Disability Studies Research Articles

Echoes of Madness: Exploring Disability and Mental Illness in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Video games are known for many things, but nuanced portrayals of characters with mental illness might not be one of them. This trend, however, has gradually started to shift with games like Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, which aim to convey a genuine experience of mental illness to the player. Through a close reading of different instances in the game, this paper shows how Hellblade complicates the usual sanist ideas seen in most other games by taking an ambiguous stance, using mental illness as a representational tool. Furthermore, it avoids some of the more sensationalist and problematic tropes often employed in such representations, like the supercrip and the Cartesian divide of the body and mind. In order to show this, we have employed Mitchel and Snyder’s concept of narrative prosthesis to demonstrate how the game does not in fact rely on Senua’s disability as an exotic feature of the narrative to hook players in. By combining insights from disability and mad studies, we show how this game is a step in the right direction when it comes to challenging the perceptions of mental illness prevalent in pop culture.

Models of Disability as Research Frameworks in Biology Education Research.

Advancing equity and justice in undergraduate biology education requires research to address the experiences of disabled students. Scholars working in disability studies have developed models of disability that inform Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER). To date, DBER literature has been predominantly informed by the medical and social models of disability. The medical model focuses on challenges that affect people with disabilities on an individual basis, while the social model focuses on how one's surrounding environment contributes to the construction of disability. In this essay, we discuss past DBER research and opportunities for future research using each of these models. We will also discuss a third, less commonly used model that offers exciting opportunities to drive future research: complex embodiment. Complex embodiment positions disability as a social location that reflects a greater societal value structure. Further examining this value structure reveals how ability itself is constructed and conventionally understood to be hierarchical. Additionally, we explain epistemic injustice as it affects disabled people, and how future education research can both address and counteract this injustice. We discuss how expanding the frameworks that serve as lenses for DBER scholarship on disability will offer new research directions.

Sarah Leavitt’s <i>Tangles</i>: Teaching Queer Caregiving Memoir on Disability, and Pedagogy as Resistance

This article examines Sarah Leavitt’s graphic novel <i>Tangles: A story about Alzheimer’s, my mother and me</i> (2010, 2011 UK), in relation to queer identity, feminist wilfulness (Ahmed, 2014), and critical disability studies. <i>Tangles</i> takes up themes of lesbianism, disability, and activism, and it does so through storytelling. Studies around life writing and disability, including the dementia disease Alzheimer’s, point the reader strongly toward recognition of the key importance of storytelling in the preservation of selfhood. Whose stories are told, and whose are not, and by whom? How can or does patient selfhood emerge or survive in caregiving narratives written and/or drawn by others? This article examines graphic memoir in the contexts of Comics Studies, Canadian Gender Studies and Critical Disability Studies.

Hershini Bhana Young. Falling, Floating, Flickering: Disability and Differential Movement in African Diasporic Performance

Young’s Falling, Floating, Flickering investigates aesthetic archives and repertoires of Black differential movement. Examining how bodies “fall, crawl, float, and spasm” (13) to form communities and aesthetic “condition[s] of possibility” amid catastrophic conditions (11), Young centres the Global South and the world-making of Black conjoined flesh in critical disability studies.

Impact of lumbar spine pathology on asymmetrical hallux valgus in a population-based cohort study

This study aims to investigate the influence of lumbar spine disorders on the development of asymmetric hallux valgus (HV). Data from the fifth survey of the Osteoarthritis/Osteoporosis Against Disability (ROAD) study, a nationwide prospective study in Japan, were analyzed. HV severity was categorized into 4 grades based on the radiographic HV angle, and asymmetric HV was defined as having at least one HV on either side, with a difference of two or more severity grades between the left and right. Controls were matched from both the Normal group (without HV on both sides) and the Symmetric group (HV on at least one side with a difference of one or less severity grades). Univariate analysis assessed lumbar conditions, and multinomial logistic regression analysis explored the association between lumbar spine disorders and asymmetric HV. Among 1997 participants, 27 had asymmetric HV. Univariate analysis revealed a higher incidence of L5 spondylolisthesis and scoliosis in the Asymmetric group. Multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that scoliosis independently increased the likelihood of asymmetrical HV (Odds ratio [OR] = 3.586, 95%Confidence interval [CI] 1.111–11.582), but showed no significant impact on symmetrical HV (OR 0.910, 95% CI 0.355–2.334). Asymmetric HV is rare but may be associated with lumbar spine disorders, particularly scoliosis.

