Hi all!
Perhaps the reason that disability is not included in the college diversity
dialogue is that in most sociology, diversity, and multicultural textbooks,
disability is left off the list of master statuses, i.e., race, class,
gender, sex, sexual orientation. If the academics omit it, isn't it fairly
certain that campus activists will not have been educated to include? I
think the exclusion is a symptom of the larger problem of disability being
ignored by the academy, as illuminated by Simi Linton and other disability
studies scholars.
However, I am happy to report that, as a result of passing on the knowledge
which I gained doing disability studies, a second edition of a sociology
textbook on the social construction of identity includes disability as a
master status (it was not in the first edition). Although the subtitle does
not state disabilty in its list, it is addressed in most sections of the
text. And the authors have assured me that the third edition will include
disability on the cover alongside race, sex, gender, etc. The book was just
published this month. It is:
Rosenblum, K. & Travis, T. M. (1999). The Meaning of Difference: American
Constructions of Race, Gender, Sex and Sexual Orientation. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Thank you for raising the issue, Jerry. This is an excellent topic for the
upcoming SDS dialogue on academia and activism. I would like to participate
in a panel which addresses this topic -- one in which we can relate our
personal experiences about how we put theory into practice on the college
campus. If anyone is interested in joining me on such a panel, please E-mail
me off-list.
Best wishes,
Beth
Beth Omansky Gordon
The George Washington University and
George Mason University
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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