Abstract
In this chapter we use an embodied lens to examine the physical and emotional stress that is placed upon an academic’s body when it is subject to an invisible disability or chronic illness, and how the presence of such a condition brings our bodies into visibility. We consider this particularly in the context of disability, and the consequence and impact of invisible and fluctuating disability in a society that often understands only visible, physical, stable conditions. We use fictionalised extracts that draw from real-life experiences in order to examine and highlight the emotional reality of being an academic and living with an invisible disability or fluctuating illness before discussing the impact of a body that will not ever be absent or dys-appear.
Highlights
Theorising ableism in academia Nicole BrownIn the contemporary context of social rights and activist movements such as those associated with combatting sexual harassment, gun and knife crime or climate change, we can observe a typical pattern of public responses
Political engagement can take many forms, and activism is one of those. Those working in the social sciences, engagement in research and teaching provides the basis for understanding lived experiences and exploring how to ameliorate situations for individuals or society as a whole. Academic work in this sense can be understood as a form of activism (Chomsky 1969), an action that goes beyond conventional politics, typically being more energetic, passionate, innovative and committed
Eschle and Maiguashca point out that creating space for feminism within the academy is in itself a political act, and that most feminists within the academy do more: Feminists have established their own sites of knowledge production that aim to bridge the gap between universities and the feminist movement, ranging from consciousness-raising groups to autonomous women’s colleges, and from women’s libraries to women’s studies and latterly gender studies programmes in universities. (Eschle and Maiguashca 2006, 120)
Summary
Claudia has higher education teaching experience at all levels and has managed teacher x education programmes and developed new modules focusing on collaborative learning in the field of professional development In recent years she has increasingly focused on issues of access and parity of participation for ill and disabled children and adults. As well as working in academia and research, Nicola has led professional services departments, which focus on the equalities agenda, in three UK universities She played a xi leading part in the development of the National Association of Disability Practitioners (NADP) and is an editor of the Journal of Inclusive Practice in Further and Higher Education.
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