Disabled Body‐Minds in Hostile Environments: Disrupting an Ableist Cartesian Sociotechnical Imagination with Enactive Embodied Cognition and Critical Disability Studies

Disabled Body‐Minds in Hostile Environments: Disrupting an Ableist Cartesian Sociotechnical Imagination with Enactive Embodied Cognition and Critical Disability Studies

Feasibility and findings of electrocardiogram recording in older adults with intellectual disabilities: results of the Healthy Ageing and Intellectual Disabilities study.

Older adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) have a high risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). At the same time, challenging diagnostic work-up increases the likelihood of underdiagnosis of CVD in this population. To limit this underdiagnosis, it would be beneficial to use objective measures such as the electrocardiogram (ECG). However, little is known about the feasibility of ECG recording and the prevalence of ECG abnormalities in this population. Therefore, the aims of this study were to investigate the feasibility of resting ECG recording, to study the prevalence of ECG abnormalities, and to compare the frequency of ECG abnormalities with medical records in older adults with ID. A cross-sectional study was performed within a cohort of older adults (≥60years) with ID as part of the Healthy Ageing and Intellectual Disabilities (HA-ID) study. A resting 12-lead ECG was attempted, and the ECG recording was considered feasible if the recording could be made and if the ECG could be interpreted by a cardiologist and the Modular ECG Analysis System (MEANS). ECGs were assessed for the presence of ECG abnormalities and medical record review was performed. If the cardiologist or MEANS concluded that there was evidence of myocardial infarction, atrial fibrillation or QTc prolongation on the ECG in the absence of this ECG diagnosis in the participant's medical record, this was classified as a previously undiagnosed ECG diagnosis. ECG recording was feasible in 134 of the 200 participants (67.0%). Of these 134 participants (70.6±5.8years; 52.2% female), 103 (76.9%) had one or more ECG abnormality, with the most prevalent being prolonged P-wave duration (27.6%), QTc prolongation (18.7%), minor T-wave abnormalities (17.9%), first degree atrioventricular block (12.7%) and myocardial infarction (6.7%). Eight out of 9 (88.9%) myocardial infarctions and all cases of (significant) QTc prolongation (100%) were previously undiagnosed. This study showed that ECG recording is feasible in the majority of older adults with ID and revealed a substantial underdiagnosis of ECG abnormalities. These results stress the importance of ECG recording and warrant further research into the yield of opportunistic ECG screening in older adults with ID.

Toward the emancipation of “medically unexplained” and energy-limiting conditions: Contesting and reimagining psy through the lens of feminist disability studies

Toward the emancipation of “medically unexplained” and energy-limiting conditions: Contesting and reimagining psy through the lens of feminist disability studies

The datafied hand in our health

AbstractThis article looks at a smart ring as a window into how contemporary datafication in fitness and medical wearables is informed by the longer history of notions of fitness and the datafication of health within the practice of medicine. After introducing some of the concerns arising from the history of eugenics, specifically out of disability studies critiques, and the more recent organizing of health through data‐driven algorithmic medicine, as well as discussing the difference between non‐optional wearables and their use as part of transhumanism, I briefly consider how wearables could be a site of intervention, to seize rather than relinquish power over our datafied bodies.

Coloring Outside the Lines: Teaching Graphic Medicine as Disability Studies

The article argues for the importance of teaching undergraduate graphic medicine courses informed by disability studies. Using her experiences teaching graphic medicine classes over the last eight years, the author argues for the importance of graphic medicine courses beyond medical school curricula. This creates an opportunity not just to introduce disability studies concepts to undergraduates, but also for disability studies and graphic medicine to meaningfully illuminate each other. The article argues that framing comics through disability aesthetics and disability activism (including precepts such as access intimacy and disability justice) reveals how powerfully and consistently graphic medicine centers each. In turn, graphic medicine provides powerful opportunities to reimagine disability representation and access as aesthetics and accommodation. The article shares experiences of teaching graphic medicine, reflects on related dilemmas, and offers fruitful strategies for anyone wishing to teach graphic medicine courses informed by a disability studies approach.

Accessible Comics for Blind and Low Vision Readers: An Emerging Journey

In Spring 2021, there was an interdisciplinary collaboration comprising two international events. Scholars and artists in comic studies, disability studies, and accessibility services met to explore the intersection of comics making and nonvisual information accessibility. The article showcases lessons shared by event participants and offers ongoing directions for interdisciplinary research and practice. The goal is to promote new approaches to information engagement for publishers, designers, and consumers alike. Points of interest on the journey towards creating accessible comics include considerations for community engagement, equity in design thinking, and seeding collaborations with key stakeholders.

