Call For Papers: Intellectual Disability in Literature

CFP: Intellectual Disability in Literature (10/01/02; collection of essays)
full name / name of organization:  John J. Han & Carol Austin
contact email:  hanjn@mobap.edu; AustinCJ@mobap.edu

Previously unpublished critical essays are being sought for a new volume
tentatively entitled Intellectual Disability in Literature: Critical
Essays. Disability studies is a rapidly emerging academic discipline, as is
evidenced by the increasing number of degree programs in disability across
the United States. An area of study within disability studies is the
representation of disability in literature. Imaginative texts are replete
with intellectually challenged characters. Novels such as Dostoyevsky’s The
Idiots, Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, and O’Connor’s The Violent Bear
It Away include developmentally delayed characters. Other types of prose
also include characters called in variously disparaging terms.

Although mentally disabled characters have received some critical attention
from literary scholars, the amount of in-depth research has been sporadic.
Indeed, the intersection of intellectual disability and literature has been
the area of study mostly for specialists in disability. Intellectual
Disability in Literature aims to fill gaps by compiling academic essays on
various issues related to mental disability in literature.

The volume will consist of 15-20 critical essays which are divided into 3-5
thematic categories such as “The Function of Characters with Intellectual
Disability,” “The Representation of Intellectual Disability in Literature,”
“Portrayal of Normality versus Disability in Literary Texts,” and “Issues
of Gender, Race, and Class in Intellectual Impairments in Literature.” (The
section titles may change based on the types of papers we receive from our
contributors.)

We welcome submissions from both literary scholars and nonliterary
academics who have some background in literature and the humanities.
Interested scholars should submit a 500-word abstract and a professional
vita, as e-mail attachments, to John J. Han (hanjn_at_mobap.edu) by October
1, 2012. Deadline for completed essays of 15-20 pages is April 1, 2013. We
plan to finish editing accepted submissions by September 1, 2013. An
academic publisher in Amsterdam responded positively to our proposal and is
willing to consider the entire manuscript.

John J. Han, Ph.D.
Professor of English and Creative Writing
Missouri Baptist University
St. Louis, MO 63141-8660
(314) 392-2311
hanjn_at_mobap.edu

Carol Austin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Counseling and Human Services
Missouri Baptist University
St. Louis, MO 63141-8660
(314) 744-5324
AustinCJ_at_mobap.edu

Updated Corrections—Eugenics in California: A Legacy of the Past?

Here is an updated, correct announcement of the upcoming event addressing
the legacy of eugenics in California. If you haven't yet helped publicize
the event, please use this version. Susan Schweik

PLEASE PUBLICIZE WIDELY
Eugenics in California: A Legacy of the Past?

A free event open to the public, “Eugenics in California: a Legacy of the
Past?,” will take place at the Berkeley Law School on the UC Berkeley
campus (105 Boalt Hall) on August 28, 2012 from 12:30 to 2 pm.

For much of the 20th century, California was at the forefront of eugenic
ideology and practices in the United States, and holds the dubious
distinction of being the state with the highest number of eugenic
sterilizations performed under the authority of law – some 20,000
procedures between 1909 and the mid-1950s. Coerced sterilizations
continued in public hospitals into the 1970s, and it has recently come to
light that in very recent years, women prisoners in California have been
sterilized without their consent or knowledge. Today, California is a
leader in research and services related to human genomics and assisted
reproductive technologies. Speakers at this public event will consider the
long history of eugenics in California and explore continuities and
discontinuities in the uses and misuses of genetic ideas and practices.

Dean Christopher Edley, Berkeley School of Law, will give opening remarks
to welcome attendees.

SPEAKERS:

"Eugenic Sterilization in California: Stories and Statistics"
Miroslava Chávez-García, University of California at Davis, and Alexandra
Minna Stern, University of Michigan

We provide an overview of the patterns of the 20,000 eugenic sterilizations
performed in California state institutions from 1909 to 1979, with close
attention to race, gender, class, and diagnosis. We will also highlight
stories of sterilization victims and the ways in which they attempted to
challenge the state's authority to control and contain their reproductive
rights. As we will demonstrate, the process had a devastating impact on
the victims.

¿Más Bebés? (documentary film)
Renee Tajima-Peña, University of California at Santa Cruz; Virginia Espino,
University of California at Santa Cruz, and Kate Trumbull, documentary
filmaker

The feature-length documentary ¿Más Bebés? (working title) investigates
the history of Mexican American women who allege they were coercively
sterilized at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center during the 1960s and
70s. Many spoke no English, and testified that they were prodded into
tubal ligations during active labor. The sterilizations triggered the
1978 class action lawsuit, Madrigal v. Quilligan, and a protest campaign
that galvanized the Chicana feminist movement.

Eugenics in California Women’s Prisons Today
Kimberly Jeffrey and Courtney Hooks, Justice Now

Since 2003, Justice Now has been working collaboratively with people in
California’s women’s prisons to document how prisons violate the
international right to family and function as a tool of reproductive
oppression. Presenters will place a spotlight on personal experience with
as well as the systemic pattern of destruction of reproductive capacity of
women of color and gender variant people in California women’s prisons
through several state-sanctioned policies, including forced and coerced
sterilizations (e.g. the illegal and routine sterilization of hundreds of
people in prison during labor and delivery), and other violations of safe
motherhood and reproductive justice.

Should We Worry About a New Eugenics?
Marcy Darnovsky, Center for Genetics and Society

Today's fast-developing genetic and reproductive technologies offer
significant benefits, but can also be misused in ways that exacerbate
existing inequalities and create entirely new forms of injustice.
California, a hotbed of eugenic advocacy in the last century, is today a
center of biotechnology research and commercial development and the
assisted reproduction sector, as well as home to some troubling
techno-enthusiastic ideologies. Our efforts to confront California's
eugenic history can help prevent these dynamics from veering toward a new
eugenics.

