SDS 2010 conference is upon us! attend and/or follow via web 2.0

The Society for Disability Studies' annual conference, "Disability in the Geo-Political Imagination," kicks off Wednesday, June 2, on the campus of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This year's will be the largest SDS conference ever, with a day-long inclusive education preconference on June 2, and five concurrent streams of papers, as well as a film festival in a dedicated theater, running Thursday, June 3 through Saturday, June 5.

The conference kick-off is not to be missed: Wednesday evening's gala conference kickoff, to be held in Temple University's beautifully restored Baptist Temple (photoset), featuring performance, comedy and tributes dedicated to the life and career of Teddy Pendergrass, a Philadelphia resident who, during his lifetime, fought for the rights of all people, including people with disabilities.

The rest of the conference talks and events will be held at Temple University's recently renovated Gittis Student Center (photo). The conference will close, according to long-standing tradition, with the celebrated SDS Dance, featured in Simi Linton's book My Body Politic (University of Michigan Press, 2007) - Amazon - and Sharon Snyder and David Mitchell's Cultural Locations of Disability (University of Chicago Press, 2006) - Amazon.

There are number of options for conference registration available on the SDS website, including a special pass for the film program. While the Society has long been a mecca of scholars, activists and artists, this year's conference promises to push the envelope and recognize the contributions of Philadelphia and the midAtlantic region to the modern disability rights movement. Don't miss this opportunity to participate, celebrate, and rebuild disability community spirit.

Those who want to follow conference developments can use the official hashtag #2010sds and the SDS Conference 2010 Discussion group on Facebook. Go to Twitter Search and enter #2010sds (you do not need a twitter account to use this function). I will also be updating my own twitter account @mdorn and my flickr photostream with information, gossip and other juicy bits from the conference.

Save the Dates: Events at UCLA in February 2010

I just found out about this stuff on the Center for the Study of Women calendar website. I don't know anymore than I'm posting here, so you'll have to track after the details yourself. Try the website for The Body Symposium Series for starters. All events are free and open to the public, but as always for campus events, you should plan ahead for things like parking.

Wednesday 17 February
Glorya Kaufman Hall
4pm-7pm
AXIS/Access-Ability: Choreographing Disability
with Petra Kuppers and Victoria Marks
Talk-back with Judith Smith and member of the AXIS Dance Company
led by Susan Leigh Foster, Professor, UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures

Thursday 18 February
Humanities 193
4pm-6pm
Disability, Queerness, and Spaces of Normativity
Robert McRuer, George Washington University: "Disabling Sex: Notes Toward a Crip Theory of Sexuality"
David Serlin, UC San Diego: "Was the Elephant Man Gay?"
Respondent: Helen Deutsch, UCLA
Chair: Arthur Little, UCLA

News from York University's Critical Disability Studies Graduate Students' Association (x-SDS)

York University's Critical Disability Studies Graduate Students' Association (CDSGSA) is currently calling for papers from graduate students and alumnus for the following 2 annual events/activities. Deadlines are fast approaching !!!

For details about both activities, please go to the Association's website:

1. Annual Graduate Student Conference to be held on May 9, 2009 (Papers submission deadline: February 1, 2009)
2. Annual Graduate Student Journal entitled "Critical Disability Discourse Journal" to be published in Fall 2009 (Papers submission deadline: April 1, 2009)

The Geo-Politics of Disability Speaker Series, 2009 Edition

The Institute on Disabilities at Temple University, has released the lineup of invited guest speakers for rest of the 2008 - 2009 academic year. And quite an intoxicating brew it appears to be.

January 28 - Nicole Markotić (photo on right), Associate Professor of English, University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
February 18 - Michael Bérubé, Paterno Family Professor in Literature, The Pennsylvania State University
March 18 - James Charlton, Access Living, Chicago, IL
April 15 - Adrienne Asch of Yeshiva University, New York City, NY

All talks take place at 1810 Liacouras Walk on Temple University's main campus, beginning at 12:00 noon. Requests for accommodations should be directed to Brian Zimmerman at the Institute on Disabilities.

We hope to post a DS,TU review of Dr. Markotić's new book Scrapbook of My Years as a Zealot (Arsenal Pulp Press: Vancouver, Canada) in advance of her visit, and distribute a video of the presentation by podcast, so stay tuned. If you live in the region, why not take the train into the city and join us?

