I don't want to do a 'me too', but I strongly agree with Laurence here. It
is really important that students make up their own minds creatively
otherwise education becomes a process of indoctrination and students come
out of it with less considered rather than more considered views. I hate to
use the analogy, but in 'traditional' theories of identity development, the
suggestion is that the strongest identities come from playing the field and
getting a few bloody noses. I have found it useful to present a variety of
texts containing disability narratives, classic, modern and post-modern,
which I always place in their historical and cultural context (even if we
don't know what that is yet!). It is also interesting to bring in parallel
narratives relating to women, people of working class, people from black
and ethnic minorities and gays and lesbians to show this context.
To David's list, I would add two sci-fi novels (and I'm not talking cyborgs
either):
Theodore Sturgeon's 'More than Human'
and 'The Gameplayers of Zan' (I'm sorry I've forgotten the author, as I
used years ago)
Best wishes
Mairian
>Hi everyone
>
>Sorry to copy the whole message(s). Dona, I feel as does John that
>to censor any part of the lived experience or its interpretation would
>be wrong. I see an opportunity here to change the discussion
>questions that move both the tutor and the reader toward a response
>that criticises the mythologies, not with propaganda but good old
>fashioned intellectual rigour. Get those creative juices going!
>
>
>
>
>
>> Good morning Dona,
>>
>> When you write toward the end: > ." Sorry, but I feel these writers
>> have understood nothing but the medical, the individual loss, the tragic
>> perspective on their "transformed vision" of themselves.
>>
>> I get the same uneasy feeling when the pros, the pollies, tell me ( with
>> exasperation in their voice looking at the heavens for salvation) 'If
>> only you understood' These people don't know anything about any of the
>> learned social theory and bagage you carry, nor should they. They write
>> about how they feel about the most important person in their life,
>> themselves, and where and how they perceive they interact, fit and feel
>> about the world around them. You don't tell Van Gogh that he should
>> paint like Rembrand van Rijn, Mozart to compose like Bach. Don't use a
>> committee approach, it is committees who come up with a camel when
>> trying to design a horse. Like them or not like them for what they are.
>> Individuals with thoughts and feelings and opinions that may not be new
>> or politically correct in your world, but are new, original, and at
>> times likely mindblowing to them.
>>
>> Have a good time, rgds John
>>
>>
>> [log in to unmask] wrote:
>> >
>> > Okay, all; new dilemma to ponder. I just got the textbooks I am to
>>use for
>> > 1st-year Composition (freshman English, for the un-PC), and I was
>>alternately
>> > appalled and excited by one chapter in particular.
>> >
>> > In this anthology (Janet Marting's *The Voice of Reflection: A Writer's
>> > Reader), Chapter 5 is called "Self-Portraits," and includes essays by
>>Gloria
>> > Steinem (her adolescent chagrin at being fat and too-tall), Elizabeth
>> > MacDonald (on anorexia and the tyranny of slenderness), Joseph Epstein (on
>> > being a short male), Linda Ellerbee (on alcoholism), and Scott Russell
>>Sanders
>> > (male heroes of the upper class, vs. broken bodies of the laborers).
>>So far,
>> > so good: makes for lively discussions of performativity,
>> > media-and-beauty-ideals, self-improvement vs. self-satisfaction.
>> >
>> > Now comes three essays IN A ROW, which, by their presence here with the
>> > others, and by the rhetoric they employ, make me verrrry
>>uncomfortable--not
>> > only as to whether I should assign them or censor them (or both, which
>>I will
>> > probably do), but as to HOW they will be dealt with by our corps of
>>teaching
>> > assistants who--like many people--may be unaware of the harm these
>>essays may
>> > enact, if taught without sensitivity to the social model of disability.
>> >
>> > LEONARD KRIEGEL uses phrases and images such as "surrender myself"
>> > (to polio), "absence," the monster of Dr. Frankenstein, "the contempt
>>I felt
>> > for my own weakness," "badge of normality," and "shame."
