Full Description
The reality of disability—of what it means to be disabled—has primarily been written by non-disabled people. Disability and disabled individuals are often described with pity, presented as burdens, or are background figures in larger non-disabled narratives. Redefining Disability challenges the outsider-dominated approach to disability by centering the disabled experience.
This edited volume, featuring all disabled authors and creators, combines traditional academic works with personal reflections, visual art, and poetry. These works address disability and race, sexuality and disability, disability cultures, accommodation, self-diagnosis, and how we manage the obstacles ableist institutions place in our way. The authors address a variety of disabilities, including sensory, chronic pain, mobility, developmental disorders, and mental illness. It is through these testimonies that we hope to redefine disability on our terms; to clearly state that disability is not a bad word, and that all disabled lives have value.
Redefining Disability is interdisciplinary, with broad application for undergraduate courses, graduate seminars, or to read for pleasure. Each entry contains discussion questions and/or activities for educators to use in the classroom.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
Paul D. C. Bones, Jessica Smartt Gullion and Danielle Barber
1 Existing in a Mortal Form and Other Disabling Experiences
E. J. K. Brimner and R. McGuire
2 Disabled Humans and Our Non-Human Animal Companions
Paul D. C. Bones
Pet Profile: Charlie
Aparna Nair
3 Disability Discourse Stuck in a Black/White Binary: Embodying a Black and Disabled Identity as a Mixed-Race Person
Cassandra Lovelock
4 Plum Tomato: Solanum lycopersicum
Ellen Samuels
5 Disability Aesthetics: A Crip Artistry Manifesto
Aurora Berger
6 Life on the Line
Aurora Berger
7 Finding My Way in a Society Where I Don't Fit
Jill Richardson
Pet Profile: Mac
Valerie and Chase Novack
8 Misfit in the Academy: Succeeding as a Visually Impaired Scholar in Australia
Sheelagh Daniels-Mayes
Pet Profile: Mudkip
Ari
9 Justice vs. Injustice: Poetic Dialogue about the Meaning of Disability Justice among People Labelled/with Intellectual Disability
Anonymous, Anonymous, Anonymous, Nicholas Herd, Anonymous, Doreen Kalifer, with support from Erin Kuri and Ann Fudge Schormans
10 Inspiration Porn and Desperation Porn: Disrupting the Objectification of Disability in Media
Kara B. Ayers and Katherine A. Reed
Pet Profile: Scribbles
Melanie Coughlin
11 Tap Tap Tap
Marie Gagnon
12 Adaptation from the Margins: Toward a Crip Theatre
Christopher Bryant
Pet Profile: Pepper
Brian
13 Diagnosis Limbo
Danielle Barber
Pet Profile: Luther & Layla
Danielle Barber
14 Successful Sad
Vanessa Ellison
Pet Profile: Monkey
Emily Dall'Ora Warfield
15 Ddeaf Adjacency: Liminal Conditions of Not Hearing
Megan Marshall
16 S-I-L-I-C-O-N-E Inject-Ear | Silicone Injections: In American Sign Language (ASL) Gloss and English
Raymond Luczak
17 Utensils and Fire
Jessica Spears Williams
18 Seeing Brains: Shakespeare, Autism, and Self-Identification
Nicholas R. Helms
Pet Profile: Pike Trickleg
Lauren (aka L.W. Salinas)
19 Hot Girl Bummer: Achieving Disabled Sexual Liberation in an Ableist World
Katherine O'Connell
Pet Profile: Abacus
Kimberly C. Merenda
20 Selected Poems
Jessi Aaron
Pet Profile: Opal, Orbit, & Ruby
Aubree Evans
21 Maybe Do Talk to Strangers on the Internet? An Interview with Corin de Parsons Frietas
Corin Parsons de Frietas (with Paul D. C. Bones)
Pet Profile: Finn & Bear
Corin Parsons de Freitas
22 Finding Empowerment in the Middle: Navigating Hidden Disabilities in Academia
Summer M. Jackson
Pet Profile: Rocko (More Formally Known as Rocko Taco)
Summer M. Jackson
23 Taking Center Stage in the Face of Shame and Scars
Jasmine (Jaz) Gray
Pet Profile: Aisling & Truthe
Jennifer Stahl
24 Assistive Tech, Assertive Tech
Cole Sorensen
25 Modern Day Changelings: On Being an Autistic Parent of an Autistic Child
Alison Kelly
26 Stone, Water, Land, Spine
Elizabeth Glass
Pet Profile: Maximus Aurelius Gullion, Guardian of the Realm, Slayer of Demons, Friend to Unicorn and Dragon, Defender of Squeaky Toys & Spartacus the Mighty
Jessica Smartt Gullion
27 Cancer Isn't Like a Movie, But If It Was It'd Be a Horror Flick
Terri Juneau Eklund
Pet Profile: Bacon & Pancake
Terri Juneau Eklund
28 "It's Meant to Be a Hazing Process": Deciphering Ableism Surrounding Academic Accommodations
Corey Reutlinger
Pet Profile: Captain Jack Harkness & Pippa Millicent Tiny Panther
Tara Elliot
29 Night of the Living Ableds: Disability, Representation, and Horror Film
Paul D. C. Bones
Pet Profile: Mildred Sausage, Allan Hamsteak, & Inara Bacon
Paul D. C. Bones
30 A Bright Green: After Lou Ferrigno, A Deaf Bodybuilder Who Played the Incredible Hulk (1977-1982)
Raymond Luczak
31 Manifesto
The Committee for the Sick and Useless