CONTACTS: Susan Schweik, UC Berkeley, sschweik@berkeley.edu, Marcy
Darnovsky, Center for Genetics and Society,
darnovsky@geneticsandsociety.org

Co-sponsored by the Center for Genetics and Society and U.C. Berkeley’s
Haas Diversity Research Center, School of Law, Institute for the Study of
Societal Issues, American Cultures Center, Disability Studies program,
Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice, and Center for Race and Gender.

This event is wheelchair accessible. Captioning will be provided. To
request an accommodation, please email disability@berkeley.edu.

re: Can you helpme out?

Craig Meyer found the link and sent it to me.  It was from NatGeo and can be found at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndVDSuVtk54&feature=related


The part to which I refer starts at about 2:25.

What disturbs me is that this young fellow, who seems to be quite accomplished, is deprived of the opportunity to find someone with whom he can be intimate on his own.  He got an education and training, he found a job, he seems to have friends, people seem to like him, and I think he could attract sexual partners using his own charm, skill, and talents.


However, his government is saying to him, "You are so awful the only way you can get female companionship is to pay someone for it."  I do not think that is true but I think the government program that ties pork chops around the necks of people like him to get dogs to play with him is an insult to him, and he does not even realize he is being insulted.

Dan Gilbert

YouTube - Videos from this email

Olympics opening ceremonies & disability -- good things

Hi Everyone,

We spend a lot of time bemoaning the frequent lack of disability access/respect/consciousness, so I thought I'd note that I found the way the Olympic opening ceremonies last night featured disabled people to be refreshing and positive.  From deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie, to a deaf-hearing children's choir performing the British National Anthem, to people in wheelchairs spinning among the able-bodied dancers, there was lots to like.  This show has a *billion* viewers around the world -- great to see!

Could this participation reflect the disability activism in the UK?  I have to think so; our work makes a real-world difference.

And it wasn't limited to the opening ceremony.  A legally blind South Korean archer set the first Olympics world record!

Chris

========
Christopher Krentz
Associate Professor
Department of English and ASL Program
Director, American Sign Language Program
University of Virginia
http://www.engl.virginia.edu/people/ck9m

Disability Culture: Research in Motion. New free video!

Hello everybody,
I would like to share with you our new Disability Culture video, just in
time for classrooms all over the place! It's on youtube, 22 minutes long,
free, and subtitled.
Next semester, my Collaboration and Poetry class will be audio-describing
segments, and we'll create a website for the video, with alternate
soundtracks (a feature not available on youtube).
http://youtu.be/AI77zqrAvoo
The video was created during a three-day art-based research symposium, a
University of Michigan Initiative on Disability Studies Spring Conference,
in February 2012. Collaborators include Jennifer Eisenhauer, Melanie
Yergeau, Mark Romoser, Wobbly Dance (Erik Ferguson and Yulia Arakelyan),
Neil Marcus, Ariel Osterweis, Aimee Meredith Cox, Cheryl Kaplan Zachariah,
Yvonne Schmidt, Brooke Willock, and many others.
Happy watching,
Petra

--
Petra Kuppers
Professor
English, Art and Design, Theatre, Women's Studies
Faculty Affiliate with the Center for World Performance Studies and
Matthaei Botanical Gardens
University of Michigan
435 S. State Street, 3216 Angell Hall, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1003
mobile: 734-239-2634
Artistic Director of The Olimpias, www.olimpias.org

New video!
Disability Culture: Research in Motion. http://youtu.be/AI77zqrAvoo
New books!
Disability Culture and Community Performance: Find a Strange and Twisted
Shape, on Olimpias practices (Palgrave, 2011,
http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=504063

)
Somatic Engagement, an edited collection of artists on the poetics,
politics and publics of embodiment (Chain Links, 2011,
http://www.chainarts.org/somatic%20engagement.htm)

Can you help me out?

 Within the last couple of years I saw on television, I think it was.


 Within the last couple of years I saw on television, I think it was PBS but I am uncertain, a story about a young wheelchair user who lived in Britain with his father.

The story was about the British health care system funding a sexual surrogate for this young fellow and followed the trip he took with his father, who was apparently his caretaker, across the channel and his visit to a legal brothel.

Does anyone else remember this story?  Even better, does anyone know where I can get a copy of the telecast?

I teach Rhetoric at a University in Virginia and I would like to use the story as an illustration in class.

Thanks for the help.


Dan Gilbert
540-357-0089
dan.gilbert@ymail.com

Call for Proposals

Hello All,

How many of you have needed to use personal or work time to provide care for
a family member who has a disability or an ageing parent?  Do you work in
the field of Health Care and provide Personal one-on-one care?

For the last many years I have been working with Individuals with
disabilities or the frail elderly and providing Consulting type assistance
and direct in-home care.  As our population ages, providing care is becoming
an issue that is touching more and more families.  At the same time our
Society is finally reducing barriers for Younger Individuals with
disabilities and encouraging them to live to their fullest potentials.  The
Paralympic Games will start in England in just a few short weeks are
testament to this.

Yet, too often the families who are providing the care and support have
little support themselves.

I am pleased to announce the 1st Annual Prestige Health Care Conference.
This is a chance for front line medical personnel to get together and take
part in workshops about improving your Practice and also how to look after
yourself.   Also  through which we hope to provide front line medical
personnel (paid or volunteer) with new ideas and tools to help them in their
work.

It is also a chance for Individuals with disabilities or their care/family
members to speak directly to front line medical personnel and explain
frustrations and what is working.

Call for Presenters and also for Exhibitors is now open.  If you do not feel
comfortable presenting yourself, would you like to suggest someone who has
been of assistance in your journey into Personal Medical Care?

We are also seeking Companies that make or represent Personal Medical
Devices, Daily Living aides and other related products.

