Disability Theory Research Articles

A Rethinking of Disability Representations in the SF Genre Narrative: Focusing on “A Quite Place”

A Rethinking of Disability Representations in the SF Genre Narrative: Focusing on “A Quite Place”

The Making of a Reserve Army of Labor: Paradoxes of American Disability Policy

Since the 1980s, despite much United States legislation to promote the employment of people with disabilities and reduce their reliance on government benefits, employment rates among people with disabilities have fallen while rates of disability benefits receipt have risen. I conducted historical research on two sites of contradiction in the state treatment of disability: (1) antidiscrimination legislation and (2) disability benefits. I show that the goals of antidiscrimination legislation were undercut by court interpretations of this legislation, while cyclical expansion and contraction of disability benefits produced haphazard integration of recipients into the labor force and inhibited cessation of benefits. These findings demonstrate that the legislative push for the labor market inclusion of disabled people, undertaken simultaneous to ongoing labor market exclusion with roots in the very same legislative program, led to the incorporation of disabled people into the labor market on contingent terms. Contradictions in disability employment policy have thus constituted people with disabilities as a labor force suited to the precarious positions characteristic of economic restructuring. This argument develops Marxist theories of disability, conceptualizing disabled people as a reserve army of labor malleable to the needs of capital.

Where no (disabled) person has gone before: A content analysis of Star Trek through the portrayal of Christopher Pike

The Star Trek franchise presents a hopeful vision of the future that is free from many of the social issues that plague our current society. This research explores Star Trek’s utopian vision through a disabled lens, presenting a critical content analysis examining the representation of mobility disability in the Star Trek franchise, with a specific focus on the character of Christopher Pike. This analysis centers on five episodes of Star Trek contained in The Original Series, Discovery, and Strange New Worlds which aired between 1966 and 2022. A close examination of Pike’s character arc through dialogue and visual or auditory cues reveals recurrent themes and narrative tropes which rely heavily on ableist stereotypes and disabled stigmas. By critically analyzing the representational choices made in Star Trek, this study sheds light on the underlying power dynamics and broader sociocultural implications embedded within. This analysis shows that ableism, and the systemic oppression of disabled people, pervades even the newest Star Trek series. The findings of this critical content analysis highlight the significance of representation and its role in shaping societal perceptions of disability.

Disabled influencers on Instagram: exploring digital celebrity and marginalised identities

ABSTRACT This article illuminates the nexus of social media, celebrity, and marginalised identities by examining the phenomenon of disabled influencers. Since the late 2010s, disability representations in media, culture, and public discourse have increasingly moved away from stigmatising stereotypes. Disabled influencers have emerged as new voices in this landscape but, so far, exploration of their work has been limited. To address this gap, this study explores how 15 diverse fashion influencers with visible impairments address disability in their personal brands, whether they frame themselves as advocates for disability rights, and investigates their relationships with both followers and commercial brands. Through a content analysis of one year worth of Instagram posts (N = 1,429) and profile information, we outline the strategies these influencers use to make disability central to their online personas, explore their multi-layered relationship with brands, identify their distinct but somewhat limited voice in disability advocacy, and highlight their engagement strategies with digital publics. Drawing on disability and celebrity scholarship, this work provides insights on how the use of participatory platforms like Instagram intersects with the changing demands and expectations of celebrity, generating both opportunities and constraints for traditionally marginalised groups.

‘Consequences of this Climate’: Disabling Environmental Effects in Beckett's Late Work

This article analyses the change in the representation of disability in Beckett's work from medical impairments in the 1940s and 1950s to bodies that are limited by environmental conditions from the 1960s onwards. I suggest the term ‘disability effects’ to describe the condition of characters who are limited or harmed by the harsh environments of Beckett's imagination. A ‘disability effect’ arises from the interaction between a harmful environment and a human body through conditions such as confinement, toxic atmosphere, or extreme heat. While the social model of disability is useful for reading disability in the earlier works, it does not adequately account for the environmental pressures that lead to disability effects. Instead, the ecological–enactive model developed by Toro et al. provides a better framework that allows for a variety of subjective responses to the restrictions imposed by the Beckett's narrative ecologies. The representation of disability in Beckett's later work thus places at the centre of attention harmed bodies that are marginalised in too many discourses around the Anthropocene or held up as a warning sign for the terrible consequences of inaction, and can be read as a critique of ableist attitudes, which are also common in environmental movements. As climate change has become a present reality rather than a future danger to be averted, a rapidly changing environment is generating a range of disability and disability effects affecting whole populations and amplifying the shortcomings of the ableist social model that views disability as an exception that must be accommodated by an abled society. Beckett's work can help us come to terms with the continuity of adverse conditions, while leaving a space for the variability of personal adaptations.

