User:PhoenixSpoor/Disability studies

Lead:
OT:Disability studies emerged in the 1980s primarily in the US, the UK, and Canada. In 1986, the Section for the Study of Chronic Illness, Impairment, and Disability of the Social Science Association (United States) was renamed the Society for Disability Studies. The first US disabilities studies program emerged in 1994, at Syracuse University. The first edition of the Disabilities Studies Reader (one of the first collections of academic papers related to disability studies) was published in 1997. The field grew rapidly over the next ten years. In 2005, the Modern Language Association established disability studies as a "division of study".

My edit: While Disability Studies primarily emerged in the US, the UK and Canada other countries were looking at disability studies through different lens. For instance Germany, looks at Queer Disability Studies since the beginning of the early 20th century. The Disability Studies in Germany are influenced by the written literary works of feminist sexologist who study how being disabled affects ones sexuality and ability to feel pleasure. In Norway, Disability Studies are focused in the literary context. Where the authors create characters who are both gay and disabled.

Article body:
Under the heading of intersectionality there should be some discussion about intersectionality and identity in academic settings and practices. Sri Craven highlights the fact that in academia students and professors don't look at history in a culmination of the intersecting identities but rather focus in one one perspective. Craven and his colleagues include identities such as disability both mental and physical in an alternative course description to get students and faculty to think about identity, oppression and struggle in a new way.

feminism: adding to
OT: Feminism integrates the social and political aspects that makes a body oppressed while allowing empowerment to be present in acknowledging its culture. Rosemarie Garland-Thomson explains that these related systems of oppression pervades all aspects of culture by "its structuring institutions, social identities, cultural practices, political positions, historical communities, and the shared human experience of embodiment". Garland-Thomson further describes that "identity based critical enterprises have enriched and complicated our understandings of social justice, subject formation, subjugated knowledges and collective action". Feminism works towards accessibility for everyone regardless of which societal oppressive behavior makes them a minority. Although physical adjustments are most commonly fought for in disability awareness, psychological exclusion also plays a major role oppressing people with disabilities.

My edits: The intersection of disability and feminism is more common in American history than we think yet it does not show up in media, museums or archives that are dedicated to feminist work. Rachel Corbman, a professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Stony Brook University In New York highlights how the influence of lesbian feminist organizations like the "Disabled Lesbian Alliance (DLA)" are not represented in the archives of literature and documentation of events in the community. The DLA work close together to fight for visibility, accessibility and acceptance of individuals whether they are disabled, or lesbian or both. Corbman's article highlights the beginning of disability activism during the feminist movement of the 1970s and 80s and how the intersecting identities enticed new members and activists from across the country to join the cause. Other disability centered feminist organizations that are part of the feminist archives include the Lesbian Illness Support Group and Gay and Lesbian Blind (GLB).

add to gender &sexuality:
OT: At the intersection of disability, gender, and sexuality one finds crip theory. Crip theory exists as an interdisciplinary approach to critical disability theory. The term "crip theory" originates in Carrie Sandahl's article "Queering the Crip or Cripping the Queer?: Intersections of Queer and Crip Identities in Solo Autobiographical Performance". It was published in 2003 as part of a journal issue titled "Desiring Disability: Queer Theory Meets Disability Studies".

Since then many books and articles have been written on the topic. Each subsequent piece of scholarship dedicated to crip theory as a topic expands how crip theory is understood.


 * 2006 Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability by Robert McRuer
 * 2011 Feminist Disability Studies by Kim Q. Hall
 * 2012 Sex and Disability by Robert McRuer, Anna Mollow
 * 2013 Feminist, Queer, Crip by Alison Kafer
 * 2018 Crip Times: Disability, Globalization, and Resistance by Robert McRuer
 * 2018 Disability Studies and the Environmental Humanities: Toward an Eco-Crip Theory by Sarah Jaquette Ray, Jay Sibara, Stacy Alaimo
 * 2019 The Matter of Disability: Materiality, Biopolitics, Crip Affect by David T. Mitchell, Susan Antebi, et al

my edits: Most of the literature above is written by individual authors in the United States but there is nothing on there from other countries that depicts disability and sexuality in the same context. Myren-Svelstad, a Norwegian scholar compares two deviant novels in Norway's society, Nini Roll Anker's Enken [the Widow] written in 1932 and Magnhild Haalke's Allis sønn [Alli's Son] written in 1935. They both depict a queer man who is also disabled. The disability being depicted as someone whose mental capacity is significantly different than society's heteronormative view.

OT: A 2012 study showed that disability was more common in LGBTQ individuals when compared to heterosexual peers. It was also shown that the LGBTQ group with disabilities were noticeably younger in age than the heterosexual group.

my edits: In a 2014 study of intersecting identities found that "disabled women whether gay, straight, bisexual or otherwise identifying have a harder time finding romantic relationships due to their socioeconomic status and ability. Drummond and Brotman introduce the idea that the lesbian disabled community face many barriers because of discrimination in the form of ableism, homophobia, racism and more due to intersecting identities and and interests.

queer/ disabled invisibility & negativity
An aspect of disability studies that is not often talked about is that of the perception of seeing disabled individuals as invisible. Also known as "queer/ Disabled invisibility." In disability studies the individuals who are disabled who make it into academic course work are usually the ones who struggle not only with being disabled and facing ableistic norms of society but they also have to contend with other identities such as being queer, a woman or a person of another race other than the master race of caucasian in america. Queer/ Disabled invisibility can also come up in forms of negative perceptions about the way a disabled individual is being raised. For instance, queer mothers raising a disabled child are often viewed as the cause of the child's disability. Another example of queer & disabled negativity comes is highlighted in the life experiences of Josie a young woman who does not identify as a particular gender living with a lifelong illness and disability. This young woman describes how she experienced sexism, ableism, homophobia and transphobia in a number of ways at her university, the queer community and medical providers because of her disability. The discrimination the women in these examples is part of the heteronormative, ableistic perspective in societies around the world today but are rarely discussed in the literature or during Disability Studies courses

Activism:
earlier in the section Feminism is talked about in depth but there are more forms of activism. For instance, Joni Eareckson Tada a quadriplegic is an author and activist from the United States works to ensure accessibility and inclusivity for all individuals in her church and around the world. She and her organization "Joni and Friends" work together to provide equal access for those who are disabled and incarcerated in prison while also providing refurbished wheelchairs for those who can not afford them. A disability rights activist who uses her intersecting identities of disability, being a woman and a religious leader to encourage others to think about those who are different than them but are still important. She encourages people to accept others no matter their ability or sexual preference because they are not always deviant, or violent.