July 3: Nancy Mairs (b. 1943)

[Image: Cover of Nancy Mairs' collection of essays titled Waist-High in the World: A Life Among the Nondisabled (Beacon Press 1996), featuring a close-up of a woman's belly with her hands clasped across it, a detail from Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus"]

"You know, if things are flashing by you, you don't have time to contemplate them and cherish them, you don't know that you're not doing it. And that's part of the reason why I refer to people that other people may refer to as able-bodied, as non-disabled. Because they lack disability. They have a whole element in their lives that they lack. And I have that element in my life. Because I wasn't born disabled, I also have grounds for comparison. I started my life as a non-disabled person, and I know my losses very sharply -- very painfully -- but I also know my gains."

--Nancy Mairs, from the 2005 PBS documentary project "& Thou Shalt Honor," about marriage, aging, and carework

Heads up in Oregon!

This looks like such a great summer class I had to pass along the word; go to this website for further information.

August 23-24 University of Oregon is offering a two day course titled
Global Perspective on Disability.

Instructor: Susan Sygall, Executive Director of Mobility International USA

Description: This interactive course will introduce students to 25 grassroots women leaders with disabilities who will be in Eugene participating in MIUSA’s 4th International Women’s Institute on Leadership and Disability (WILD). Through class readings and discussions led by this international delegation of leaders, students will use a human rights paradigm to examine issues facing people with disabilities, especially women and girls with disabilities, around the world. Cross-disability, cross-cultural topics and viewpoints on disability will include:

• Gender and disability
• International development and disability
• Health and family issues
• Inclusive educational models
• Cross-cultural aspects of disability
• Employment and economic empowerment

Sounds like Eugene is the place to be this August!

Editorial Note: Disability and the Holocaust event

Readers: thanks to Heather and Liam, we just received followup photos from the "Disability and the Holocaust" event that took place May 11, 2008 in Nottinghamshire, England. Enjoy!

Road Trip: DisTHIS, New York!

[Image description: Sitting casually in director's chairs in front of the screen in the Firehouse's third floor screening room, are Mat Fraser and Lawrence Carter Long. Sitting between them in her own wheelchair is Liz Carr.]

Melania Moscoso and Mike Dorn traveled up to New York last Wednesday to check out the disTHIS! 2nd Anniversary Criptastic Celebration. The evening included a little bit for everyone, including some salacious film shorts (featuring special guests Mat Frazer and Liz Carr from the BBC Ouch! Podcast) and the East Coast debut of Bård Breien's "The Art of Negative Thinking." The Norwegian director's feature film debut is the story of Geirr, his girlfriend Ingvild, and their encounter with the "municipal positivity group" [must be a Norwegian thing!] Geirr has remained reclusive and bitter since his accident, turning to his heavy metal music for relief, and Ingvild is willing to try anything to break him out of his despond. But as it turns out, the positivity group and their leader have their own issues to work through. And Geirr is just the one to help them learn the negative arts.

Lawrence Carter Long organizes the events for the Disabilities Network of NYC and takes particular care - reviewing new film for works of interest. The audience has come to expect works that work creatively against the standard conventions of disability in film. Even works deriving inspiration from the "freak show" canon are considered, as long as they work to reinvent this time-tested genre. International films that lend insight into contrasting cultural frameworks (such as the Spanish films that Melania has been reviewing) are also very popular. We can't wait to see what Lawrence selects for this coming Halloween!

[Image description: Melania and another audience member listening in on the post-screening discussion.]

It was an easy and fun trip. Several busses a day run between between Philadelphia and New York. Over the years I've taken one of the various "Chinatown buses" several times, picking it up at the Greyhound bus terminal near the Convention Center in Philadelphia, and catching the return bus from the north side of the Manhattan Bridge abutment. But today Melania and I checked out a new alternative, the cheaper and more relaxing and accessible Bolt Bus, that leaves from 30th Street between Walnut and Market in West Philadelphia, and delivers the traveler at 6th Street between Canal and Grand in Soho. Arriving early (due to the Bolt Bus's limited schedule) we had a chance to check out some of the local sights, including the beautiful and fully accessible Mulberry Street Branch Library (another view) at 10 Jersey Street [Between Lafayette & Mulberry Streets].

Visit their website to learn more about the disTHIS! Film Series and plan your next trip to New York. Sign up on Yahoo for regular email updates, or "friend" them in MySpace. There are some exciting events being planned in conjunction with the upcoming meeting of the Society for Disability Studies, June 18 - 21 at Baruch College, the City University of New York, so stay tuned!

