Society for Disability Studies
Call for Papers
“Democracy, Diversity, and Disability”
Society for Disability Studies
14th Annual Meeting
June 21 - 24, 2001
The Society for Disability Studies (SDS) will hold its 14th Annual
meeting in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada at the Winnipeg Convention Centre
June 21st to 24th, 2001
SDS is an international non-profit organization that promotes the
exploration of disability through research, artistic production and
teaching. Disability Studies encourages perspectives that place
disability in social, cultural, and political contexts. Through our
work, we seek to augment understanding of disability in all cultures and
historical periods, to promote greater awareness of the experiences of
persons with disabilities, and to contribute to social change. We
believe that cultural representations structure ideas about disability
and have a direct impact on disabled people’s freedom to manage their
lives and participate in society. We realize the vital need for more
usable information about people with disabilities in every country,
especially in the third world.
This is the first time that the Conference will be held outside the
United States and SDS is excited to expand its networking and membership
base.
This announcement solicits abstracts for individual papers,
presentations, panels, workshops, roundtables, or performances on a wide
range of approaches to work in disability studies.
Deadline for submissions is December 15th, 2000.
This years theme “Democracy, Diversity and Disability” seeks to examine
emerging international disability studies initiatives in their
political, cultural, and social context, including their implications
for policy and program developments. The conference will place special
emphasis on identifying the need for and the impact of disability
studies and its research on the disability community. The Conference
will be organized to encourage dialogue between academic disability
studies, practitioners, and the disability community. We will strive to
create a venue where disability community members can identify needs
that they would like the academic community to consider in their
research and educational activities. We will also examine issues of
partnerships between the disability community, families, academicians,
government, policy makers, professionals, and the private sector. We
need to critically analyze the road map used by our new multi and
interdisciplinary field to gain credibility within highly political
university structures.
Presentations should address the theme “Democracy, Diversity, and
Disability” taking into consideration some of the following topics
but not necessarily limiting themselves to:
? Disability and culture
? Disability and politics
? Disability studies and research methods
? Disability studies and universal design
Specific questions to consider when addressing your chosen topic could
include:
? What are the most pressing needs for research and education in
disability communities around the world?
? What are the implications of the research methods and definitions of
disability for providing answers to pressing political, family,
cultural, service delivery and other questions related to disability?
? How is disability studies understood in different countries and
regions of the world?
? How well do we conceptualize and measure disability for research
purposes and what is available to improve that process?
? What are the characteristics of effective knowledge dissemination
programs?
? What are the barriers to the acceptance of disability studies as an
emerging discipline in university structures?
? How can we take advantage of and preserve the interdisciplinary nature
of Disability Studies?
? How can disability studies build partnerships with the disability
community, families, professionals, and government?
? What are the implications of disability studies and participatory
research for policies, programs, and services?
? How can disability studies research promote a better general
understanding of human variation and diversity?
It is expected that this conference will have significant participation
from countries outside of North America. Each plenary session will have
an international focus, and we hope the breakout sessions will represent
different parts of the world, a variety of disability organizations, and
a broad range of academic disciplines.
At least one breakout session will be devoted to students, and we invite
submissions from students in disability studies across the world.
We also extend a special invitation to submit proposals to people who
have not previously presented at SDS.
This announcement solicits abstracts for individual papers or
presentations (15 minutes), panels, workshops, roundtables, films, or
performances on a wide range of approaches to work in disability
studies. Each session will be 11/2 hours long and no more than four
individual papers/performances will be scheduled within each session.
Program Organizers: Karen Hirsch, SDS Board Member
Henry Enns, Canadian Centre on Disability Studies
Deadline for submissions is December 15th, 2000.
more next message
|