What Diah Has Shared: Special Issue of Disability Studies Quarterly

Topic: Mediated Communication

Guest Editors: Jeremy L. Brunson and Mitchell E. Loeb

Individuals who experience disablement are often left without complete participation in the society in which they live. This can take different forms and have varying consequences depending the specific type of disability and the environmental accommodations that are available.

Individuals whose communication modality differs from the rest of society are often dependent on assistive technologies to facilitate their communication or an intermediary to communicate on their behalf in order to fully participate in society. This Special Issue of Disability Studies Quarterly will focus on mediated communication.

Submissions can include but are not restricted to:

• Theoretical/ empirical papers

• Cultural/social commentaries

• Creative works

• Book/film reviews

• Policy/legal analyses

Mediated communication is a cross-cutting subject area that can be explored through literal applications, such as sign language interpreting for deaf people, the use of communication boards and facilitated communication for autistic individuals or individuals with intellectual disabilities; or more figurative/creative representations. Scholars from all disciplines are encouraged to submit an abstract by December 15, 2010. Authors will be notified by January 15, 2011 with an anticipated publication date of fall 2011.

Submissions can be sent to: jeremy.brunson@ gallaudet. edu and mloeb@cdc.gov

Disability Studies Quarterly (DSQ) is the journal of the Society for Disability Studies (SDS). It is a multidisciplinary and international journal of interest to social scientists, scholars in the humanities, disability rights advocates, creative writers, and others concerned with the issues of people with disabilities. It represents the full range of methods, epistemologies, perspectives, and content that the multidisciplinary field of disability studies embraces. DSQ is committed to developing theoretical and practical knowledge about disability and to promoting the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in society.

What Diah Has Shared: Disability & the Victorians: Confronting Legacies

Leeds Centre for Victorian Studies

Disability & the Victorians: Confronting Legacies

30 July - 1 August 2012

Leeds Trinity University College

Announcement and First Call for Paper

 

The nineteenth century was the period during which disability was conceptualised, categorised, and defined. The industrial revolution, advances in medicine, the emergence of philanthropy and the growth of asylums all played their part in creating what today's society describes as the medical model of disability.

 

Disability can be traced through many forms: in material culture and literary genres; scientific, medical and official inquiries; art; architecture; the history of disabled charities; disabled people's experiences; the legacy inherited by disabled people today of phrenology and physiognomy; events such as the 1880 Milan Conference, and the taxonomies and categories of disability - the handicapped; the deaf and dumb; the feeble minded; the blind; the imbecile and the cretin. The legacy of the relationship between the body, the scientific and the literary text; the intersection of disability, theories of evolution and anthropology, gender and degeneration. How can we draw disabled voices and testimonies together to construct 'the long view'? What are the advantages and the challenges of teaching about disability and the disabled in the Victorian period?

 

Proposals for papers, panels, posters and other forms of presentation (e.g. creative writing) are invited that open up new lines of research and inquiry relating to any aspect of Disability in the Victorian period. Possible themes might include:

• Resistance, conformity, subversion, transgression.

• Freak shows and circuses.

• The visibility and invisibility of disability: beggars, street sellers, hawkers; Victorian institutions, charities, asylums, schools and clubs.

• Taxonomic practices.

• Disabled heroes and villains; male vs. female invalidism; the school of pain.

• Victorian technologies, prostheses, the emergence of audiology, the development and spread of Braille.

• The revival of folkloric changelings.

• Portrayals of children and childhood.

• Disability as a moral force for improvement, theology and spiritual enlightenment/development.

• The formation of Victorian national identity and national efficiency, empire, 'race' and colonialism.

• Disability and the fear of loss, eugenics and degeneration.

• The medical and scientific text.

• Victorian social policy and legal frameworks

Those with an involvement in disability, either through work, teaching or direct experience, and papers that adopt a comparative frame, shifting across the normal boundaries of history, literary studies, the history of medicine, the history and philosophy of science, art history, etc. are especially sought, but studies with a narrower focus seeking to challenge Victorian legacies in this field are also welcome.

The deadline for the submission of proposals for panel sessions (no longer than 500 words) and proposals for individual 20-minute papers and presentations (200-250 words) is October 4, 2010. At this stage your proposal/enquiry may be exploratory. A second and final call for papers will be issued in June 2011.

Please send a short biographical note together with your proposal. Prospective panel organisers should also send the panelists' names, paper titles, and a short biographical note for each panelist and their contact details.

Support workers and carers are exempted from the conference registration fees. Papers will be circulated in advance of the conference. Please indicate by July 2011 if you would like LCVS to supply a sign language interpreter. Please indicate by April 2012 if you would like LCVS to supply an escort or support worker. All assistance dogs are welcome. If you have any enquiries regarding facilities and services for disabled people, or would like this Call for Papers in large print, please contact Joy Hamblin.

Proposals, or enquiries relating to these, should be sent to Karen Sayer k.sayer@leedstrinity.ac.ukmailto:k.sayer@leedstrinity.ac.uk

General enquiries to: Karen Sayer, Senior Lecturer in History, Leeds Centre for Victorian Studies, Leeds Trinity University College, Brownberrie Lane, Leeds, LS18 5HD; e-mail k.sayer@leedstrinity.ac.uk; tel. 0113 2837212 Or, Joy Hamblin, Leeds Centre for Victorian Studies, Leeds Trinity University College, Brownberrie Lane, Leeds, LS18 5HD j.hamblin@leedstrinity.ac.uk; tel. 0113 2837305

What Diah Has Shared: CALL FOR PAPERS: DISABILITY AND SOCIETY

CALL FOR PAPERS: DISABILITY AND SOCIETY
SPECIAL ISSUE 2011
DISABILITY: SHIFTING FRONTIERS AND BOUNDARIES

In this Special Issue we wish to consider concepts of ‘frontiers’ and ‘boundaries’ in relation to contemporary debates about disability and society. We are interested in ideas about frontiers and boundaries as these relate to spaces and places, and to ways in which disability is being experienced locally, nationally and transnationally. We also have in mind shifting frontiers and boundaries in disability theory making, research methodology and professional practice including changing ethical dilemmas and policy challenges. This Special Issue provides the opportunity to share research and critical thinking on a wide range of topics, which will increase our knowledge and understanding of the changing landscape of discussions about disability and society.

We would welcome submissions on:
New transnational policy agenda
Migration, asylum, displacement
Changing frontiers of social care
New boundaries in research practice
Disability and ageing
Community and identity
Disability and sports
Disability and economic change
New frontiers in medicine, health and activism
Disability in an increasingly globalised world

The above list is not meant to be exhaustive and we encourage contributors to be creative in their interpretation of topics which fit with an exploration of shifting frontiers and boundaries which impact on contemporary debates about disability and society.

SUBMISSION PROCEDURES

Three hard copies of the paper (including an abstract of 100 – 150 words on a separate sheet) should be submitted to The Editor, Disability and Society, c/o Mrs Helen Oliver, School of Education, University of Sheffield, 388 Glossop Road, Sheffield, S10 2JA, United Kingdom, on or before the 1st August 2010.

Please see the inside back cover of the Journal and website for submission details and please keep within the maximum length of 7,000 words (including bibliography) . This Special Issue will be published in 2011.