Temple U. Fall '08 Disability Studies

I want to draw to your attention two graduate courses that are going to be offered at Temple University, Philadelphia, in Fall 2008

Mike Dorn [email] will be the lead faculty for the new course Disability Studies 5405: Disability Studies in the Humanities [PDF]. Drawing on the rich oral history, media, literary, and archival resources available in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, this class will help students to explore a variety of historical and contemporary sites. Trained as a cultural geographer, Dr. Dorn’s own research focuses on historical patterns of oppression and liberation as well as the role that disability ascriptions play in the bounding of the ‘normal.’ Although he draws on international intellectual currents and aesthetics, Mike is particularly interested in their cultural expression in the MidAtlantic and the Midwest.
Fall 2008, Monday evenings, from 5:00 to 7:30 pm

Disability Studies 5401: Disability Rights and Culture will be taught by my colleague, disability scholar and activist Carol Marfisi [email]. Drawing on her background in psychology, Carol explores the phenomenological experience of disability and for the historical formation of movements for disability rights. Course topics include eugenics, the parents movement, the developmental disability and independent living movements, assistive technology, sexuality and relationships, and disability culture.
Fall 2008, Thursday evenings, from 5:00 to 7:30 pm

Whichever course one takes, students leave better equipped to act thoughtfully and effectively in the present, to fight for change in their families, communities and societies. Don't hesitate to call or email if you would like to receive more information on these classes and how to enroll.

Disability and the Holocaust Event in Nottinghamshire, UK

Heather Hollins wants to alert our readers to an event she is organising as Access and Heritage Officer at The Holocaust Centre, in north Nottinghamshire, in partnership with the Nottinghamshire Disabled People's Movement on Sunday 11th May 2008. The event will acknowledge and remember the histories of the Deaf and disabled people who were sterilised and killed during the Holocaust, and will see the dedication of the first rose and plaque in the Centre's memorial gardens to the Deaf and disabled people affected by the Holocaust. The Pioneers Young Disabled People's Forum will also be unveiling their plans to create the UK's first permanent memorial to the Deaf and disabled people killed in the Holocaust at the Centre.

The day will include speakers and debate. Speakers will include Liz Crow, director and producer of 'Roaring Girl' films, who is currently making a film about the T4 programme; 85 year old Hans Cohn, MBE, will be speaking about his personal experiences of being one of the very few blind German Jewish children to have survived the Holocaust by escaping to the UK; and Ricki Westbury, Director of Disability Access Services, will be exploring the impact of the Holocaust on Deaf culture.

[Image description: A black and white family snapshot of Hans Cohn with his wife and his black labrodor seeing eye dog, posing in a back yard with folding lawn chairs on the background.]

Hans Cohn tells his story in an article entitled 'An Adolescence in Crisis,' from The Braille Monitor 47(5), published online May 2004. Inqueries about the event should be directed to Heather Hollins by telephone on 01623 836 627, by mobile or text on 07963 371 282, by fax on 01623 836 647 or by email.

[Image description: Hans Cohn sharing his story from notes, at the Disability and the Holocaust event. Standing behind him is a sign language interpreter.]

Update: "Dear Mike, Following our event, Disability and the Holocaust, attached are photos." Best, Liam

The Journey exhibition (launch 8th September 08) The Holocaust Centre (+00)1623836627

[Image description: Kim in her wheelchair, and Hans Cohn and Alison sitting on a bench in the garden at the Holocaust Center. Kim and Hans are holding a plaque that reads in white against a black background, and in braille, "This is dedicated by Nottinghamshire Disabled People's Movement in memory of Deaf and disabled people who were targeted or killed by the Nazis and other oppressive regimes. Spring 2008"]

Talk: How Culture Shapes Autism

NYU Council for the Study of Disability, The Psyences Project and The Department of Anthropology present ...

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS AUTISM? How Culture Shapes An Illness
a lecture with Roy Richard Grinker
Professor of Anthropology, George Washington University, Thursday, April 17, 2008, 3:00-5:00PM
King Juan Carlos Center Screening Room, 53 Washington Square South

How did autism shift from being a rare disorder, occurring in 3 in 10,000 people to an "epidemic," occurring in 1 in 150 people? Is this evidence that scientists are finally counting cases correctly, or is it the result of advances in mental health and education? In this lecture, Roy Richard Grinker, author of Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism, answers these questions from the perspective of an anthropologist, and as the father of a child with autism. Grinker will discuss the shift in how we view and count autism is part of a set of broader shifts taking place in societies throughout the world.
Co-sponsored by NYU's Center for Religion and Media and NYU's Center for Media, Culture and History.
All events are free and open to the public. Seating is on a first- come, first-served basis.