Please review the full Call for Participation at
www.fashionmoves.org      or contact me directly.

Thank you
Ruth J Clark
Providing Prestige Health Care, 1st Annual Conference
October 9 - 10
Kamloops Convention Centre
Kamloops, B.C., Canada
www.fashionmoves.org
250-314-1849 (Western Canada)
rjclark@telus.net

Eugenics in California: A Legacy of the Past?

A free event open to the public, “Eugenics in California: a Legacy of the
Past?,” will take place at the Berkeley Law School on the UC Berkeley
campus (105 Boalt Hall) on August 28, 2012 from 12:30 to 2 pm.

For much of the 20th century, California was at the forefront of eugenic
ideology and practices in the United States, and holds the dubious
distinction of being the state with the highest number of eugenic
sterilizations performed under the authority of law – some 20,000
procedures between 1909 and the mid-1950s. Coerced sterilizations
continued in public hospitals into the 1970s, and it has recently come to
light that in very recent years, women prisoners in California have been
sterilized without their consent or knowledge. Today, California is a
leader in research and services related to human genomics and assisted
reproductive technologies. Speakers at this public event will consider the
long history of eugenics in California and explore continuities and
discontinuities in the uses and misuses of genetic ideas and practices.

Dean Christopher Edley, Berkeley School of Law, will give opening remarks
to welcome attendees.

SPEAKERS:

"Eugenic Sterilization in California: Stories and Statistics"
Miroslava Chávez-García, University of California at Davis, and Alexandra
Minna Stern, University of Michigan

We provide an overview of the patterns of the 20,000 eugenic sterilizations
performed in California state institutions from 1909 to 1979, with close
attention to race, gender, class, and diagnosis. We will also highlight
stories of sterilization victims and the ways in which they attempted to
challenge the state's authority to control and contain their reproductive
rights. As we will demonstrate, the process had a devastating impact on
the victims.

¿Más Bebés? (documentary film)
Renee Tajima-Peña, University of California at Santa Cruz; Virginia Espino,
University of California at Santa Cruz, and Kate Trumbull, documentary
filmaker

The feature-length documentary ¿Más Bebés? (working title) investigates
the history of Mexican American women who allege they were coercively
sterilized at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center during the 1960s and
70s. Many spoke no English, and testified that they were prodded into
tubal ligations during active labor. The sterilizations triggered the
1978 class action lawsuit, Madrigal v. Quilligan, and a protest campaign
that galvanized the Chicana feminist movement.

Eugenics in California Women’s Prisons Today
Kimberly Jeffrey and Courtney Hooks, Justice Now

Since 2003, Justice Now has been working collaboratively with people in
California’s women’s prisons to document how prisons violate the
international right to family and function as a tool of reproductive
oppression. Presenters will place a spotlight on personal experience with
as well as the systemic pattern of destruction of reproductive capacity of
women of color and gender variant people in California women’s prisons
through several state-sanctioned policies, including forced and coerced
sterilizations (e.g. the illegal and routine sterilization of hundreds of
people in prison during labor and delivery), and other violations of safe
motherhood and reproductive justice.

Should We Worry About a New Eugenics?
Marcy Darnovsky, Center for Genetics and Society

Today's fast-developing genetic and reproductive technologies offer
significant benefits, but can also be misused in ways that exacerbate
existing inequalities and create entirely new forms of injustice.
California, a hotbed of eugenic advocacy in the last century, is today a
center of biotechnology research and commercial development and the
assisted reproduction sector, as well as home to some troubling
techno-enthusiastic ideologies. Our efforts to confront California's
eugenic history can help prevent these dynamics from veering toward a new
eugenics.

CONTACTS: Susan Schweik, UC Berkeley, sschweik@berkeley.edu, Marcy
Darnovsky, Center for Genetics and Society,
darnovsky@geneticsandsociety.org

Co-sponsored by Berkeley’s Haas Diversity Research Center, School of Law,
Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, American Cultures Center,
Disability Studies program, and Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice.

This event is wheelchair accessible. Captioning will be provided. To
request an accommodation, please email disability@berkeley.edu.

Blind With Camera workshop: Non-retinal photography in India

*Infinite Ability <http://infiniteability.yolasite.com/>*, the disability
subgroup of Medical Humanities Group of University College of Medical
Sciences, (UCMS), Delhi is organizing a workshop entitled ‘*Blind With
Camera*’. This is an attempt to empower the visually impaired and blind
student’s of Delhi University. The mission is to create a community where
people with visual impairment can learn, participate, enjoy and practice
the art of photography.


As workshop organizers we believe that disability is a diverse human
condition, people with disability are “differently-abled” and art by them
is an invaluable form of expressions. We can prove that they have
interesting way to perceive and lead life and art “by” all and “for” all
can lead to an equitable society.

Mr Partho Bhowmick started the *Blind With Camera* project in 2006 and
successfully driven the project into a national exhibition travelling
across India. Early 2009, he founded the Beyond Sight Foundation, a
not-for-profit organization prompting the art of photography in people with
visual impairment and capacity building around the “Non-Retinal” Art
culture in India. It provides a platform for the visually impaired to share
their “Inner Gallery” of images – their imagination and point-of-view of
the visual world, and speak out about their unique experience, feelings,
challenges and hopes.

Pictures taken by the visually impaired during the photo workshop on 27-28
August will be converted into touchable raised pictures, trainers will
describe the picture and guide the participants to understand the raised
pictures by touch. A part of the workshop will be devoted to sensory
photography for the sighted. Here, in a role reversal, trained visually
impaired photographer will guide blindfolded sighted people to take
pictures. Sensory photography bring sighted people in contact with visually
impaired – reduce the gap between “us” and “them.”

