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Picking up your comments Fiona about the lack of use of pwds as disability studies teachers, and Lawrence's suggestion of an international publication index of articles by academics and others with disabilities, is it time in Australia that we did that on a national basis? May be useful in confronting Oz disability studies preoccupation with service delivery. Margaret Cooper 7/24 Moorhouse Street, Armadale Australia 3143 ---------- > From: Alexander & Campbell <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: RE: Singer/Asch debate > Date: Saturday, 23 October 1999 16:26 > > Hi all, > > I haven't contributed to list list for some time, but feel very strongly > about this issue. I speak from my own 'experience' and the Australian > context. Up until recently there has been little in the way of supports to > facilitate the involvment of pwd's in tertiary education. 'disability' is > very expensive. It took me ten years (between working full-time to pay the > rent to stay out of a nursing home) to finish my degree. I finally at aged > 36 have commenced my PhD. Over this time I have witnessed a number of > academics scrambling for new discplinary areas as the future of others in > the humanities/social sciences shift or have bleak scenarios. I am reminded > of the comments of Deborah Marks who as an AB women (her term) says " .my > fear is that I will be positioned in relation to disability in the way that > men have been positioned in relation to feminism. Despite adopting the > langauge of postructuralism, the course risks slipping into an examination > of 'other'. (Deborah Marks 1996: 70). So whilst I would not advocate ruling > out AB people from teaching disability studies per se , their involvement is > I believe problematic. Firstly, in Australia at least there are so few of > us who identify as having 'disabilities' as holding tenured (or indeed > contract) positions in the universities and TAFE. This problem is magnified > by the small number of critical disability studies courses. Many courses > are already initiated by people with the system who are supportive of the SM > or postructuralist approaches. I ask when will be be time for AB support > academics to move over and create 'space' for prograduates, Post-Phd's to > teach in these areas? Should we get preference in the area of publishing? I > wonder why many of us have problems with a non-aboriginal teaching > aboriginal studies or men taking women's studies (not gender studies) yet we > often see no 'problem' with people who identify as 'AB' taking disability > studies courses. I know when I taught a 'politics of disablment' subject in > TAFE to fact of my disability was intrinsic to the teaching method, without > lapsing into essentialising tendencies. I'll finish with asking for any > ideas on how we can support postgrad student with disbilities to continue > their projects and get visible? Apologies for the length of this piece - I > don't usually have my say on the list as often I don't feel very > confident/or competant to engage in some of the debates without being > 'jumped on'. > > Fiona Campbell > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [log in to unmask] > [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of > Dr.Phyllis Rubenfeld > Sent: Saturday, 23 October 1999 4:57 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: Singer/Asch debate > > > 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. <snip> > > > > > > > > > > Best wishes, Mairian > > > > > > > > > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%