Despair Absorber and Cataclysm Amplifier Challenges: Edicts of the Modest-House Man into Pacifism Critical Study on Liberation Poems))

The current research study is an attempt to trace the religious impact on selected poems written during the invasion of some Iraqi provinces by ISIS from a psychological perspective and literary explication, disability theory. The religious authority is a very essential cornerstone in the Muslim worlds in general and in Iraq in particular as there are many denomination heads and many edicts. The selected poems, whose main focal theme is an invasion-and-liberation stratum of the Iraqi lands, are collected from Arabic literature and English one to apply a sense of diversity and universality to the article. How the edicts fall into the orbit of the laypeople mentality as reflected in verse and how the nonMuslims portray the edicts on the one hand, how the poets broach the edicts, what tone they employ, what technique they implant and what messages they endeavour to convey on the other hand. In doing so, the study gives much shrifts to the procedures to cull a tint of objectivity in the welter of emotionality and simpatico factors, that is, there are three chapters, the first tackles Hawza edicts and the sapience of the modest-house man, the second does the canonical poets as compared to other ones in the light of the missions beyond the texts and the third does the challenges between despair absorber and cataclysm amplifier in the selected poems. Ultimately, the conclusion fathoms the major scope of the article as much as it trucks the echo of the edict in the samples.

Misfits Meet Art and Technology: Cripping Transmethodologies.

This article thinks with disability theory and artistic praxis to explore how disabled artists repurpose and invent technologies in artistic processes designed to enact care and access, extend embodiment, satiate the senses, and create crip culture. Drawing on four examples, we claim that disabled artists are creative technologists whose non-normative culture-making practices approach accessibility as a transmethodological process that requires and generates new forms of interconnected technology and artfulness. Disabled artists, as "creative users," change the uses and outcomes of technology, dis-using technologies in ways that lead to a more dynamic understanding of access and with it, of crip cultures as processual, artful, and political.

Barriers to the Participation of Persons with Disabilities in Rural Local Governance: The Case of Bikita District, Zimbabwe

The paper was qualitative and inductive through the interpretivist’s paradigm. It sought to access the barriers to the participation of persons with disabilities (PwDs) in Bikita’s local governance in Zimbabwe. Data collection was through key informant interviews (KIIs), focus group discussions (FDGs) and observations. The KIIs targeted the chiefs, headman, councillors, state actors and Zimbabwe’s Association for the Visually Handicapped whereas the FDGs included the disabled and the non-disabled. The sampling was purposive. The human rights-based approach as espoused in the critical disability theory framed the empirical. The paper unearthed that Bikita Rural District Council structures were not disability inclusive. PwDs were marginalised in local governance/development processes. This led to higher incidences of abject poverty. The paper charged that the lack of inclusivity is in itself discriminatory. It argued that the drive towards inclusivity should include inter alia disability-mainstreaming, provision of disability-accessible information and disability awareness campaigns.

Revision of the brief international classification of functioning, disability and health core set for multiple sclerosis: a study of the comprehensive icf core set for multiple sclerosis with participants referred for work ability assessment.

To evaluate the Comprehensive International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Set for multiple sclerosis with regard to the Brief ICF Core Set for multiple sclerosis. Descriptive cross-sectional single-centre study. A total of 151 participants (99 females/52 males, mean age 49 years) referred for work ability assessment. Data were collected from clinical recordings and by telephone interview. Among 33 Body Functions, 14 were impaired in over 60% of the participants, and 6 in over 75%. These 6 most impaired functions were related to exercise tolerance (b455), urination (b620), muscle power (b730), motor reflex (b750), control of voluntary movement (b760) and gait pattern (b770). Among 54 Activities and Participation categories, 8 were impaired in over 60% of the participants, and 3 were impaired in over 75%. The latter activities were related to walking (d450), moving around (d455) and moving around using equipment (d465). Among the 36 Environmental categories, most were facilitators, except for temperature (e2250) and employment (e590). The latter category was both a facilitator and a barrier. These results suggest additional categories that should be included into the Brief ICF Core Set, to improve its representation of the complex disability of multiple sclerosis.

Moving, Thinking, and Representing the Autistic Mind/Body

Abstract When released, the Korean drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo (ENA, 2022), chronicling the adventures of Woo Young-woo, an autistic lawyer played by neurotypical actor Park Eun-bin, quickly became a global hit. Its positive representations of disability, spotlighting the discrimination faced by autistic individuals, was widely heralded as departing from previously negative stereotypes. Amid a global move toward inclusion driven by the disability rights movement, we undertake a biocultural approach to analyze representations of the embodied (autistic) mind/body in Extraordinary Attorney Woo. We consider how neuroscientific research has evolved and the implications of this evolution for representations of autism. We argue that deep-rooted stereotypes about autism continue to influence progressive media representations of disability and that a deeper acknowledgment of those stereotypes is needed to achieve equitable and sensitive representation.

