Help for friend bringing class to London

A friend who is a social work prof.  is bringing a small group to London
and would like them to have some experience related to disability.
Here's what she wrote me, and if anyone has a good idea, please contact me
off-list.  Thanks.

Thanks for your offer to make some connections for my social work students
in London this January. I don't have any site visits or programming in
disabilities yet, and would welcome an opportunity to take a look at what
is going on in the UK in that arena. disability studies has not been an
area of experience or study for me, and I welcome the opportunity to become
more aware and conversant.
The course is designed to expose students to  social work services in the
UK-various organizations and service providers, meet with professional
social workers, visit relevant museums, historical sites, and providers.
Most of the programming so far is in the mental health and social care
areas, but I hope to also have some opportunity to look at  social justice
and community organizing,criminal justice, substance abuse, domestic
violence, immigration, and disabilities services. we are looking for
speakers/ lecturers who can present on these issues as well as current
trends and  policy issues in social care, and make a comparison to the
united states.
We are a small group, 5 students, so the opportunity for casual , intimate
conversations and visits is quite manageable.
so far we will be visiting Toynbee hall, the diversity and immigration
museum,  the freud museum, touring the east end looking at street art and
community organizing, and I am trying to arrange a visit to the Tavistock
Clinic. I have a few social workers lined up who my students will meet with
and perhaps shadow.
--
Lennard J. Davis
Distinguished Professor, College of Liberal  Arts and Sciences
Department of English
Department of Disability and Human Development
Department of Medical Education
Director, Project Biocultures
www.biocultures.org

Mailing Address:
Department of English (MC 162)
University of Illinois at Chicago
601 South Morgan Street
Chicago, Illinois 60607-7120
Office: UH 2020
Phone: 312 413 8910
Fax: 347-346-6619
e-mail: lendavis@uic.edu, lennard.davis@gmail.com
Website: www.lennarddavis.com
Obsession: A History--website:
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/presssite/metadata.epl?mode=synopsis&bookkey=283491
Go Ask Your Father--website:
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl/9780553805512.html
Editor, Routledge Series Integrating Science and Culture
http://www.routledge.com/books/series/just_the_factsand_more_JUSTFACT/

[UK Event] Cultural Rights public lecture series: Unity in Diversity

Cultural Rights public lecture series: Unity in Diversity

Monday 12th November, 2012, 6.00pm - 7.30pm.
At “The Light” Rights and Humanity’s venue at The Royal Liver Building, Pier
Head, Liverpool, L3 1HU, UK.

Culture and Disability: Theorising the Social Encounter

In this public lecture Dr David Bolt provides an introduction to the
interdisciplinary field of cultural disability studies. In doing so he
demonstrates the educational value of diversity and explores the impact of
culture on people who have impairments, the way in which the widely
represented myths of disability are rehearsed and reinforced in social
encounters.

Dr Bolt is Director of the Centre for Culture & Disability Studies at
Liverpool Hope University. He is founding editor of the Journal of Literary
& Cultural Disability Studies (Liverpool University Press). He is co-editor
of The Madwoman and the Blindman: Jane Eyre, Discourse, Disability (Ohio
State University Press, 2012) and his monograph, The Metanarrative of
Blindness, is forthcoming in Corporealities: Discourses of Disability
(University of Michigan Press).

Admission Prices £8 per lecture in the series
Student Series Rate: £5 per lecture

Refreshments will be available on arrival.
Book the Series via events@rightsandhumanity.org or direct on 0151 236 2426

[Chicago, Illinois event] ACCESS LIVING & BODIES OF WORK present: Third Annual Battle of the Bands: A NIGHT OF MUSIC & SONGS

ACCESS LIVING & BODIES OF WORK present:
Third Annual Battle of the Bands: A NIGHT OF MUSIC & SONGS

Nov. 16, 2012
6:30~8:00 pm
FREE Admission
Access Living, 115 W Chicago
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/395526290516387

Hear these bands showcase their distinctive musical styles

DHF EXPRESS' signature blend of power pop covers and off-beat
originals will make you sweat...but also make you think. These
talented musicians have eclectic tastes and a unique sound and are
members of Project Onward, which supports the creative growth of
artists with mental and developmental disabilities.