These pictures will then be exhibited in accessible ways (touch & feel
images, audio tours, Braille notes, Large Prints and visual aids)along with
normal photographs on 3 December 2012 on the occasion of International Day
of Persons with Disabilities. We hope, this public “inclusive” exhibition
will go a long in spreading awareness and encouraging specials schools to
used multisensory materials for general education for the visually impaired
(an approach which is not extensively used in India).

The Enabling Unit, UCMS <http://enablingunit.yolasite.com/> and Equal
Opportunity Cell, Delhi University are the joint partners of this workshop.



--
Dr Satendra Singh, MD, FSS
Assistant Professor of Physiology
University College of Medical Sciences
& GTB Hospital, Delhi, India-110095
Coordinator, Equal Opportunity Cell
Founder, Infinite Ability

Infinite Ability: exploring disAbility through
creativity<http://infiniteability.yolasite.com/>
Medical Education Unit, UCMS <http://medicaleducationunit.yolasite.com/>
<http://medicaleducationunit.yolasite.com/members-pages.php

>
Enabling Unit, EOC, UCMS <http://enablingunit.yolasite.com/>

NY Times Obituary: Stephen Dwoskin, film-maker with polio

Found out over the weekend that Stephen Dwoskin, experimental filmmaker who contracted polio at age 9 and unflinchingly scrutinized his body and its discontents in challenging work throughout his entire career, died June 28 in London, where he'd lived since 1964. He was 73.

Dwoskin's "Behindert" (1974) was a revelation to me. He was a true artist of disability, whose condition informed both his art and life profoundly, yet he is barely known and seldom celebrated in disability circles. Deserves his due.

New York Times Obit available here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/movies/stephen-dwoskin-experimental-filmmaker-dies-at-73.html

Best to all,

Lawrence Carter-Long
Public Affairs Specialist
National Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 850
Washington, DC 20004
202-272-2112 Voice
202-603-9209 Cell
202-272-2074 TTY
202-272-2022 Fax
Website: http://www.ncd.gov<http://www.ncd.gov/>

Get regular updates via NCD's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/NCDgov
Follow NCD on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/NatCounDis
Sign up for regular email updates at:
http://www.ncd.gov/subscribe

NYTimes article on Curtis Mayfield and Ron Amundson's Complaint

In response to
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/arts/music/recalling-curtis-mayfield-souls
-genius-of-gentleness.html



I sent the following (which there's no chance in hell will be published):



"Curtis Mayfield became quadriplegic in 1990. He died in 1999. Your article
reports on this fact by saying that he "lingered for nine years ... before
succumbing."



This is a crude distortion of the facts regarding disability. I became
paraplegic in 1990, and I am still "lingering ... before succumbing." I hope
to linger for many more years. But this verbiage is a crude distortion of my
life, and of Mayfield's.



Physical impairment is not a roadway along the path to death. The fact that
Mr. Mayfield was quadriplegic for nine years does not mean that his death
took nine years to complete. He was a fully alive person while he was
quadriplegic, as am I and all other people who are living with impairments.
It is an insult to state that we are merely "lingering" until death."



Ron Amundson, Dept. of Philosophy

University of Hawaii at Hilo

Hilo, HI  96720

REMPLOY SOLIDARITY MEETING - BARKING - MONDAY - 22 JULY @ 7PM

Hello Everyone,

DPAC have sent us details of a meeting about an important campaign to save Remploy jobs. It is important that someone from MHRN could attend the planning meeting for action which also has some excellent speakers attending. I can't make it but I hope someone else can.

Denise

Mental Health Resistance Network





---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Andy Greene <AndyG@daii.org>
Date: 20 July 2012 16:32
Subject: REMPLOY SOLIDARITY MEETING - BARKING - MONDAY - 22 JULY @ 7PM
To:

We invite Remploy workers, their families and supporters to a Save the Factories meeting on

Monday 24^th July      7 – 8.30pm

                         at the Spotted Dog, 15a Longbridge Road,   IG11 8TN

 

Speakers include: Remploy Electronics Barking Factory Union Reps & Workers, John McDonnell MP (tbc), Rob Williams NSSN, Ian Bradley Unite Electrical member, George Barrett Independent Cllr Barking & Dagenham, DPAC & RtW & more 

FIGHT THE REMPLOY CLOSURES – support disabled workers in Barking

The government has announced their decision to close Remploy factories, set up after the war to provide real jobs for disabled people. 27 factories across the country including the one in Barking are set to close before December. This decision will leave thousands of disabled workers without income. Following an earlier round of factory closures in 2008 disabled workers left without jobs ended up suicidal and ill with only 5% going on to find alternative work. We must not let this happen to disabled workers in Barking.

Disabled People Against Cuts is a campaign led by and for disabled people, campaigning against the Condem government’s vicious attacks on disabled people that risk pushing our rights back decades. John McDonnell MP speaking in the House of Commons in June about the Remploy closures warned the government that our campaign is strong and that disabled people will not go away.

We say we will not give up the fight and let thousands of workers be thrown on the scrapheap. We believe we can win this if we unite in support of the Remploy workers.

for more details & messages of support contact

mail@dpac.uk.net

or

info@righttowork.org.uk

Evocative film of interest to deaf studies/ds, in London but on tour across US

*NIGHT SKY* will screen in *London on July 24th, 2012 at 7:30 pm at WHIRLED
CINEMA *
*259-260 HARDESS ST LOUGHBOROUGH JCTN LONDON SE24 OHN*

Night Sky is a 75 minute feature length narrative film by Alison O'Daniel
that enacts a sensory experience on the bodies of the viewers with live
accompaniment and parallel, overlapping stories: two girls–Cleo and
Jay–travel through the desert while a group of contestants compete in a
dance marathon. Sound travels between locations through a hula-hoop window
hanging unnoticed in the midst of the marathon contestants and
simultaneously in the desert air. Sound bleeds between the locations, and
unique screenings with live musical or sign language scores performed by
various musicians and sign language interpreters extends the narrative into
the exhibition space or cinema. Redefining sound and images through
synesthesia and limiting or heightening the sensory palette offers hearing
and deaf audiences a nuanced glimpse of one another’s experiences without
privileging one or the other.