From “The Cotton Wool” to Criticality: Unpacking FC Bergman’s The Sheep Song

ABSTRACT This article discusses the relationship between the critical potential of the arts and dominant notions of criticality. Traditionally, “critical thinking” is often equated with rationality and deliberation. Feminist thought has criticized both the traditional notion of the public sphere for its exclusion of groups based on their modes of discourse, and critical thinking for its overreliance on a limited model of criticality that excludes affectivity. Through an analysis of FC Bergman’s theater performance, The Sheep Song, we explore emergent structures of feeling that include such new critical affects. We draw inspiration from Maxine Greene’s work on how aesthetic sense-making can break through the “cotton wool” of taken-for-granted ways of thinking and seeing. Our analysis shows how specific moments of transition between scenes and representations of disability have the potential to foreground an audience’s sense- and meaning-making. However, the performance opens and then closes off the emergence of criticality, thereby showing the temporary nature of critical affects.

Disability Theatre as Critical Participatory Action Research: Lessons for Inclusive Research

Informed by critical disability studies and disability justice, this article describes the reflections of two university researchers co-researching with self-advocates (individuals with intellectual disability), theatre artists, researchers, and a community living society to create social justice disability theatre as critical participatory research (CPAR), demonstrating how disability theatre can contribute to and advance inclusive research practice. Disability justice-informed theatre as CPAR has direct relevance to people with intellectual disabilities; offers a platform where self-advocates’ diverse ways to communicate and be in the world are honoured and taken up as resources to the research and community; and can generate mentorship opportunities for self-advocates to learn, practice, and develop research skills. Significances include showing how the theatre creation process (devising, developing, and refining scenes) is research in itself and how tensions are recognized as sites of possibility. Future research should explore how increasing pathways to communication, co-creation of KT strategies, and protocols for power sharing and problem solving within disability theatre as CPAR impact the roles, outcomes, and experiences of disabled and non-disabled researchers and audience members.

STEM role models for students with disabilities: A systematic review highlighting recommendations for the classroom and future research

AbstractMultiple learning theories encourage the use of role models within K‐12 settings and have guided research on role model representation to diversify the pursuit of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Research has been clear on benefits of using role models, primarily focused on promoting gender and racial/ethnic diversity. Yet a critical need that has received less attention is the use of STEM role models for students with disabilities. The present systematic literature review identifies and synthesizes research on STEM role model mentorship programs and/or interventions for K‐12 students with disabilities. Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria and were coded across categories, with a particular focus on practical recommendations for effective use of STEM role models for students with disabilities and suggestions for future research. Practice‐based recommendations emphasized, for example, the importance of establishing role model‐student rapport and mentors receiving adequate training to best support their mentees. Research‐focused recommendations included determining saliency of program/intervention components. Authors also suggest conducting future studies that investigate effectiveness of matching salient characteristics between role models and mentees. Overall, the findings suggest that STEM role models for students with disabilities is a promising avenue for supporting disability representation in STEM that warrants further investigation.

Children of Bill 82: Reflective Histories of Disability and Childhood in Ontario, Canada

Through an analysis of personal histories, we reflect on changes in disability discourses in educational contexts since the 1970s. We argue that educational systems are deeply resistant to critical discourse of disability even while espousing social justice principles. We simultaneously recognize the disconnection between disability, education, and the lived experiences of disabled children, and the way in which their experiences are framed. We call for a more integrated discourse between academic theories of disability, professional systems, and children’s lived experiences in order to better care for children and their families, and to address injustice in education systems.

Persistent Narratives: Intellectual Disability in Canadian Children’s Literature

Canadian children’s literature rarely depicts characters labelled with intellectual disabilities, yet when it does it often remains mired in stereotypes that recycle prevalent myths and misconceptions. Even as more recent literature attempts to push back against such stereotypes, it nevertheless predominantly remains caught in these dangerous representational repertoires. This article offers a brief history of Canadian literary depictions of intellectual disability and a critique of the Canadian publishing spheres. Through a critical analysis of Lorna Schultz Nicholson’s book Fragile Bones, we discuss the limits of representation of intellectual disability in children’s fiction. We also offer a critique of the ableist publishing climate in Canada and suggest that structural barriers prevent disabled writers from entering the literary marketplace on an equal playing field. These barriers to publishing lead to the vast underrepresentation of disabled authors and the misrepresentation of disability in general and intellectual disability in particular in Canadian children’s literature.

