We are members of the Disability Research
Unit at Leeds. Alison is a Phd student supervised by Colin Barnes and
Hannah is a research officer working on a project with colin. We are both
disabled women and feel strongly that we wanted to respond to some of the
criticisms made about Colin and his work.
Far from being reluctant to admit the new generation Colin goes out of his
way to encourage the development of new ideas and to promote the work of
colleagues and students. From the start of his academic career Colin has
opened up disability studies to a huge number of people both within
disability studies, the disabled people's movement and the wider
community. As you will know he founded the Disability Research Unit here
at Leeds and has convened undergraduate and postgraduate courses in
disability studies.
He has always sought to make access as wide as possible. In fact the
majority of his postgraduate students are women and disabled people. While
Colin does not write from a feminist standpoint, he does engage with it
and actively supports research that engages and develops fresh ideas about
disability, gender and race. We do not feel that we are being excluded
from ‘an old boy's network’ or that there is a reluctance to accept any
new ‘constructs’ that we have to offer. As you will probably know Colin is
not a member of the traditional white middle class boy's network (see his
recent SDS paper). Far from being threatened by the intellect of the
opposite sex, he has always been keen to engage with both
women/feminists/disabled activists in a variety of fora.
This critique of Colin’s article seems to be essentialist. What if
Colin’s name had been Cathy? Or indeed if Cathy had been American rather
than British? If Colin were Cathy would his vehemence be interpreted as
passion? Surely no one accepts a ‘feminist’ line that men cannot criticise
women with out being sexist?
The new generation should accept criticism as much as the old, indeed the
‘pioneers’ as you call them still have much to contribute to disability
studies! A vibrant and dynamic disability studies needs all perspectives.
On a personal level Colin is an excellent supervisor, who at no time has
demonstrated sexism in any form, in fact quite the reverse. He has a
great awareness of some of the issues faced particularly by women in
academia, for example balancing research and family responsibilities and
has actively supported in overcoming obstacles.
best wishes
Alison Slater & Hannah Morgan
Hannah Morgan
Research Officer
Disability Research Unit
University of Leeds
LEEDS
LS2 9JT
0113 2334426
Visit the DRU website at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/sociology/dru/dru.htm
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