Tazu Sasaki (1932-1998)

 I started an English-language Wikipedia article on Tazu Sasaki yesterday. She was a Japanese writer of children's books. She was also, apparently, the first Japanese blind person to have a trained guide dog. In 1962 she traveled to the UK to work with the British Guide Dogs for the Blind Association in Leamington for several weeks, and returned to Japan with Roberta, a yellow Labrador. An English newspaper published a photo of Sasaki and Roberta walking down a Tokyo street. Sasaki is wearing a kimono. Later in the sixties, she and Roberta visited the Perkins School in Boston. And she wrote a book about Roberta, which was translated into English (and maybe other languages).

Just thought this would make a good annual post to DSTU. 

Not BADD

 It's been a few years since May 1 was Blogging Against Disablism Day, but I still think of BADD when the calendar turns. This year, WikiProject Women in Red is having a virtual editathon on Women & Disability during May. (Yes, you can join in!) I figure I can make an appearance here and report what I'm doing for that editathon, which will mostly be writing new biographical articles, plus adding images or otherwise improving existing articles.

Here's what I've done for the event so far (beginning in late April 2023, to get a running start on the event). I mostly work on US subjects, and deceased subjects, but sometimes others. Sometimes I work on men's biographies, but usually only as a tangent; but when those are relevant I'll list them here too.

1. I destubbed the article on writer Susan Nussbaum, which was previously one sentence. 4/22/23

2. I added an image to the article on music educator Almeda C. Adams. 4/26/23

3. I started a new article on Floy Schoenfelder (1919-2000), co-founder of the Polio Survivors Foundation. 4/29/23

4. I added references and otherwise tidied the article on artist Lucille Wallenrod. 4/30/23

5. I added a 1957 photo of Rosalyn Faye Lee and Jack R. Gannon to Gannon's article. 5/1/23

6. I started a new article on educator Elizabeth Simpson Burke, aka Sister Joan Margaret (1906-2005). 5/1/23

7. I added an image and some references to an article on Haitian violinist Romel Joseph (1959-2015). 5/1/23

8. I improved the article on basketball player Junius Kellogg (1927-1998), with an image and other additions. 5/2/23

9. I started an article on rehabilitation specialist and college dean Elizabeth Eckhardt May (1899-1996). 5/3/23

10. I started an article on Hungarian-born philanthropist Marion Mill Preminger (1903-1972), who served on the President's Committee for the Employment of the Handicapped in the 1960s. 5/4/23

11. I started an article on Georgia medical records librarian Thelma Van Norte (1912-1985), who trained blind medical transcriptionists, and worked on patient records at Georgia State Hospital. 5/4/23

12. I added a 1966 photo of Harold Russell with Thelma Van Norte to the article on Harold Russell. 5/4/23

13. I started an article on American Foundation for the Blind field representative Lotta S. Rand (1868-1956).  5/6/23

14. I started an article on librarian Etta Josselyn Giffin (1863-1932), 1st director of the National Library for the Blind. 5/7/23

15. Kinda tangential, but I started an article about writer and photographer Beatrice Pitney Lamb (1904-1997); she worked with the League of Women Voters and the United Nations before turning her eye and pen to India. She was also Christopher Reeve's maternal grandmother. 5/15/23

16. I started an article on Philadelphia clubwoman Rose Goldsmith Stern (1866-1931), who advocated for deaf education and for supports for deaf veterans of World War I, as chair of the Welfare Work for the Deaf subcommittee of the National Council of Jewish Women. 5/18/23

17. I also started a WikiQuote page for Rose Goldsmith Stern. 5/18/23

18. I added a reference to the existing article on Sarah Fuller (1836-1927), teacher and co-founder of the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf. 5/19/23

19. I added a photo and infobox to the article on oralist educator Harriet Burbank Rogers (1834-1919). 5/19/23

20. I started an article on Annetta W. Peck (1871-1958), executive secretary of the New York League for the Hard of Hearing. 5/19/23

21. I started an article on Canadian poet Annie Charlotte Dalton (1865-1938), billed as "the Poet Laureate of the deaf." 5/20/23

22. I also started a WikiQuote page for Annie Charlotte Dalton. 5/20/23

23. I started an article on lip-reading advocate and educator Elizabeth Helm Nitchie (1880-1961). 5/21/23

24. I started an article on Tulsa disability rights advocate Jill Zink Tarbel (1924-2009). 5/23/23

25. I started an article on Mouth magazine publisher and activist Lucy Gwin (1943-2014). 5/25/23

26. I started an article on activist and writer Connie Panzarino (1947-2001). 5/25/23 

27. I started an article on activist and artist Anna Stonum (1958-1999). 5/28/23

Stay tuned, I'll be adding more most days of May 2023.