>> >
>> > MATTHEW SOYSTER's essay is introduced with the editor's comment: ". . .the
>> > passion that once 'defined' him are gone and...confined to a
>>wheelchair, he
>> > must search for other passions." The author himself writes, "What
>>disturbs me
>> > most [about MS] is not how others see me, but how I've lost my vision of
>> > myself."
>> >
>> > JOHN UPDIKE's title is "At War with My Skin." He writes about how
>>psoriasis
>> > tends to "singl[e] you out from the happy herds of healthy, normal
>>mankind. .
>> > . ." And this: "self-examination is endless. You are forced to the
>>mirror,
>> > again and again; psoriasis compels narcissism, if we can suppose a
>>Narcissus
>> > who did not like what he saw." He uses "monstrosity," and "handicap [his
>> > abilities]," and refers to himself as "leper," and admits to wanting
>>to "cure
>> > myself." He says he "counted myself out of any. . .jobs. . .that
>>demand being
>> > presentable." But he found someone who could love him: "a comely
>>female who
>> > forgave me my skin.
>> >
>> > Even the 'Questions for Discussion' bother me. After Ellerbee's
>>essay, we are
>> > to discuss her tone: "Is she angry? bitter? hateful? conciliatory?
>>confused? .
>> > . .Do you think Ellerbee will stay sober?" For Epstein's essay, we
>>are asked:
>> > "Do you feel sympathy for Epstein['s being short]? Do you feel scorn and
>> > embarrassment for him? Or is your reaction one of amusement?. .
>>.Explain in
>> > what ways Epstein's dealing with his height is similar to or different
>>from
>> > John Updike's reconciliation to having psoriasis or Leonard Kriegel's to
>> > having polio." And for Soyster's writing, students are asked, "Do you
>>think
>> > Soyster wants his readers' pity? sympathy? compassion?. . .Do you think
>> > Soyster's thinking is representative of most people when they become
>> > disabled?"
>> >
>> > The editor claims that these essays "provide unusual and powerful
>>examinations
>> > of what it means to be physically challenged in a world designed
>>primarily for
>> > people without restrictions." Fine. But then: "you will see
>>something much
>> > different from self-absorbed or egocentric descriptions. . .You will be
>> > invited to witness epiphany: how the writers' understandings have
>>taken shape.
>> > . . ." Sorry, but I feel these writers have understood nothing but the
>> > medical, the individual loss, the tragic perspective on their "transformed
>> > vision" of themselves.
>> >
>> > So I put to you my position: Is there something I can do to ensure
>>that some
>> > 40 English MA students (generally) and a handful of seasoned English
>> > profs treat this section with care? I've thought of arranging an
>>'awareness
>> > session,' or an in-service training period--with someone like
>>fellow-Arizonan
>> > Nancy Mairs as guest speaker. Provided our department chair agrees
>>that this
>> > section of the text is loaded with issues that need guided discussion.
>> > At the very least, is there something I can do while teaching 22
>>students
>> > in my classes--short of spending ALL semester on this one power-pack of 8
>> > essays?
>> > Is there something I'm overlooking...do you all agree that this
>>selection
>> > of essays seems warped? I'm *thrilled* to see disability make an
>>appearance
>> > in an English text... but perhaps THIS representation does more harm than
>> > good?
>> >
>> > Apologies for the length of *this* essay; I get rattled, therefore I
>> > write.
>> >
>> > Dona
>>
>
>
>Best regards
>
>Laurence Bathurst
>School of Occupation and Leisure Sciences
>Faculty of Health Sciences
>University of Sydney
>P.O. Box 170
>Lidcombe NSW 2141
>Australia
>
>Phone: (62 1) 9351 9509
>Fax: (62 1) 9351 9166
>e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
>Please visit the School's interim web site at
>http://www.ot.cchs.usyd.edu.au
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mairian Corker
Senior Research Fellow in Deaf and Disability Studies
Department of Education Studies
University of Central Lancashire
Preston PR1 2HE
Address for correspondence:
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)
*********
"To understand what I am doing, you need a third eye"
*********
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