The Arts of Life Band
makes danceable party music with a rock edge. It is an ongoing
collaborative project between disabled and non-disabled artists in the
Chicago area, based out of the Arts of Life community of artists.

Personal Assistants and Sign Language Interpreters will be provided

"This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts
Council, a state agency." "This project is partially supported by a
CityArts grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
and Special Events.


Website: http://www.bodiesofworkchicago.org/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/BodiesOfWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/BodiesOfWork


--
Sandie Yi

Graduate Assistant
Bodies of Work: A Network of Disability Arts and Culture
http://www.bodiesofworkchicago.org/

Ph D Student, Disability Studies and Human Development
University of Illinois at Chicago
E-mail: cyi9@uic.edu
Personal Artist's Website: http://cripcouture.org

TUC march tomorrow south London meeting point

Tomorrow, Saturday 20 October

 

TUC demonstration

March for a Future That Works

£10 billion more cuts announced last week! Austerity isn’t working!

Say No to cuts in jobs and services! It’s time to make the bankers pay!

10.30am.

South London Assembly

Outside Imperial War Museum

in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park (Map)

March via Blackfriars Bridge to join an estimated half-a-million demonstrators going from the Embankment to Hyde Park.

Getting there:

Tubes: Lambeth North (Bakerloo Line), Elephant & Castle (Northern Line).  No Victoria Line running tomorrow.

Buses: 3, 12, 53, 148, 453, C10, 344, 360, 59, 159

Come along, tell people you’re going and persuade them to go as well

Forward this email to everyone you know

Talk to, phone or text your friends, union members, work colleagues etc

Send your friends the Facebook event link at http://tinyurl.com/oct20feeder  

Re-tweet messages from @southwarkSOS

More details from the TUC at http://afuturethatworks.org/march-logistics/

Volunteer to help us on Saturday - distributing leaflets, collecting names of new supporters & donations for the local campaign to save our services: email us now at southwarksos@gmail.com

Oct20 South London.pdf 96K   View   Download

Merry Cross Will Interview Mo Stewart Tomorrow Afternoon On Her Radio Show

(Letter posted with Mo Stewart's permission, with some editing)

It seems I am the last person to find out about the very welcome activities of Merry Cross, who has a 2 hour window on local radio, every week, that's transmitted across the Internet and which covers disability issues.

It seems Merry has been exposing the activities of Unum Insurance for a while, in relation to this ongoing gvt attack on disabled people, and I am to be interviewed on air, tomorrow afternoon, from about 2.30pm.  The radio show is on air from 2pm - 4pm every Tues afternoon - but no doubt you already know about it?

http://www.reading4u.co.uk/presenters/148-merry-cross

Let's hope I can remember to remind Linda that the DWP have confirmed, in writing, that the Atos £100million per annum contract HAS NEVER BEEN AUDITED, and that COHPA are the greatest influence on gvt  regarding these bogus assessments that few people know about.... Just ask Dame Carol Black....

Perhaps I'll remember to remind her that Iain Duncan Smith stood up at the Tory Party Conference and complained about the 'interference' of the European Court of Human Rights, and I could tell her that the UK gvt has already been reported to the United Nations for atrocities against our most vulnerable people?

I may even remember to remind her that the BBC TV News report back in 2007, (attached)  that exposed UNUM Insurance as a bogus operation, was suddenly removed from the BBC website and the reporter suddenly developed amnesia when questioned...  Happily, disability activists smelled a rat and downloaded it BEFORE the BBC could hide it...

Then again, my short-term memory is poor so I may well forget all of these things...  I could remember to remind Merry that the entire national press have been compromised and all, without exception, refuse to expose the involvement of this dangerous and discredited corporate US insurance giant, behind the scenes, with the UK gvt. claiming that they fear possible litigation BUT Private Eye have been exposing Unum since 1994, see attached, and the Disability News Service have exposed Unum Insurance at least 8 times, in the past 12 months, without any consequences.