This performance emphasizes music within the film by Ethan Frederick
Greene, Lucky Dragons, and Evelyn Glennie with live musical accompaniment
by *POLLYFIBRE *using adapted tools and objects amplified to create
noise-scapes.  Balloons will be provided for the Deaf audience spectrum.

There will be a Q&A after the screening with Alison O'Daniel and Christine
Ellison (POLLYFIBRE).

Screening is free to the public
View the TRAILER HERE <https://vimeo.com/12865622>

U.S. Senate Vote On Disability Rights

I am sending this message along to you both as a personal supporter of
the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilites (CRPD
<http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=150> ) and as
representative of The Association on Higher Education And Disability
(AHEAD <http://www.ahead.org/> ) which supports the Convention as well.




While it does require anything beyond the ADA here in the US, I believe
the CRPD has the potential to facilitate international travel, business
opportunities and markets for individuals with disabilities as well as
expanding options for study abroad international exchanges of students
and scholars that are so critical for tomorrow's education and economy.




I know the CRPD will improve the experience of disability for literally
millions of people across the globe.



I know the CRPD will not undercut US sovereignty and that calling your
senator will send a message that as an individual and a country we
recognize that disability is an inextricable part of human experience
and that all of us should be treated with fairness and dignity.



The CRPD was considered by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last
week (Thursday, 7/12), with testimony by several disability rights'
advocates.  As a result, the CRPD has been moved to "mark-up," which is
the final step before the committee votes to send the CRPD to the Senate
floor for a vote on ratification.  The CRPD is scheduled for mark-up on
Thursday, July 19.



As you will see from the message below, there are several powerful
groups lobbying against the ratification of the CRPD.  As they step up
their efforts, those of us in favor of ratification need to step up
ours.  AHEAD is urging its members to contact their Senators, to
identify themselves as a constituent and a member of the Association on
Higher Education and Disability.  I encourage you to consider similar
action, regardless of your affiliation with AHEAD.  Call your Senator
and Indicate that you support ratification of the CRPD and urge them to
ask their colleagues on the Foreign Relations Committee to send the CRPD
to the Senate floor so that they can vote in favor of ratification.  If
your Senator sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, ask him or her to
send the CRPD to the Senate floor and then vote for ratification.



You may find contact information for your Senators by visiting:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm



Please email or call your Senators today.



Scott



L. Scott Lissner, Ohio State University ADA Coordinator, Office Of
Diversity And Inclusion
  Associate, John Glenn School of Public Affairs
  Lecturer, Knowlton School of Architecture, Moritz College of Law &
Disability Studies

  President, Association on Higher Education And Disability

  Chair, ADA-OHIO
  Appointed,  Ohio Governor's Council For People With Disabilities,
State HAVA Committee &

  Columbus Advisory Council on Disability Issues



(614) 292-6207(v); (614) 688-8605(tty) (614) 688-3665(fax);
Http://ada.osu.edu <http://ada.osu.edu/>

291 W. Lane Ave
<http://www.osu.edu/map/building.php?area=northdorms&building=160> ,
Columbus, OH 43210-1266

Judicial Review of WCA as Performed by Atos

Hello Everyone,

Just to let you know that we are still waiting for the judge from the judicial review hearing on 29 June to inform us of his decision. We understand that he is tied up with a number of other cases and we don't expect to hear anything before 23 July.

Denise

Mental Health Resistance Network

After Atos - Website

Dear All,

http://www.afteratos.com/ 

AFTER ATOS has been taking the feedback of those going through the Atos "medical" assessments since February last year 2011, in response to the govt and DWP and Atos saying they had no intention of counting and accounting for the disabled. Set up by a woman who was very disabled and incapacitated herself it asks all the questions and answers all the questions that need to be asked and answered. Everything else and all evidential backing is on everyone's National Insurance documents in DWP and NHS that account for us from the cradle to the grave.  I still contend that EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE ACCOUNTED FOR and from the information and feedback and real knowledge and understanding of the path of health to ill-health and the help and hinderance of the support and services will be known, and that can only be good given that all policies and iinterventions are being made on guesswork ad prejudiced notions at the moment.

See AFTER ATOS and its information. Free to all and to be passed on: http://www.afteratos.com/

Yours

June Knight

AFTER ATOS

Counting the Disabled Back In - Because People Matter

MPs condemn work capability test! Get your MP to sign EDM 295

Hello Fellow Campaigners,

Below is a message sent to us from Winvisible who have been doing great work campaigning against welfare reforms that are causing us all so much distress. At the hearing on 29th June where mental health claimants were requesting a judicial review of the WCA as it impacts on people with mental health problems, the solicitor was able to present to the judge a letter from the Royal College of Psychiatrists supporting the claimants' call for a judicial review. 

Please ask your MP to sign EDM 295 if they haven't done so already. 

I know that some of us on this email list are in Harriet Harman's constituency and that she has consistently supported the WCA so if you are one of her constituents, please let her know that she doesn't represent your views on this matter.

Denise

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: WINVISIBLE <win@winvisible.org>
Date: 6 July 2012 14:58
Subject: MPs condemn work capability test! Get your MP to sign EDM 295
To: WINVISIBLE <win@winvisible.org>

Apologies for any cross-posting.

Dear friends who signed the 2011 letter to the BMJ and RCN,

MPs condemn work capability test! Get your MP to sign EDM 295 – Atos

Campaigning is having a huge impact and there is increasing condemnation of the Work Capability Assessment carried out by Atos.  We have been working with John McDonnell MP to get MPs to support the movement to end the test.  He has tabled an Early Day Motion which 47 MPs from England, Scotland, Wales and the North of Ireland have signed, so far – EDM and signatories below.