Disability Arts and Culture Center at Access Living, Chicago

We have been hearing about the great things about the disability arts initiatives in Chicagoland. In this WLS Chicago, ABC 7 News video, curator and award-winning artist Riva Lehrer leads us on a tour of the new Disability Arts and Culture Center that recently opened at the new eco-friendly home of Access Living, at 115 West Chicago Avenue.

Curators Sharon Snyder and David Mitchell are to be applauded for their Disability History installation, also featured in the video, which has served as a key vehicle for documenting and celebrating the many creative acts of resistance by and on behalf of people with disabilities. See the DS.TU post from April 25, 2006 on the Not Dead Yet 10th Anniversary Celebration. Access Living is one Center for Independent Living that has truly embraced the arts as a mode of expression and reflection on the changing place of disabled people in today's society. If you are in Chicago, I certainly invite you to check out these installations.

Additional coverage: Beth Haller, at media dis&dat

In Search of....the first TAB

No, not that kind of TAB (illustration at left is a can of the softdrink called TaB). I'm on a search for the first use of the term "Temporarily Able-Bodied (TAB)". Love it or hate it (and there are plenty in both camps), it's a term you'll frequently encounter in disability culture these days. I've seen vague references to its emergence from the American disability rights movement, and those seem correct, but I want specifics: who used it first? When? When was it first written down, or recorded? Here are the bread crumbs I've found so far; I'm hoping someone out there in the blogosphere can fill in the century-wide gap between the 1870s and the 1970s.

ABLE-BODIED: The Oxford English Dictionary has cites for the use of the term "able-bodied" back to 1622 in England and North America. In the mid-1800s, it's definitely being used in official contexts, in opposition to disability, in reforms that were meant to separate deserving (disabled) paupers from the "able-bodied" pauper (who doesn't deserve public funds, by this reasoning, because he should instead work for his living).

TAPs? The earliest appearance of the phrase "temporarily able-bodied" that I've been able to find in the academic journal archive JSTOR is a 1979 article in the Stanford Law Review. In footnote #107 in the article "Anti-Institutionalization: The Promise of the Pennhurst Case," authors David Ferleger and Penelope A. Boyd explain:

"TAP is a term disabled people use to refer to so-called 'normal' people as a reminder of the vicissitudes of fate. 'TAP' is an acronym for 'Temporarily Able-bodied Person.'"

Was TAP also in use in the 1970s, or are the authors mishearing TAB? If TAP was a competing term, what tipped the balance to TAB? (Both Ferleger and Boyd are now practicing lawyers specializing in disability and mental health issues, in the Philadelphia area--perhaps my esteemed colleagues at Temple know of them?)

GEORGE WILL?!?! A 1980s appearance is mostly interesting for its source: conservative political columnist George Will spoke approvingly about the term in a 1985 lecture at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. In a 1986 Hastings Center Report article for the based on that lecture, Will says,

"We who are not physically handicapped are the 'temporarily able-bodied.' I like that because it reminds us that affliction and decline are coming to us all; they are incidental to our humanity. To be human is always to be more or less needy; it is to be increasingly needy the longer we live."

Will's version also illustrates one major problem with the term: it can be taken as an invitation to 'there but for the grace of God' thinking, an invitation that leaves unchallenged the construction of disability as a personal condition of decline, neediness, and affliction.

JUDY HEUMANN: In a 1989 article for International Rehabilitation Review, Ann Rae credits Judy Heumann with introducing the term 'temporarily able-bodied' in England. So the implication is that it's an American term, commonplace enough among American activists in the 1980s to be propagated abroad.

So where does this leave me? Still in the vague "sometime in the 1970s" zone. But I suspect somebody knows the answer to this. Or an answer, anyway. Anybody?

Mark your calendars...

Some upcoming events worth noting if you can get to New York, Portland, Asheville or Chicago:

2 May 2007: The latest installment in the disTHIS! Film Series showcases local New York City filmmakers on disability topics. They'll be screening and discussing three documentaries (One Night Sit, We Also Dance, and Spit it Out) at the Firehouse that night; for more details check the disTHIS! website.