RIP: Jean McWherter Flynn

I know this blog is dormant, but this is where I need to say Rest in Peace, to blogger Jean McWherter Flynn, who died yesterday in an Ohio nursing home from an infection. She was posting on Facebook right up to the day before; I don't think she expected to leave quite so suddenly, but she seemed aware of (and justifiably angry about) her situation and its limits.

Jean was one of my first "blog friends," back in the lovely old days of blogging. When Facebook and Twitter took over social media, we were friends there too. I never met Jean, but I liked her; she was smart and kind and funny. I already miss her.

BADD 2016: Nerys Johnson's "every atom of concentration"

Okay, I'm here for BADD 2016, because how could I break our eleven-year streak of participation? I couldn't.  I'm not so much of a blogger these days, but I'm willing to add my bit to the big event.  For our past ten appearances in the series: 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006. (For the record, the 2007 and 2008 entries are two of my favorite blog posts I've ever written, on any blog, or any topic.  BADD has been good for me.)
And.... I'm still on a Wikipedia kick. Just finished "Awaken the Dragon," a month-long event by WikiProject Wales, to improve Wikipedia content about Wales and Welsh people. I had fun looking for relevant biographies that needed an article, and as of today I've worked on 37 new articles since April 1, and improved ("destubbed") 7 others.

Were there any disabled people? Of course there were! Because there always are. I actually wrote the entry on physically-disabled surgeon Hugh Morriston Davies (1879-1965) after finding a note about him that I'd written here, at DSTU, almost six years ago.  Rev. Daniel Davies (1797-1876) was a blind preacher noted for his erudition; I first found him when the National Library of Wales uploaded some photographs of him to Flickr Commons. Aristocrat Olive Talbot (1842-1894) was an example of a nineteenth-century "invalid"--she rarely left home because her physical issues made it difficult, but she corresponded with interesting friends, and spent her inheritance funding church renovation projects in Wales.

And then there's artist Nerys Johnson (1946-2001) (pictured at left, a middle-aged white woman seated in a colorful smock, holding a paint brush in her right hand.)  Johnson had rheumatoid arthritis from childhood; she was also a painter and a curator in the north of England, noted for her bold works and original exhibit ideas.  And she had a thing or two to say about the disablism of well-meaning admirers.

"I am not an artist because of my disabilities. I am appalled when people see my painting as a hobby, and comment how relaxing it must be. If they just knew how it takes every ounce of energy I've got, every atom of concentration." 

(from this 2000 interview)

If you're ever even tempted to compliment someone on a hobby that's really a vocation, because they're disabled--that might be disablism. If you want to comment "oh, that must be such good therapy" to someone who creates for joy or for a living, but definitely not as therapy--that might be disablism too.

When I woke up this morning, Nerys Johnson didn't have a Wikipedia article; now she does. Happy BADD! 

Go here to read all the other BADD 2016 contributions.

CFP: Disability, Work and Representation: New Perspectives (DSQ Fall 2017)

Call for Papers
Disability, Work and Representation: New Perspectives
Special Issue: Disability Studies Quarterly (Fall 2017)
Editors: David Turner, Kirsti Bohata, Steven Thompson, Swansea University

In/ability to work plays a critical role in definitions of dis/ability, but the complexities of the relationship between people with disabilities and the world of work have only recently started to gain scholarly attention.  Contributions are sought for a special issue of Disability Studies Quarterly
that will showcase new interdisciplinary perspectives on disability, work and its representation in both contemporary and historical perspective. The issue will take a long and interdisciplinary view of the relationship between disability and work and encourages contributions that explore
different national experiences and impairment perspectives. We aim to foster critical thinking about how dis/ability has been defined in relation to work and about how factors such as changing hiring processes, legislation and working environments have impacted upon participation. Contributions are
also sought that will explore ways in which disability has been represented in relation to work culturally and artistically, or the impact of literary, artistic or media representations on policy. Contributors are invited to think about work broadly, to include paid and unpaid employment, emotional and intellectual as well as physical labor. Subjects might include, but are
not limited to:

•       Changing historical experiences of disability and work
•       Dis/ability and the aesthetics of work
•       The impact of age, gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity on experiences and employment prospects of workers with disabilities
•       The role of economic systems in the inclusion or exclusion of workers with disabilities
•       The relationship between work and citizenship
•       Cultural representations of disability and un/employment
•       Disability and employment laws
•       Disability and unpaid work
•       Disability and occupational health/medicine
•       Rehabilitation and returning to work
•       Disability and labor relations
•       Current and historical perspectives on welfare and work

Please send an abstract (max 200 words) and a short biography (100 words) to Professor David Turner (d.m.turner@swansea.ac.uk) by July 1st 2016. The final deadline for submission for articles selected for inclusion in the Special Issue (max. 8000 words) will be January 31st 2017 with publication scheduled for September 2017. Final acceptance of manuscripts is subject to peer review.