Check the link below to see if your MP has signed.  Contact them and ask them to sign if they haven’t.  Circulate to family, friends, organisations, the media. . .

This is a useful way to get more people involved.  Many will be heartened that campaigning is beginning to be reflected in Parliament.  We can use this EDM to widen public support and get more professionals and professional associations to follow the BMA’s example and press for an end to the hated test.  Last year, over 100 organisations, doctors and nurses signed our joint Open Letter calling on the BMJ Group and RCN to stop hosting Atos at their recruiting careers fairs.  This year, Atos is not listed – it looks like we succeeded though we haven’t had confirmation yet!

The EDM also mentions Dow – the multinational now responsible for the Bhopal disaster which killed more than 25,000 people, left 150,000 with chronic health problems, and continues to cause severe disabilities through water contamination -- because, like Atos, it is an Olympic sponsor which many people are objecting to.  We have been involved in bringing together opposition to both Atos’ and Dow’s sponsorships.

Early Day Motion 295 – Atos

Session: 2012-13

Date tabled: 28.06.2012

Primary sponsor: McDonnell, John
List of sponsors and signatories:  http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2012-13/295 

That this House deplores that thousands of sick and disabled constituents are experiencing immense hardship after being deprived of benefits following a work capability assessment carried out by Atos Healthcare under a 100 million a year contract; notes that 40 per cent of appeals are successful but people wait up to six months for them to be heard; deplores that last year 1,100 claimants died while under compulsory work-related activity for benefit and that a number of those found fit for work and left without income have committed or attempted suicide; condemns the International Paralympic Committee's promotion of Atos as its top sponsor and the sponsorship of the Olympics by Dow Chemical and other corporations responsible for causing death and disability; welcomes the actions taken by disabled people, carers, bereaved relatives and organisations to end this brutality and uphold entitlement to benefits; and applauds the British Medical Association call for the work capability assessment to end immediately and to be replaced with a system that does not cause harm to some of the most vulnerable people in society.

 Further information

·                     The BMA policy which doctors voted through, mentions that the BMA should work with disability groups and political parties to change public policy on this issue.  (See http://web2.bma.org.uk/policyarm)  The EDM will be a boost for doctors who want the BMA to make the policy reality. 

·                     Opposition by doctors and MPs will influence others, helping to get medical credibility withdrawn from Atos, its testing centres and healthcare practitioners who breach professional standards and are prejudiced, and from other multinational corporations such as Serco and G4S already selected by the DWP as preferred bidders for contracts in health and disability assessment.  See http://www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-dwp/what-we-buy/welfare-to-work-services/health-and-disability-assessment/ 

·                     The EDM strengthens the legal challenge supported by the Mental Health Resistance Network, that under equality law, the Work Capability Assessment discriminates against disabled people: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jun/29/judicial-review-work-capability-assessment

We will win against the hated Work Capability Assessment, Atos and other multinationals who profit from our pain!  Get your MP to sign!  Let the media know that opposition is growing!

 WinVisible                                                                                            6 July 2012

---

 

CFP for a special issue of DSQ: Improving Feminist Philosophy and Theory By Taking Account of Disability (DEADLINE: Sept. 1)

In case you are wondering what to do indoors on a hot day, here's a suggestion: you can finish putting the polish on/continue writing/start writing a submission for this special issue of DSQ whose deadline is only 8 weeks from now!!
Shelley Tremain




Call for submissions to a special issue of Disability Studies Quarterly (DSQ)

Improving Feminist Philosophy and Theory by Taking Account of Disability
Guest editor: Shelley Tremain, PhD

A growing body of literature demonstrates that disabled people confront poverty, discrimination in employment and housing, sexual abuse and violence, limited educational opportunities, incarceration, and social isolation to a far greater extent than their non-disabled counterparts and furthermore that disabled women experience the impact of these disabling social and political phenomena even more severely than do disabled men.  Although feminism is purported to be a social, political, and cultural movement that represents all women, disabled feminists have long argued that the concerns, political struggles, and socio-cultural issues that directly affect disabled women (and disabled people more generally) remain marginalized, and often ignored, within mainstream feminist movements.

Feminist theorists and researchers in the university produce and reproduce this marginalization and exclusion through a variety of mechanisms, one of which is their use of the apparently intransigent conceptual schemas and theoretical frameworks of “gender, race, and sexuality” and “gender, race, and class.”  In the terms of these conceptions and frameworks, disability is naturalized, rather than construed as a relation of social power in which everyone ─ disabled and non-disabled ─ is implicated: each disabled person is perceived to embody a particular disability, while non-disabled people are taken for granted as representatives of the universal human, the prototype from which disabled people depart.  That disabled (and non-disabled) feminist philosophers and theorists of disability have few venues in which to present and publish their work, as well as fewer opportunities for employment in the university, are among the consequences of
 these marginalizing and exclusionary frameworks and schemas.

Consider the following.  Job postings in philosophy do not identify disability as a hegemonic category or form of identity and subjecting power intertwined, and on a par, with gender, race, sexuality, and class and hence similarly appropriate for philosophical specialization.  In 2011-2012, none of the respective annual conference programs of the three divisions of the national philosophical association in the US (with a combined international membership of more than 10,000) included an invited symposium, refereed session, or even a single invited or refereed paper on disability. Furthermore, the leading journal in feminist philosophy has not published an issue devoted to disability and disabled women in a decade, publishing only a handful of articles on disability in the interim. In addition, the flagship journal of the largest women’s studies association in the US has not published an issue on disability and disabled women in the last decade.
  Finally, the editorial boards of academic feminist journals seldom include specialists in disability studies, with the consequence that the work of feminist philosophers/theorists of disability is oftentimes reviewed and adjudicated by (non-disabled) feminists who have a limited, even conventional, medicalized, understanding of the epistemological, ontological, ethical, and political implications of, and phenomena surrounding, disability. 

