same time, it has been curiously neglected within the humanities. The Body and Physical Difference seeks to introduce the field of disability studies into the humanities by exploring the fantasies and fictions that have crystallized around conceptions of physical and cognitive difference. Based on the premise that the significance of disabilities in culture and the arts has been culturally vexed as well as historically erased, the collection probes our society's pathological investment in human variability and "aberrancy. " The contributors demonstrate how definitions of disability underpin fundamental concepts such as normalcy, health, bodily integrity, individuality, citizenship, and morality--all terms that define the very essence of what it means to be human. The book provides a provocative range of topics and perspectives: the absence of physical "otherness" in Ancient Greece, the depiction of the female invalid in Victorian literature, the production of tragic innocence in British and American telethons, the reconstruction of Civil War amputees, and disability as the aesthetic basis for definitions of expendable life within the modern eugenics movement. With this new, secure anchoring in the humanities, disability studies now emerges as a significant strain in contemporary theories of identity and social marginality. Moving beyond the oversimplication that disabled people are marginalized and made invisible by able-ist assumptions and practices, the contributors demonstrate that representation is founded upon the perpetual exhibition of human anomalies. In this sense, all art can be said to migrate toward the "freakish" and the "grotesque. " Such a project paradoxically makes disability the exception and the rule of the desire to represent that which has been traditionally out-of-bounds in polite discourse. The Body and Physical Difference has relevance across a wide range of academic specialties such as cultural studies, the sociology of medicine, history, literature and medicine, the allied health professions, rehabilitation, aesthetics, philosophical discourses of the body, literary and film studies, and narrative theory. David T. Mitchell is Assistant Professor of English, Northern Michigan University. Sharon L. Snyder teaches film and literature at Northern Michigan University.
Disability In Science Fiction: Representations Of Technology As Cure
by Kathryn AllanIn this groundbreaking collection, twelve international scholars - with backgrounds in disability studies, English and world literature, classics, and history - discuss the representation of dis/ability, medical "cures," technology, and the body in science fiction.
Rethinking Disability Theory And Practice: Challenging Essentialism
by Karín Lesnik-ObersteinDisability Studies has burgeoned as a field of enquiry in recent decades. Yet, as economic pressures on disability provision and benefits continue to increase, questions about disability theory and practice have become more pressing. This inter- and trans-disciplinary volume presents novel approaches to key debates in Disability Studies, particularly about how to think about and define disability. The contributors in Rethinking Disability Theory and Practice address a wide range of issues,including: childhood, gender, sexuality, autism, ADHD, deafness, agency, race, affect, the body and the animal. Diverging from other recent publications in Critical Disability Studies, this volume as a whole aims to challenge essentialism, demonstrating above all the consequences of radically rethinking the roles of language and perspective in constructing identities.
Sleep, Arousal, and Performance: a Tribute to Bob Wilkinson (PDF)
by Robert T Wilkinson Roger J Broughton Robert D OgilvieA scientific exploration of the quaint old notion that people's productivity and health are related to whether or not they got a good night's sleep. The 19 papers, from a May 1990 conference in Cambridge (marking the retirement of a pioneer researcher in the field) consider theoretical issues; physiology and information processing; performance, sleep deprivation, and mapping; clinical applications; and a synthesis. Most of the contributors are from psychology. (c) by Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR.
Dangerous Discourses Of Disability, Subjectivity And Sexuality
by Margrit ShildrickThis innovative and adventurous work, now in paperback, uses broadly feminist and postmodernist modes of analysis to explore what motivates damaging attitudes and practices towards disability. The book argues for the significance of the psycho-social imaginary and suggests a way forward in disability's queering of normative paradigms.
Disability In Comic Books And Graphic Narratives (PDF)
by Chris Foss Jonathan W. Gray Zach WhalenAs there has yet to be any substantial scrutiny of the complex confluences a more sustained dialogue between disability studies and comics studies might suggest, Disability in Comic Books and Graphic Narratives aims through its broad range of approaches and focus points to explore this exciting subject in productive and provocative ways. Alternate ISBNs 9781349698981 9781137501110
Language Development And Social Interaction In Blind Children
by Miguel Perez Pereira Gina Conti-RamsdenThis book provides an up-to-date account of blind children's developing communicative abilities with particular emphasis on social cognition and language acquisition from infancy to early school age. It purports to foster dialogue between those interested in the study of typically developing children and those interested in the development of children who are blind and to provide insights and new explanations of why the development of blind children may differ from that of sighted children. The book also aims to identify and examine current theoretical issues which are likely to be at the centre of developments in the fields of child language and developmental psychology. Language Development and Social Interaction in Blind Childrenis also a timely book. The study of blind children's development constitutes a unique opportunity to study the effect of vision on development, and more specifically on the development of language and certain aspects of social cognition. Current interest in the development of "theory of mind" and perspective taking in language learning, make the case of blind children crucial to our understanding of certain aspects of psychological functioning. The book explores these issues, challenges some widely-held beliefs about the development of communication in blind children, and provides a cohesive picture of our knowledge to date.
Actively Seeking Inclusion: Pupils With Special Needs In Mainstream Schools
by Julie AllanA study of the ways in which special needs students are treated by mainstream educational institutions and how those ways can and need to be changed.
Approaching Disability: Critical Issues And Perspectives
by Rebecca Mallett Katherine Runswick-ColeDisability Studies is an area of study which examines social, political, cultural, and economic factors that define 'disability' and establish personal and collective responses to difference. This insightful new text will introduce readers to the discipline of Disability Studies and enable them to engage in the lively debates within the field. By offering an accessible yet rigorous approach to Disability Studies, the authors provide a critical analysis of key current issues and consider ways in which the subject can be studied through national and international perspectives, policies, culture and history. Key debates include: The relationship between activism and the academy Ways to study cultural and media representations of disability The importance of disability history and how societies can change National and international perspectives on children, childhood and education Political perspectives on disability and identity The place of the body in disability theory This text offers real-world examples of topics that are important to debates and offers a much needed truly international scope on the questions at hand. It is an essential read for any individual studying, practising or with an interest in Disability Studies. Alternate ISBNs 9780415735896 9781315765464
Disability, Discourse and Technology: Agency and Inclusion in (Inter)action
by Najma Al ZidjalyExclusion is the main predicament faced by people with disabilities across contexts and cultures, yet it is one of the least academically studied concepts. This book brings together past and new research to offer an applied linguistics perspective on timely critical issues in disability research, filling in a number of gaps in discourse analysis and disability studies. Through analysis of various types of data collected as part of a longitudinal, ethnographic case study involving one MuslimArab man with disability and members of his social circles, the book presents a new framework for the analysis of agency and inclusion in inter(action). The book illustrates the necessity of going beyond bounded texts when dealing with identities constructed by individuals with disabilities and the need to deconstruct taken-for-granted binary categories of what does and does not constitute disability and ability. It further documents the role that a seemingly dependent agent can play, in conjunction with caregivers, in combating the marginalization afforded to him or her by certain disability ideologies. On top of this, the book offers insight into how to conduct multimodal research that is empirically rigorous, theoretically grounded, socioculturally sensitive, and activism-oriented.