For Stacey

Stacey asked me to keep a lookout for historical people who had muscular dystrophy--and I said "sure!" because that's right up my alley.  So I started poking around on Wikipedia, of course. Some stories that caught my attention this morning are below, in chronological order by date of birth. As usual, it isn't the most diverse list; there's definitely room for a wider array of stories on Wikipedia. Suggested additions are most welcome! (I'm only counting deceased people as "historical"--just to have some kind of cutoff.)


Richard Lindsay Batten (1920-1974) was a British orthopaedic surgeon who established the first blood bank in Nigeria, and advocated effectively for motorcycle helmets in the UK. He had myotonic dystrophy, a progressive form of muscular dystrophy that affected him more in his later life.

Mel Powell (1923-1998) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked with Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, and Django Reinhardt, among other greats. He began using a wheelchair (sometimes a cane) in his twenties, and focused on composition when he needed to stop touring. He was the founding dean of the school of music at California Institute of the Arts.  He won the Pulitzer Prize in Composition in 1990. (You've probably heard music by Mel Powell if you've watched enough old Tom and Jerry cartoons--he composed for those, in addition to his more serious work.)

Quentin Crewe (1926-1998) was an English travel writer and restaurant critic whose New York Times obituary carried the remarkable headline "Quentin Crewe, 72, Bon Vivant Who Was Unfazed by Disability", with the further explanation that he had "not so much suffered from, as gloried in" his muscular dystrophy. He traveled in his customized wheelchair -- including two years crossing the Sahara, and two years living in Kyoto -- and wrote his books by typing one-handed. He wrote a gossipy memoir, Well, I Forget the Rest: The Autobiography of an Optimist (1991), of his adventures.

Alfredino Ferrari

Alfredo "Dino" Ferrari (1932-1956), yes, from that Ferrari family.  Alfredo was the son of company founder Enzo Ferrari, and an automotive engineer too, before he died at 24, from complications of his Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The "Dino" car series was named in his honor. There's also a Formula One racing venue named for him and for his father.

Sister Mary Louise St. John (1943-2003) was an American Catholic gay rights activist and a Benedictine nun who used a wheelchair from her youth. She studied world literature and psychology at Skidmore College before entering her religious order. At a conference in 1989, she declared, 'To alienate my lesbian identity from the identity of the Godness within me would be to dismember myself.'' At the same event, she spoke about the challenge of claiming her sexuality as a wheelchair user. She was cofounder of the Womynspace coffeehouse in Erie, and spoke at that city's first gay rights rally in 1998. Sister Mary Louise served as a business manager, tutor, and retreat guide at her motherhouse. She was also on the board of the local Community Resources for Independence.  Here's her obituary in the Erie Gay News, with a small blurry photo of her using a power wheelchair.

CFP: Voices of Madness, Voices of Mental Ill-Health (15-16 September 2016)

from Steven Taylor:

Voices of Madness, Voices of Mental ill-health
Centre for Health Histories, University of Huddersfield
15th- 16th Sept 2016

In the thirty years since Roy Porter called on historians to lower their gaze so that they might better understand patient-doctor roles in the past, historians have sought to place the voices of previously, silent, marginalised and disenfranchised individuals at the heart of their analyses.

Contemporaneously, the development of service user groups and patient consultations have become an important feature of the debates and planning related to current approaches to prevention, care and treatment. The aim of this conference is to further explore and reveal how the voices of those living with and treating mental illness have been recorded and expressed.  We hope to consider recent developments in these areas with a view to facilitating an interdisciplinary discourse around historical perspectives of mental health and illness.

The organisers invite proposals for 20 minutes on the themes of voices of madness and mental ill health under headings including but not limited to:

Oral history and testimony

Mental ill-health and community care

Mental ill-health and institutional histories

The role of informal carers

The growth of the mental health professions

Mental ill health and the voice(s) of adolescentsand children

Museums and the ‘heritage’ of mental ill health

The literature (fiction and non-fiction) of mental ill health

Language of madness (if not covered by ‘heritage’)

Dissenting voices

Appropriation of voices

Absent voices

Voices and art

Voices and stigma

The voices of mental ill-health on TV and radio

Individual, activist and social media

For more information contact Dr Rob Ellis (r.ellis@hud.ac.uk), Dr Sarah Kendal (s.kendal@hud.ac.uk) or Dr Steven Taylor (s.taylor@hud.ac.uk). To submit a paper proposal (250 words maximum) or express an interest, please contact Steve Taylor by 14 March 2015.

We hope to offer some bursaries for postgraduate and early career researchers.