This special issue of Disability Studies Quarterly (DSQ) ─ the first and foremost journal in disability studies internationally ─ will bring attention to new work in feminist philosophy of disability and feminist disability theory.  The central aim of the issue is to elevate and advance the current status of feminist philosophy of disability/feminist disability theory in feminist and non-feminist academic discourses and, in doing so, challenge the way in which heretofore feminist philosophy and theory have been conceptualized and (re)produced.

Submissions may take any philosophical or theoretical approach to disability that is grounded in feminist political values and goals (broadly construed).  The guest editor especially encourages submissions from feminist philosophers and theorists of disability living outside of North America and the global North.  Among the topics that might be addressed in submissions are these:  
        * The conceptual and material costs of limiting feminist theory and analyses to the gender, race, and sexuality matrix and the gender, race, and class matrix
        * Gender, race, and sexuality/class matrices and schemas as epistemologies of ignorance
        * Ableist language and philosophy of language/feminist philosophy of language
        * Disabled people (in general) and disabled women (in particular) as knowers and holders of epistemically privileged perspectives and standpoints
        * Disability and ableism in mainstream and feminist bioethics
        * Ageism and sizeism as forms of ableism and disability
        * Transnational disability and the globalization of philosophical ableism
        * Disabling classifications of intelligence, race, color, impairment, morphology, sex, sexuality, and gender in modern science and philosophy of science and postcolonial critiques of these
        * Race, disability, normality, and “racism against the abnormal”
        * Disability, representations of beauty, purity, wholeness, and conceptions of ugliness, pollution, incompleteness in (feminist) aesthetics and philosophy of art
        * Disability and/in the history of philosophy and the disabling narrative of western philosophy’s self-conception
        * Mad at school: neurodiversity, participation, productivity, collegiality, and resistance
        * Disabled feminists, queer crips, and trans gimps at the front of the classroom
        * Ableist privilege in/and feminist theory and philosophy
        * Philosophy of education, disability, and the ethics and politics of the (in)accessible feminist classroom/conference
        * The ethics and politics of “passing” as non-disabled within and beyond the university
        * Elaborations and critiques of the ethics of care as an ethic for disabled people
        * Feminist accounts and critiques of disability and distributive justice
        * Disabled people as cyborgs in/up against feminist science and technology studies
Submissions should be no more than 8,000 words in length (inclusive of notes and bibliography), should be prepared for anonymous peer review, with no self-identifying elements in the text or reference material, and accompanied by an abstract of 200 words.  Submissions and all inquiries about the issue should be sent to Shelley Tremain at: s.tremain@yahoo.ca with the subject line “DSQ  FEMDIS”.  

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: September 1, 2012.
NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCES: on or before November 30, 2012.
DATE OF PUBLICATION: Fall 2013

Public policy alert: Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hold hearing on UN Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on July 12, 2012

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing on
ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (CRPD) next Thursday, July 12, 2012! This action gets the
CRPD one step closer to the Senate floor and ratification.  It would be
symbolic if this were to happen in time for the 22nd anniversary of the
ADA on July 26.



Ratifying the CRPD will:

*         Provide an opportunity for a U.S. disability leader to be
elected this fall to the CRPD Committee to guide implementation of the
convention across the globe.

*         Avoid loss of this influential CRPD Committee window of
opportunity until 2015.

*         Affirm global initiatives on disability issues and rights will
continue to be influenced by disability leaders in the United States.

*         Join 115 nations in ratifying this 21st century treaty
affirming the rights of the disabled around the world, including
disabled veterans from all countries.

*         Ensure students with disabilities from the U.S. and all
countries will have opportunities for accessible, inclusive education
including higher education.



What can you Do?

As AHEAD is encouraging its members to do if a member of the foreign
relations committee represents you, Let him or her know how you feel

If none of the members of the foreign relations committee is from your
state, ask your Senator to let members for the Committee know that they
would like to see ratification as a floor vote in the next 3 weeks.







L. Scott Lissner, Ohio State University ADA Coordinator, Office Of
Diversity And Inclusion
  Associate, John Glenn School of Public Affairs
  Lecturer, Knowlton School of Architecture, Moritz College of Law &
Disability Studies

  President Elect, Association on Higher Education And Disability

  Chair, ADA-OHIO
  Appointed,  Ohio Governor's Council For People With Disabilities,
State HAVA Committee &

  Columbus Advisory Council on Disability Issues



(614) 292-6207(v); (614) 688-8605(tty) (614) 688-3665(fax);
Http://ada.osu.edu <http://ada.osu.edu/>

291 W. Lane Ave
<http://www.osu.edu/map/building.php?area=northdorms&building=160> ,
Columbus, OH 43210-1266









From: Kelly.Hermann@esc.edu [mailto:Kelly.Hermann@esc.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2012 2:40 PM
To: aheadmembers@listserve.com
Subject: [Aheadmembers] Public policy alert: Senate Foreign Relations
Committee to hold hearing on UN Conventions on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities on July 12, 2012



Great news, AHEAD members!  The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will
hold a hearing on ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) next Thursday, July 12, 2012! This
action gets the CRPD one step closer to the Senate floor and
ratification.  The goal is still for this to happen in time for the 22nd
anniversary of the ADA on July 26.

What can you do?  For now, those members with Senators on the Foreign
Relations Committee should contact their Senators to let them know you
are a constituent of his/her state and you support the CRPD Treaty
#112-7.  Ask for his or her support so a vote on ratification can occur
around the anniversary of the ADA on July 26.

The Senate is on recess this week due to the Fourth of July holiday so
you may be able to reach out to your Senator at local events as well.
It is important to get the message to your Senator this week so they
have time to prepare for the hearing on July 12.