The national press are silenced by gvt control and nothing else.  Unum can't in all credibility threaten litigation if everything reported is confirmed by evidence and court cases. 

Merry has had access to my reports etc but I have no idea where the interview will lead as I'm not in control of the questions/interview..... 

At the moment, there is no opportunity to 'listen again' so the possible audience may not be too large but the potential audience, over the Internet, is huge.

I hope you may have the opportunity to listen, to advise if I sounded OK and said the right things as, at this moment in time, I have no idea what I will be talking about apart from the fact that this ongoing protest against Atos, by the disability groups, is a welcome distraction for the gvt.... Atos are rewarded for taking all ther flack with gvt contracts now worth a reported £3BILLION - that's gotta be worth some angry protesters distracting the press from the real culprits as the UK gvt move our welfare system to the American system, to be funded by private insurance.... just ask the new Health Sec... his book back in 2005 talked about 'privatising' national insurance... !!

Whilst concentrating their direct actions, these protests by the disability groups are playing directly into the gvt's hands.

It was no doubt anticipated and expected, whilst no-one is exposing the real enemy which is, of course, the dangerous influence of UNUM Insurance....  as aided and abetted by Mansel Aylward.... who has now changed his mind about the BPS model of disability.... SEE attached press release that no national press have reacted to ...

" In times of tyranny and injustice when law oppresses the people, the outlaw takes his place in history."

Robin Hood - directed by Ridley Scott

Mo

Mo Stewart

Disability researcher

Disabled veteran (WRAF)

Retired healthcare professional

www.whywaitforever.com/dwpatosveterans.html

4 attachments — Download all attachments  

WELFARE REFORM TYRANNY DIRECT FROM THE USA - feature article.pdf 65K   View   Download

BBC NEWS transcript - UNUM.pdf 23K   View   Download

PRIVATE EYE - UNUM view_issue.pdf 153K   View   Download

PRESS RELEASE - Aylward - 3rd Oct.pdf 19K   View   Download

[UK Event] CCDS seminar Culture and Disability: Changing Attitudes. The Bhopal Disaster, Literature, and Charity Advertising

The Bhopal Disaster, Literature, and Charity Advertising

Dr. Clare Barker
University of Leeds

Date: Wednesday 7 November 2012
Time: 2.15pm–3.45pm
Place: Eden 109, Liverpool Hope University, UK

The 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy was the world’s worst industrial disaster. It
has killed 25,000 people to date, injured many thousands more, and is still
causing sickness and disabilities nearly 30 years later due to toxic
chemicals in the city’s groundwater supply. Dr. Clare Barker considers
representations of the disabled inhabitants of Bhopal in both charity
advertising and literary works relating to the disaster, in particular
Indra Sinha’s Booker Prize-shortlisted novel Animal’s People (2007). As a
former advertising copywriter, Sinha was instrumental in setting up the
Bhopal Medical Appeal in the UK and is still involved in its activities.
Dr. Barker contends that there is a productive synergy between literature
and advertising in the BMA’s campaigns: while disability charities
frequently rely on tropes of helplessness and pity, often supported by
sensational or sentimental images of disabled children, Dr. Barker argues
that the BMA engages with fictional narrative techniques and consequently
achieves more empowering representations in its publicity. As a complement
to this, Animal’s People contributes to the BMA’s agenda by promoting
awareness of Bhopal’s unresolved medical crises while also interrogating
the politics of “western” medical aid interventions and problematizing the
representational strategies of charity discourse. Dr. Barker considers
literature’s role within health activism and points to ways in which
literary texts such as Animal’s People might be used to inform the
representations of disability and medical aid within charities’ campaign
strategies.

Clare Barker is Lecturer in English at the University of Leeds. She is
author of Postcolonial Fiction and Disability: Exceptional Children,
Metaphor and Materiality (2012) and guest editor, with Stuart Murray, of a
special issue of the Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies,
namely, Disabling Postcolonialism: Global Disability Cultures and
Democratic Criticism (2010).