Using Universal Design for Learning and Artificial Intelligence to Support Students with Disabilities

This paper explores whether Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can be combined with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create a more inclusive pedagogy for students with disabilities. Two graduate level courses in Student Affairs with a combined enrollment of 37 students completed an AI-based assignment and provided survey data and artifacts of learning to assess student perception and academic impact. The sample reported higher than average rates of disabilities with over 30% reporting a learning disability and 43% reporting qualifying for disability services. The assignment was designed with principles of UDL to specifically consider the unique needs of students with learning disabilities, especially those with difficulty reading or writing, for whom AI may be particularly helpful. Therefore, following UDL standards, students were given multiple options to demonstrate learning by critiquing an AI output by rewriting the output, commenting on the output, or providing a video critique of the output. Interestingly, students were roughly evenly distributed in their selection of the assessment options, suggesting that the options are well-utilized and may be related to the high representation of disability in the classroom sample. Students reported overall satisfaction with an AI-based assignment with UDL options built-in.

Petrified

Set in a rural mining town in nineteenth-century Spain, Benito Pérez Galdós’s novel Marianela enfolds a complex mediation on the relationship between humans ( bios ) and stones ( geos ) in the wake of industrial modernization. At the heart of this natural world are Marianela, an unsightly lumpen-proletariat, her blind bourgeois companion Pablo, and Celipín, a child miner, all raised in proximity to a zinc sulfate mine and all compared to the geological matter of the earth. Working at the intersection of disability studies, ecocriticism, and theories of biopolitics, the article examines the relationship between disability and rurality. The novel’s unconventional treatment of disabled and socially marginalized characters as human stone sheds light on a process the article terms petrification: the mutual debilitation of the bodies of nature and human bodies, exploited by capitalism and ableism alike.

The Ageing Self through Dramaturgies of Memory Loss and Love: Tristan Bernays’ Old Fools and Nick Payne’s Elegy

This comparative study of Tristan Bernays’ Old Fools (2018) and Nick Payne’s Elegy (2016) concerns two contemporary plays in which love manifested in middle-age and older adulthood is a determinant factor in the reconceptualization of the ageing self, particularly when afflicted by memory loss or cognitive failure. Positioned within the framework of theatre and ageing studies, and drawing from their intersection with gender studies and disability theories, the study demonstrates that the narrative arc that both texts recreate is not free of overtones of decline. However, the manipulation of chronological time in both plays through different techniques, as well as the importance of their love story, one between a man and a woman in Old Fools, and the other between two women in Elegy, help disrupt the binary of young/old perpetuated by ageist cultures, and, ultimately, undermine rigid constructions of identity in old age. The article concludes that new theatrical representations of ageing that develop narratives of love not only enable richer debates on the construction of the self, but ultimately contribute to an all-inclusive stage and, with it, to an age-friendly society.

Breaking out of the box: increasing the representation of disability within archive science

This article explores the value of archives in increasing the representation of disabled people in social policy, and research narratives, as well as building an identity of the Disabled People’s Movement beyond traditional activism, and the inclusion of young people and marginalised groups within archives. To achieve this, it is vital that archival studies and archival science engage with the conceptual understanding of disability and the different needs of disabled people, beyond the traditional focus on the medical model, to an understanding of the Social and Rights Models. This understanding will help to unify approaches to disability within the archive from both an archival science and humanities perspective to make sure that polices and approaches facilitate the participation and recognition of the wide experiences of disability. This will require re-evaluation of approaches to policy issues such as safeguarding and vulnerability, social media use and whose voice is worthy of preservation. Engagement with the broader field of disability studies in theory and practice offers a way for the field of archive science to address these issues.

Meyer, Abbye E. <i>From Wallflowers to Bulletproof Families: The Power of Disability in Young Adult</i> <i>Narratives</i>. UP of Mississippi, 2022. 204 pages. ISBN: 9781496837585

A common observation in disability studies is that historically, disability has been a unifying marginalisation—the one intersection from which other identities hope for distance or even escape (Mitchell & Snyder 3; Davis 277). Problem novels, often dismissed as an inevitable but undesired aspect of adolescent literature (Miskec & McGee 164), occupy a similar space in studies of youth literature. These texts are often considered representative of young adult literature by those outside of children’s literature studies and are often treated defensively by those of us within it as a stereotype the field must overcome. There is, however, very little scholarship explicitly on problem novels. Abbye E. Meyer’s work, From Wallflowers to Bulletproof Families: The Power of Disability in Young Adult Narratives, offers a new defence and reinterpretation of the problem novel as she asks readers to consider these significant gaps in the literature: “the ways in which disability and young adult literature interact” and “the kinds of power these interactions produce” (12). As an analysis of American representations of disability and adolescence, Meyer’s work is often compelling, especially in its recontextualization of “exemplary” didacticism (Meyer 96). While I do question the conflation of adolescence as disabling in early chapters as potentially overly diagnostic and easily misread (and as a non-American reader I lament the limitations in attributing the “young adult voice” (16) so squarely to Holden Caufield and Esther Greenwood), Meyer’s work is an important contribution to both literary and disability studies as we continue to engage on topics of representation, voice, and crip power.