Disability and society Masters Level course Anne Revillard Think - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Disability and society Master’s Level course Anne Revillard

Think and write (personal notes) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Disability ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? How did I end up here? What do I expect from this course? Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

Brainstorming in pairs (in rows) Introduction (name, pronoun you are comfortable with within the context of this class, master’s programme) Share what you wish to share of what you have written Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

Share/Feedback ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Disability ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Expectations Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

Introduction • The emergence and development of disability studies • Aims and scope of the course • Assignments Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

The emergence and development of disability studies • Disability as part of human diversity. Estimated 15,6% of adult population (WHO, 2011) • Yet disability studies as a field of inquiry in social science = relatively new (1970s-) • Disability was seen as medical condition  paradigm shift was needed (DeJong, 1979) • Connection to the disability movement Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

The emergence and development of disability studies In the UK (Barnes, Oliver & Barton 2002) • Fundamental input of UK research: the social model • Key authors: Vic Finkelstein, Mike Oliver, Paul Abberley, Colin Barnes, Jenny Morris, Carol Thomas, Tom Shakespeare… • First course: Open University 1975 Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

The emergence and development of disability studies In the UK (Barnes, Oliver & Barton 2002) • First journal: Disability, handicap and society created by Len Barton and Mike Oliver in 1986 (became Disability and society in 1993) • Leeds Centre for disability studies • A milestone: Mike Oliver’s The politics of disablement 1990 Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

Why can’t this person access the polling station? Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

Why can’t this person access the polling station? Social Medical model model Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

The emergence and development of disability studies In the US (Barnes et al., 2002) • Easier acceptance in academic departments: First course 1977  23 courses in the US in 1986 • Key authors: Irving Zola, Gerben DeJong, Harlan Hahn, Lennard Davis, Rosemarie Garland- Thomson… • 1981 Irving Zola founded the Disability studies quarterly and co-founded the Society for disability studies Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

The emergence and development of disability studies Common elements in the way disability studies developed in the US and in the UK: - Initial connection to social movements - Paradigm shift - Interdisciplinarity Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

The emergence and development of disability studies Yet different orientations (Meekosha, 2004): - UK : a more materialist perspective, dominance of sociology (Barnes & Mercer, 2010; Oliver & Barnes, 2012; Swain, French, Barnes, & Thomas, 2013; Watson, Roulstone, & Thomas, 2012) - US : more focus on discourse analysis and cultural representations of disability  cultural disability studies (Garland-Thomson, 1997; Davis, 2013) Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

G ARLAND -T HOMSON R., 1997, Extraordinary O LIVER M., 1990, The politics of Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American disablement , Basingstoke, Macmillan. Culture and Literature , New York, Columbia University Press. Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

Disability = “the disadvantage or “Disability – similar to race and restriction of activity caused by a gender – is a system of contemporary social organisation representation that marks bodies which takes no or little account of as subordinate, rather than an people who have physical essential property of bodies that impairments and thus excludes supposedly have something wrong them from participation in the with them ” mainstream of social activities” (Garland-Thomson, 2005, p.1557- (Union of the Physically Impaired 1558) Against Segregation, 1976)  Compare these 2 definitions of disability: how do they differ? And yet, what do they have in common? Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

The emergence and development of disability studies Main reasons for diverging US/UK orientations in disability studies: - Different theoretical traditions in social science - Different disciplines - Different forms of activism/social movement framing (oppression/identity politics) Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

The emergence and development of disability studies Disability research in French social science (Ville & Ravaud 2007): - More recent development, but very active field of research - Institut fédératif de recherches sur le handicap created in 1995 - Programme handicaps et sociétés (PHS ), created at the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in 2006 - ALTER Association and journal (European journal of disability research) - Less connected to activism - Research less often conducted by disabled researchers Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

Thinking about disability beyond disability studies: the need for disability mainstreaming  What is disability mainstreaming? Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

Disability mainstreaming When, where and how have you heard about disability in your classrooms so far? • In course content? • Disabled teachers/students? • … Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

Disability mainstreaming in social science: much needed and still lagging • Need for mainstreaming - Disability as cross-cutting issue - Disability and concept transformation • Obstacles to mainstreaming in academia: triple stigma of disability in social science • Persistence of the medical model (cf Oliver & Barnes, 2012) • An effect of the stigmatization of disabled people themselves • An effect of the yet marginal presence and visibility of disabled people in academia (no critical mass effect) • Activist knowledge Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

Aims and scope of the course  An interdisciplinary approach: sociology, political science, history, law, philosophy, cultural studies  Theoretical tools: disability definitions, policy models, constructionism and embodiement, intersectionality and diversity of impairments …  Revisit common themes of social science : education, employment, care, cultural representations … Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

Aims and scope of the course  Focus on the everyday experiences of disabled people  Comparative perspective within the western world (US, UK, EU, France…)  The political underpinnings and implications of disability research  Initial connections to activism  Policy implications  Interplay between politics, policy and the production of knowledge Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

Course outline 1. Introduction 2. The disability movement 3. The social model and its critiques 4. From disability to disabilities 5. Disability policies at the crossroads 6. Global disability rights 7. Education 8. Employment 9. Care 10. Cultural representations 11. Undoing stigma 12. Conclusion Disability and Society - Anne Revillard

Assignments (check syllabus for details) • Individual assignments (60% of final grade): - Reading assignments 30% [DDL Sept. 15th and Sept. 29th ] - “Takeaway from Disability & Society ” note: 30 % [DDL 12/09] [DDL Dec. 9 th ] • Group assignments (40% of final grade) : - In-class presentation OR online summary [to be sent to teachers 48h before class]: 30% - In-class discussion of another presentation: 10% Disability and Society - Anne Revillard