This seminar is part of the series Culture and Disability: Changing
Attitudes. For further information, please visit: http://ccds.hope.ac.uk/

ASL/Deaf Culture Lecture Series at University of Virginia: Hanumantha & Koo

Please mark your calendars!

The Annual ASL/Deaf Culture Lecture Series at the University of Virginia returns with two events this fall.

SHILPA HANUMANTHA, Ph.D

“The Ship Did Not Leave L.A.: A Deaf Indian Woman's Story"

Tuesday, October 30, 2012
7:00 p.m.
Minor Hall Auditorium (directions below)
University of Virginia

Shilpa Hanumantha recently became a Lecturer in the American Sign Language Program at the University of Virginia, where she teaches ASL and a course focused on Psychology & Deaf people. Originally from Bengaluru, India, she moved with her family to the United States at age six.  After receiving her Ph.D in clinical psychology from Gallaudet University in 2008, Hanumantha worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at Gallaudet’s Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2) center. In addition, she has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations within the Deaf community, including Deaf Women United and Global Reach Out. In this presentation, she will share her wide-ranging experiences and interests, from moving across the globe to her research and more!

Also this fall:

DANIEL KOO, Ph.D

"Signs of Things Past: The Effect of ASL and Modality on Working Memory"

Tuesday, November 13, 2012
7:00 p.m.
Minor Hall Auditorium (directions below)

Daniel Koo is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Gallaudet University.  (More information about his presentation will come later).


Both lectures

*Free and open to the public.
*Spoken English interpretation provided for hearing nonsigners.
*Other accommodations available upon request; please make requests by Oct. 15.
*reception with refreshments immediately after.

Please join us!

================
Directions:

>From the North:
Take US Route 29 South until you drive under the US 250 Bypass. Remain on 29 South Business (Emmet Street) and continue straight past the intersection with US Route 250 Business (University Avenue/Ivy Road). Continue straight about 400 yards, and you will see a parking garage on your left. Park there. See below for directions on how to get to Minor Hall. (If you drive beneath a pedestrian bridge, you have gone too far).

>From the East via I-64
Take I-64 West to Exit 118B, Proceed on US 29 North and then take the US 29
North Business exit. Turn right onto Fontaine Avenue after coming off the ramp. Follow the signs to the Medical Center/University Hospital. Continue on US 29 North Business to the traffic light. After the traffic light, you will be on Jefferson Park Avenue. Continue straight. At the next light turn left onto Emmet Street. Follow Emmet around the bend, go under the bridge, and you will see a parking garage on your right. Park there. See below for directions on how to get to Minor Hall.

>From the South:
Take US Route 29 North to the US 29 North Business exit. Turn right when coming off the exit ramp onto Fontaine Avenue. Follow the signs to the Medical Center/University Hospital. Continue on US 29 North Business to the traffic light. After the traffic light, you will be on Jefferson Park Avenue. Continue straight. At the next light turn left onto Emmet Street. Follow Emmet around the bend, go under the a bridge, and you will see a parking garage on your right. Park there. See below for directions on how to get to Minor Hall.

>From the West via I-64:
Take I-64 East to Exit 118. Proceed on US 29 North and then take the US 29 North Business exit. Turn right onto Fontaine Avenue after coming off the ramp. Follow the signs to the Medical Center/University Hospital. Continue on US 29 North Business to the traffic light. After the traffic light, you will be on Jefferson Park Avenue. Continue straight. At the next light turn left onto Emmet Street. Follow Emmet around the bend, go under the a bridge, and you will see a parking garage on your right. Park there. See below for directions on how to get to Minor Hall.

>How to get from parking garage to Minor Hall:

On this map
http://www.virginia.edu/webmap/GMcCormickRoadArea.html
the parking garage is #8, and Minor Hall is #29. It takes about 5 minutes to walk from the garage to Minor Hall.

10,600 sick & disabled people died last year within six weeks of their claim ending

http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/10/04/10600-sick-disabled-people-died-last-year-within-six-weeks-of-their-claim-ending/