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[Can "Disability Studies" Survive?] Well, John Homan takes the trouble to be fairly polite when he disagrees, so I won't pretend I thought the original "three questions" post was some kind of spoof. Claire W correctly notes that the smart-alecky stuff sarked the apparent disfunctionality either of the DS course, or of the student's relation to the course or to her tutor, or whatever. The blossoming of "Disability Studies" cannot be taken for granted, as a set of formal courses taught and studied at western universities. Continuation even of the present modest number of DS courses depends on various factors, prominent among which are: (1) a continuing (and if possible, rising) demand for the courses, from fee-paying or funded customers with sufficient proximity; (2) the development and maintenance of a credible academic image for DS, measurable perhaps in terms of serious research output in quality refereed journals, with progress in quantity of worthwhile citation (i.e. citation not only by mutual stroking, nor for purposes of refutation or ridicule, but by authors in adjacent or distant fields, writing also in quality journals, who are citing what they consider to be authoritative research); (3) some evidence that people with postgraduate degrees in DS have career possibilities, i.e. the qualifications command respect from a range of potential employers (apart from just going on to teach more DS), or open up viable routes to self-employment. (4) [?] patronage by enough Grand Old Boys who still pull the hidden strings, play golf with Vice Chancellors, endow chairs, etc. (5) [further important factors, which will occur to me a few seconds after I hit "Send"] During the past 30 years, people leaving traditional universities with higher degrees in (say) Chemistry, History, or Philosophy, could expect their qualification to be taken by many employers as an indication of good intellectual ability, a fair level of personal organisation and diligence, and some capacity to bang out a reasoned and coherent 15,000 word review and study on a topic if given a couple of months and access to libraries. Job applicants with a Masters in [Mickey Mouse] Studies might be considered less attractive to employers -- especially if they advertised their wobbly feelings when confronted with a demand for 3500 words on topics they had (presumably) spent the past eight months studying. In the UK, departments of Chemistry, History, Philosophy, and other 'respectable' fields of study are in fact being closed left and right, as well as 'Cultural Studies', East Asian Studies, etc, under various pretexts, even though tertiary education is expanding. Meanwhile, participants in this list may be aware of the recent cries of anguish on the DS-Hum list, suggesting some political difficulties with the flagship Disability Studies at UIC (Illinois at Chicago) and an (unconfirmed) attempted take-over bid by insurgents from the Rehabista Front. When it's sexy, people try to climb aboard. When it starts greying, and airing its views on life, or becomes merely a 'virtual' experience down a wire, the managerial strategists and beancounters move in; the punters look for something younger and prettier. That's yer academic whorehouse. Come up some time for coffee. m99m ________________End of message______________________ Archives and tools for the Disability-Research Discussion List are now located at: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html You can JOIN or LEAVE the list from this web page.