Post-Adoption Stress and Support Needs of Families Relative to Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Disability: A Parent Survey

Existing occupational therapy literature focuses on sensory and developmental needs for newly adopted children but has not considered the ongoing needs of adoptive families from a disability studies perspective. This study surveyed adoptive families with minor children about their post-adoption stress and support needs (N = 127). Findings indicated elevated rates of neurodevelopmental disorders and associated stress related to finding and affording supports that are adoption and trauma-informed, and adjusting to changing needs over time. Support for adoptive families includes education, advocacy, and direct intervention, supporting family member’s changing needs over time, and navigating but not fixing many support needs.

Literary and Cultural Disability Studies: British and Continental Perspectives, 2–4 November 2023, University of Fribourg

Literary and Cultural Disability Studies: British and Continental Perspectives, 2–4 November 2023, University of Fribourg

“The Real Requires the Fantastic”: Teaching Comics, Race, and Disability in the Era of Black Lives Matter

The dual pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism bring into sharp relief the urgent need to integrate anti-racism into the study and praxis of graphic medicine. The article’s approach to “cripping graphic medicine” brings together Black feminist disability studies and comics studies, foregrounding Black comics theorists and creators. The focus is on Damian Duffy and John Jennings’s graphic adaptations of Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred and Victor LaValle’s Destroyer , examining how they employ non-realist conventions of speculative fiction and horror to represent racial injustice and the body in effective ways for social justice-oriented conversations in health humanities’ classrooms and beyond. The article also shares experiences facilitating student-centered discussion of these texts in undergraduate courses and highlights student interpretations as evidence of the comics medium’s ability to foster reflective dialogue and collaborative learning around topics of racism, medicine, disability, and creative storytelling.

Understanding Epistemic Justice through Inclusive Research about Intellectual Disability and Sexuality

Formal language: This paper discusses inclusive research and epistemic justice by using an example of a published study the authors conducted on intellectual disability and sexuality in supported living environments. Our study addressed taboos and pushed boundaries in content and methodology through two ways of inclusive research: (1) the second author of this paper who has an intellectual disability was a main researcher in the study; and (2) we interviewed people with intellectual disabilities about their own experiences as well as their desired solutions to obstacles they face in their supported living environments. Their input was centralized in the final research report. This method challenged the epistemic injustice of who have historically not been ‘allowed’ to produce knowledge in research. This paper offers historical insight into epistemic injustice as well as relational approaches from critical disability studies and non-Western understandings of disability that ‘rethink’ disability and that can thus promote epistemic justice in academic theory. By addressing both practice and theory in this paper, we aim to contribute to the growing body of inclusive research and to the epistemic justice of people with intellectual disabilities. Plain language: (1) Epistemology = thinking about knowledge, producing knowledge, sharing knowledge. (2) In history, people with intellectual disabilities have often been excluded from participating in this. This is called epistemic injustice. It is caused by the discrimination of people with intellectual disabilities (ableism). (3) Performing inclusive research with people with intellectual disabilities challenges this. It contributes to epistemic justice. Researchers and interviewees with intellectual disabilities can bring knowledge from lived experience into research. (4) Knowledge from lived experience has not always been valued in traditional research. That means we also need to think differently about ‘knowledge’, and about ‘disability’ and its ‘value’. (5) Discrimination based on disability has a long history. For instance: during colonialism by European countries (starting in the 15th century), false ideas about ‘poor health’ and ‘low intelligence’ were already used to justify slavery. People with disabilities have often been locked away or even killed because they have been seen as ‘less valuable’. These ways of thinking still exist. They influence our understanding of ‘epistemology’ because they decide whose way of thinking and way of life is valuable or not valuable. We need to change this way of thinking. (6) Some academic fields that help are critical disability studies, indigenous studies, and feminist posthumanism. These fields challenge ableist ways of thinking. They can help us understand disability as something that is not negative or less valuable, but simply part of what makes us human.

“Determined to prove a villain”

Abstract Shakespeare’s play Richard III represents a fascinating phenomenon from the perspective of critical disability studies. On the one hand, his portrayal stands at the root of the much-criticised link between evil intentions and a physical deformity; on the other, the play allows Richard to reclaim some of the agency of his own corporeality, as he uses his body to gain his political goals. Translations of this play inevitably mirror contemporary views of non-normative bodies, and the two Slovak versions of the play marking the immediate aftermath of World War II and the last years of the communist rule in former Czechoslovakia provide an ideal ground for observing these shifts against the backdrop of significant sociopolitical changes. This article explores how the subtle nuances in individual translated versions reshape Richard’s image, and ultimately highlights the changing historical narratives of disability translated for different generations of Slovak readers and theatregoers.

Seeking inclusion while navigating exclusion: Theorizing the experiences of disabled nursing faculty in academe.

