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Hi All, There may be something to fear-At Hunter I understand that non-disabled teachers are being taught how to teach disability studies-FYI: I'm not involved-Smile In Unity, Phyllis On Thu, 21 Oct 1999, Mairian Corker wrote: > Hi, > > The only reason I asked this question is because Lennard suggested that > there was no reason to fear disability studies being 'taken over' by > non-disabled people. I disagree with this view and I feel that there is > already evidence that it is happening in some spheres, but it is evidence > that is difficult to uncover. I'm not asking those who choose not to > identify as disabled to 'out' themselves nor am I asking colleagues to do > so. That makes the campaign personal and contrary to what Lennard seems to > think, I am actually trying to argue this on an academic level based on > Lennard's published work and my published work. > > In the UK, we are trying very hard in all sorts of ways to ensure that the > Disability Studies agenda - from decisions about who decides, through > research methodology, to publication - is driven by disabled people, both > grass-roots activists and activist academics. I myself have never published > anything that 'just strategically occurs to me' - in other words I don't > determine the strategy, as is being implied. I do a lot of listening and I > take up issues that disabled people ask me to take up, often because they > are too scared to say what they think publicly and directly. I don't make > claims about representation. When I produce an edited collection, I do not > exclude non-disabled people, but I do have a strategy of 'positive action' > making sure that the volumes have a majority of disabled contributors, > 'out' or not, because I believe this makes a difference in a small way. > Increasingly, non-disabled colleagues in Disability Studies are also > adopting these strategies and indeed, the international journal, Disability > & Society, of which I am an Executive Editor, has always sought to equalise > in a similar way - four out of six of the Exec. Editors (including myself) > are disabled people, each with a different impairment. > > Best wishes, Mairian > > >I absolutely agree that Mairian's question is valid and politically > >important. I was simply pointing out certain assumptions that underlay it, > >as well as its implied answer in relation to disability studies texts. I > >also think that your point about the fluctuating nature of in/visibility is > >crucial. But I guess I was also questioning whether the way Mairian's > >question was phrased and/or contextualized did not implicitly lead to a > >politics of 'outing' and compulsory 'out-ness'. And questioning whether > >that is in fact a political regulatory regime of disabled research and > >disabled movement that everyone wants to support? And I think that these > >too are important questions. > >Natasha Kraus > > > > > > > >At 02:42 AM 10/20/99 -0400, you wrote: > >>The difficulty of answering Mairian's question, with perfectly accurate > >>numbers -- about who controls disability studies == does not subtract > >>one bit from the question's validity, or political importance. > > > >>"Invisibility" can be an opportunity to hear bias stuff, which you > >>otherwise might not hear. But it's also not necessarily a fixed > >>condition, always "on" (or "off") in an individual's life... nor one > >>totally under the person's control, if they're trying to be invisible. > >>With some disabilities, sometimes the situation removes any element of > >>disclosure choice, and "outs" the person. So what's "invisible" in the > >>morning, may become "visible" in the afternoon. > >> > >>But that fluidity of reality, in no way subtracts from the importance of > >>Mairian's question. > >> > >> > >Natasha Kirsten Kraus > >Assistant Professor > >Department of Sociology > >430 Park Hall > >Box 604140 > >University at Buffalo-SUNY > >Buffalo, NY 14260-4140 > >[log in to unmask] > >(716)645-2417 x 457 > > > 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" > > ********* > > > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%