Russell Shuttleworth wrote:
The paper by Mairian Corker was presented at last
>year's Society for Disability Studies. Another paper by her that you
>should be able to get more easily is a chapter in the recent published
>Disability Reader: Social Science Perspectives, edited by Tom
>Shakespeare, called "Disability Discourse in a Postmodern World."
>However, this paper is not so much focused on the social model.
The latter paper was actually an earlier one which had a different emphasis
and took a long time to get through the publishing process! The Derrida
paper is actually extracted from my book Deaf abd Disabled or Deafness
Disabled? Since SDS, I have written four further papers which link into
this discussion. Two will be in the forthcoming 'Disability Discourse'
(Buckingham UK: Open University Press, pub. date January 1999) which I have
co-edited with Sally French. The other two, I'd be happy to make available
to anyone who asks.
However, I do want to be clear on one thing. My 'critiques of the
(materialist) social model' are more measured than some people seem to
think and I certainly don't want to see its death. I continue to believe
that the (materialist) social model works well in some arenas of life and
for some disabled people, as one might expect of a modernist approach. I
also think that a social theory is different from a social model, that
models are necessarily limited and delimiting, and that it is not helpful
to separate or emphasise one part of the structure/culture diad in the way
that disability studies in the UK tends to do.
The only thing I refute entirely in my critique is that the (materialist)
social model works for ALL disabled people, ALL of the time in EVERY
culture and society. I think a careful reading of the UPIAS document
supports this view, and disability activists tend not to like it when it is
highlighted. The other thing I feel passionately about is that the
(materialist) social model does not work in the arena of discourse and
language, and my reasons for this are both theoretical and practical ones.
I have therefore tried to develop other strands of a social THEORY of
disability which bring these issues to the fore.
Hope this helps
Best wishes
Mairian
*********
"To understand what I am doing, you need a third eye"
*********
Mairian Corker
Senior Research Fellow
University of Central Lancashire
c/o 111 Balfour Road
Highbury
London N5 2HE
U.K.
Minicom/TTY +44 [0]171 359 8085
Fax +44 [0]870 0553967
Typetalk (voice) +44 [0]800 515152 (and ask for minicom/TTY number)
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