18-20 May 2007: The Disability Arts and Culture Project is proud to present Portland, Oregon's second Disability Pride Art and Culture Festival. From the website:

The newly formed Disability Art and Culture Project merges disability studies with performance in its second annual festival. Disability Pride promotes the idea that people with disabilities deserve to be celebrated, their stories need to be told and their contributions to the community at large need to be recognized.

The festival brings together dancers and performance artists for three days of film screenings, live performance and workshops to celebrate the work of regional artists and to provide the general public with an alternative view of the lives of people with disabilities.

Check the website for more details about the program. It's all happening at the Central Lutheran Church, 1820 NE 21st Ave, Portland; price is $10 per evening (workshops free!).

E-mail: kafia@prodigy.net or Call 503-522-5218 for more details and accommodations. They're also looking for volunteers to work at the festival.

2 June 2007: The Southeastern Disability Culture Festival will be held on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and feature "dance troupes, spoken word, live music, gallery art, kid-friendly activities, workshops, great food, crafts, fun vendors, photography, and an after-party," including "crip hip-hop artist Leroy Moore (shown at right) and folk musician Jim Whalen." It's hosted by the North Carolina Youth Leadership Network and the North Carolina Council on Developmental Disabilities. (There's no website for the festival that I can find, but I'll testify that if you're going to be in the South in the summertime, Asheville is a good place to be.)

21 July 2007: 4th Annual Disability Pride Parade: Disabled and Proud 2007 in Chicago IL. Individuals and groups intending to participate should register now at the website. The parade is part of a weekend of festivities, including an open mike poetry slam.

Riva Lehrer wins first Wynn Newhouse Award

I am forwarding an exciting announcement from David Mitchell, about a recent honor for the Chicago-based artist Riva Lehrer. What David doesn't say here is that he and his partner Sharon Snyder are at least in part responsible for raising the arts community's awareness of Riva Lehrer's work, through the DVD they produced and showed at film festivals and conferences across the country called "Self-Preservation: The Art of Riva Lehrer," 2004.

Simi Linton showed parts of "Self-Preservation as part of her Mini Course "Approaching Disability Through the Arts" sponsored by the Institute on Disabilities last Spring 2006.

Learn more about Riva Lehrer and her art on her website.

-----Original Message from David Mitchell-----

For those who haven't heard -- Riva Lehrer's art was just awarded the prestigious Newhouse Award for artists of excellence. This is a monumental achievement for her work and disability arts in general. Please send her your heartiest congratulations!

RIVA LEHRER WINS FIRST WYNN NEWHOUSE AWARD

The Samuel I Newhouse Foundation announced today that Chicago artist Riva Lehrer is the winner of the first annual $50,000 Wynn Newhouse Award for artists of excellence. Ms Lehrer was selected from a group of eighteen nominees by a committee of persons respected in the arts community.

This award was established by collector Wynn Newhouse, who believe this program can draw attention to the work of the most talented artists having disabilities. He hopes this award will expose the art world and the public to important contributions made by these fine artists.

Ms Lehrer is currently on the faculty of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her recent Circle Series, includes expressionistic portraits of powerful and successful creative persons with disabilities. Over the years Ms. Lehrer has explored the schism between "normal" and "different" in her art with powerful results.

She believes, "Disability and art are natural partners. In order to have a good life with a disability, you have to learn to re-invent your world almost hour by hour. You discover ways to re-imagine everything, and how not to take the average answers to everyday questions. There is a great deal of creativity in disability if you decide that "reality" is just a raw material for you to mould. So many times, these re-inventions have been the keys to open new doors for everyone." Her recent work can be reviewed at http://rivalehrer.com

Four other artists tied as runners-up in this competition. They are: Darra Keeton of Houston and New York, Terrence Karpowicz of Chicago, Jonathan Sarkin of Gloucester and Sunaura Taylor of Berkeley.

In addition to Mr Newhouse, this competition was judged by Cheryl Brutvan, Beal Curator of Modern Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, William A Newman, artist and faculty member at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, Dr Olivia Raynor, scholar, author and Director of the National Arts and Disabilities Center at UCLA, and New York artist Dorothea Rockburne.

The foundation will soon begin the nominations process for the 2007 Wynn Newhouse Awards.
Questions about this awards program can be addressed to William R Butler by e-mail.