Despite repeated calls for equity, diversity, and inclusion in nursing education and the significance of disability for the vocation of nursing, the voices and experiences of nursing faculty with disabilities are largely absent from our literature. In this paper, we present a critical grounded theory of the experiences of disabled nursing faculty in academe to begin to amend this gap. Using critical disability studies as a sensitizing framework and building on prior work on racism and other systems of oppression in nursing, we theorize that nursing academe is a normalized space produced by White, able-mindbodied, and cis-heteropatriarchal discourses that regulate the boundaries of inclusion via exclusionary social norms. Further, we describe the operations of normalcy in nursing academe, discuss implications for education and health care, and consider avenues for change.

Identifying factors associated with locomotive syndrome using machine learning methods: The third survey of the research on osteoarthritis/osteoporosis against disability study.

To identify factors associated with locomotive syndrome (LS) using medical questionnaire data and machine learning. A total of 1575 participants underwent the LS risk tests from the third survey of the research on osteoarthritis/osteoporosis against disability study(ROAD) study. LS was defined as stage 1 or higher based on clinical decision limits of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association. A total of 1335 items of medical questionnaire data came from this study. The number of medical questionnaire items was reduced from 1335 to 331 in data cleaning. From the 331 items, identify factors associated with LS use by light gradient boosting machine-based recursive feature elimination with cross-validation. The performance of each set was evaluated using an average of seven performance metrics, including 95% confidence intervals, using a bootstrapping method. The smallest set of items is determined with the highest average of receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (ROC-AUC) under 20 items as association factors of LS. Additionally, the performance of the selected items was compared with the LS risk tests and Loco-check. The nine items have the best average ROC-AUC under 20 items. The nine items show an average ROC-AUC of 0.858 (95% confidence interval 0.816-0.898). Age and back pain during walking were strongly associated with the prevalence of LS. The ROC-AUC of nine items is higher than that of existing questionnaire-based LS assessments, including the 25-question Geriatric Locomotor Scale and Loco-check. The identified nine items could aid early LS detection, enhancing understanding and prevention. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2024; 24: 806-813.

Enhancing health-related fitness, self-efficacy, and quality of life in adults with physical disabilities: A 9-week community-based structured exercise and mindfulness program

Adults with physical disabilities encounter multifaceted challenges, emphasizing the critical need to address both their physical and psychological well-being while overcoming barriers to physical active participation. Recognizing and addressing these issues is vital for creating inclusive interventions that cater to their specific needs, promoting active engagement, and enhancing overall well-being. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of integrating structured exercise and mindfulness techniques in a community-based exercise program tailored for adults with physical disabilities to enhance health-related fitness, self-efficacy, and overall quality of life. Fifteen participants, aged 25–55, with diverse mobility impairments, musculoskeletal conditions, and neurological disorders, participated in a 9-week individualized structured exercise program, involving 90-minute sessions two times weekly. The program focused on improving physical and psychological well-being through combined physical and psychological training. Measurements were assessed at baseline and program completion, covering health-related fitness, self-efficacy, and quality of life domains. Paired t-test and MANOVA revealed substantial improvements in health-related fitness markers, including grip strength and body composition, alongside heightened self-efficacy, and improvements across multiple quality of life domains compared to pretest measures. These improvements were statistically significant (p < 0.05) and demonstrated a moderate effect size on average (Cohen’s d = 0.5–0.8) across the assessed variables. Pearson correlation analysis indicated grip strength and fat mass had a significant correlation with quality of life (p < 0.05). Future research should include larger, controlled studies, as the lack of a control group and small sample size limit conclusions, yet the integration of structured exercise and mindfulness techniques in a community-based exercise program showed promising outcomes for enhancing the physical and psychological well-being of adults with physical disabilities, underscoring its potential significance in disability and rehabilitation studies.

Sociocultural perspectives on neurodiversity—An analysis, interpretation and synthesis of the basic terms, discourses and theoretical positions

AbstractThe neurodiversity concept can now be found in many places. However, it is often misunderstood and many people are not aware of its complexity. The aim of this paper is to highlight the different facets of the term neurodiversity as well as the discourses around the neurodiversity movement in order to bring together the interconnections around identity politics, diversity and social disadvantage. This article is intended as a contribution to the advancement of neurodiversity studies, which could be understood as a branch of disability studies. Finally, it will be argued that neurodiversity can be understood (1) as a natural and equal diversity of neuronal structures, (2) as a concept of identity politics, (3) as social critique of hegemonic structures and practices, and (4) as a subject that can be examined systematically on the basis of a praxeological research methodology that integrates neurodiversity in the concept of performativity of embodied thought and action.