To open more windows and clear more air, I thought it might help the
discussion
on diversity in disability studies to add some data. A review of this year’s
program for the annual meeting of the Society for Disability Studies (SDS)
indicates that at least 7 panels had presentations that specifically
focused on
race/ethnicity. Many other presentations considered race/ethnicity as a
dimension or variable in research, among such variables as gender, age, etc.
Related issues of poverty and class were also addressed. Because I am not
personally acquainted with everyone who presented at SDS, it is hard for me to
determine exactly how many presenters were from ethnic/racial minority
communities. Just counting persons I knew, there were at least 10.
The questions about diversity raised on this listserv are critical if we hope
to address in our scholarship the status and experience of all disabled
people,
not just the “damaged” privileged. The facts above are by no means a
defense of
SDS. If anything, they demonstrate how much room for improvement there is. But
SDS’s membership and Board program committee have at least evidenced some
commitment to examining the intersection of race, ethnicity, culture and
disability. I did an Internet exploration of programs, organizations,
institutions and curricula in other area or minority cultural studies (e.g.,
African studies, African American studies, Latino studies, Asian American
studies) and found virtually no evidence of disability or disabled people as a
dimension of that scholarship. It appears that more work on diversity is
needed
all around.
I am willing, however, to take the stance of defender against the charge that
disability studies does not address "any issues of say, poverty and
disability,
the double impact of disability and minority status, or just plain cultural
issues of disability and minorities.” True, traditional medical and
rehabilitation approaches to disability research were certainly guilty of
neglecting intragroup variation. But disability studies models have prodded
researchers to attend to socially constructed boundaries, such as race and
gender, and related oppression. Increasingly, disability studies scholars
engage in self-criticism around issues of inclusion, representation, equity,
diversity and privilege–as we should.
The sources of minority under-representation in disability studies are
complex,
persistent and deep-seated. It will take concerted effort to understand and
overturn them. Although it is good to know our colleagues from
ethnic/racial/cultural minority communities will be “watching” to keep the
rest
of us honest, I hope some will not just watch us but will guide and work with
us to make disability studies more just and encompassing of the human
spectrum.
Carol J. Gill, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Disability and Human Development
Executive Officer
Society for Disability Studies
University of Illinois at Chicago
(312) 355-0550 V
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