The members of the Foreign Relations committee are:

Chairman: Senator John Kerry (D-MA)
(202) 224-4651
Chief counsel: Andrew Keller  andrew_keller@foreign.senate.gov
OR  www.kerry.senate.gov/contact/

Ranking Member: Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)
(202) 224-6797
Chief counsel: Michael Mattler  michael_mattler@foreign.senate.gov
OR  www.lugar.senate.gov/contact/

Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) COSPONSOR OF CRPD!!!
(202) 224-6441
Foreign LA: Amber Bland ( amber_bland@barrasso.senate.gov)
OR
http://www.barrasso.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.Con
tactForm
<http://www.barrasso.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.Co
ntactForm>

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
(202) 224-3553
Foreign LA: Ann Norris ( ann_norris@boxer.senate.gov)
OR  www.boxer.senate.gov/en/contact/

Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD)
(202) 224-4524
Foreign LA: Katharine Beamer ( katharine_beamer@cardin.senate.gov)
OR  www.cardin.senate.gov/contact/

Senator Bob Casey, Jr. (D-PA)
202) 224-6324
Foreign LA: Damian Murphy ( damian_murphy@casey.senate.gov

)
OR  www.casey.senate.gov/contact/

Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) COSPONSOR OF CRPD!!!
(202) 224-5042
Foreign LA: Halie Soifer ( halie_soifer@coons.senate.gov)
OR  www.coons.senate.gov/contact/

Senator Bob Corker (R-TN)
(202) 224-3344
Foreign LA: Stacie Oliver ( stacie_oliver@corker.senate.gov)
OR  www.corker.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=ContactMe

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC)
(202) 224-6121
Foreign LA: Lydia Morgan ( lydia_morgan@demint.senate.gov)
OR  www.demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=ContactInformation

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) COSPONSOR OF CRPD!!!
(202) 224-2152
Foreign LA: Chris Homan ( chris_homan@durbin.senate.gov)
OR  www.durbin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact

Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK)
(202) 224-4721
Foreign LA: Joel Starr ( joel_starr@inhofe.senate.gov)
OR
http://www.inhofe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Contact
Form
<http://www.inhofe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Contac
tForm>

Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
(202) 224-3643
Foreign LA: Chris Sullivan ( chris_sullivan@isakson.senate.gov)
OR  www.isakson.senate.gov/contact.cfm

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT)
(202) 224-5444
Foreign LA: Miriam Harmer ( miriam_harmer@lee.senate.gov)
OR  www.lee.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact

Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ)
(202) 224-4744
Foreign LA: Jodi Herman ( jodi_herman@menendez.senate.gov)
OR  menendez.senate.gov/contact/

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)
(202) 224-3041
Foreign LA: Victor Cervino ( victor_cervino@rubio.senate.gov)
OR  www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact

Senator Jim Risch (R-ID)
(202) 224-2752
Foreign LA: Chris Socha ( chris_socha@risch.senate.gov)
OR  www.risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Email

Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
(202) 224-2841
Foreign LA: Chad Kreikmeier ( chad_kreikemeier@shaheen.senate.gov)
OR  www.shaheen.senate.gov/contact/

Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) COSPONSOR OF CRPD!!!
(202) 224-6621
Foreign LA: Matt Padilla ( matthew_padilla@tomudall.senate.gov)
OR  www.tomudall.senate.gov/?p=contact

Senator Jim Webb (D-VA)
(202) 224-4024
Foreign LA: Marta Ross ( marta_mclellanross@webb.senate.gov)
OR  www.webb.senate.gov/contact.cfm

Once the committee votes to send the CRPD to the Senate floor for a vote
on ratification, the standing committee on public policy will send out
additional information and materials to help all members contact their
representatives to indicate their support.

Thanks for your assistance!


Kelly Hermann
Chair, AHEAD standing committee on public policy

Disability Policy Scholarships for Canadian Students / Students Studying in Canada

Scholarship opportunity available to

Masters and Doctoral students in Disability Policy


As part of the Canadian Disability Policy Alliance, a
Community-University Research Alliance (CURA), 25 scholarships will be
awarded over the next five years.  There is an opportunity in 2012-13
for 6 scholarships for graduate studies (3 MSc and 3 PhD).  Masters
students will be funded for $5,000 for one year, and PhD students for
$10,000 for each of two years.



The Canadian Disability Policy Alliance addresses five major policy
areas: citizenship, education, employment, health services and federal
disability policy. One of the objectives of the Alliance is to prepare
Masters and Doctoral candidates for future research careers in the area
of disability policy.



Eligibility Criteria:  To be eligible to receive one of these
scholarships, students must:

*         Be doing research on disability policy for thesis,
specifically in one of our 5 areas. Preference will be given to students
studying Canadian disability policy.

*         Be in second year of Master's or third & fourth year of PhD
program.

*         Involve at least one community partner / disability
organization in their research.

*         Preference will be given to students with a disability, to
Canadian students, and to students studying at a Canadian university.

*         A CURA investigator will be selected to act as a resource for
scholarship recipients.



TO APPLY:

Please submit the following documents:

*         Official transcript

*         Curriculum Vitae

*         Statement of intent for thesis research and career objectives

*         Other funding held and/or applied for (candidates may have
other funding, but not from the Social Sciences & Humanities Research
Council of Canada (SSHRC)

*         Opportunity to self-declare disability

*         Thesis supervisor reference letter



Successful candidates will be asked to: acknowledge the Canadian
Disability Policy Alliance and SSHRC as sources of funding, contribute
to the Alliance's knowledge translation activities, and abide by the
Alliance's guiding principles.



Submit applications by October 1, 2012 to:

Mr. Michael Schaub,

Centre for Health Services & Policy Research, Queen's University,

Kingston, ON, Canada, K7L-3N6



For inquiries:  schaubm@queensu.ca <mailto:schaubm@queensu.ca>  or
613-533-6000 (x 79363)