Schedule for EDEC 575: Critical Disability Studies for Education

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Week 1: Models of disability

1. Stella Young: I’m not your inspiration (~10 min video, has captions)
• Introduces social model of disability, inspiration porn, critique of how education system deals with disability, disability community
  
2. Center for Disability Rights' Disability Writing & Journalism Guidelines
   
• Resource on language to use about disability; good/bad disability organizations
  
• Introduces ableism, disability community, intersectionality
3. Harriet Tubman Collective's open letter: The Vision for Black Lives is Incomplete Without Disability Solidarity
• Note: "audism" is discrimination toward the Deaf community
  
• Introduction to the issues at the intersection of race and disability
• Overview of some of the ways that disabled people today continue to be oppressed
4. CCPA article on “Updates from the long road to deinstitutionalization” 
   
   • Makes clear institutionalization is still ongoing in Canada
   • Doesn’t pull any punches about how progressive circles ignore the needs of people with intellectual disabilities
   • Lots and lots of stats on how people with intellectual disabilities experience higher rates of violence, sexual assault, homelessness
   • Explains what sheltered workshops are
5. Rose Eveleth in Wired: It's Time to Rethink Who's Best Suited for Space Travel
• Introduces some of the ways in which disability is advantageous
6. 99% Invisible podcast episode "Curb Cuts" (~45mins, has partial transcript)
   
   • Introduction to the history of disability rights movement in the US; Ed Roberts and the Rolling Quads
   • Introduction to curb cuts, universal design
   • Does a good job of exemplifying the liberal disability studies viewpoint

• TODO: some twitter hashtag roundups
  

Week 2: Social construction of disability

1. If you have not taken any courses on critical theory or social theory, watch this trio of YouTube videos:
   
   • Wall-E as Sociological Storytelling (~15 mins, has captions)
     
   • Explains what sociology is, and why sociological thought is different from individualistic (liberal) thought
     
   • Philosophy Tube: What is Liberalism (~10 mins, has captions)
     
   • Explains what an ideology is, and what liberalism is (the dominant type of individualistic social theory)
     
   • NSFW: Excerpt of Contrapoints explaining why "postmodern neomarxism" isn't a thing (~10 mins, has captions)
     
   • Explains what postmodernism is and why it's fundamentally at odds with both Marxism and liberalism
2. Chapter 2, "The Social Construction of Disability"; from Wendell, Susan. The rejected body: Feminist philosophical reflections on disability. Routledge, 2013.
• Introduces how disability is socially constructed
• Discusses intersections of disability and sex/gender
• Introduces feminist disability studies
3. Caroline Criado-Perez: The deadly truth about a world built for men - from stab vests to car crashes
   • Gives examples of how technology is gendered
4. Olga Khazan in The Atlantic: When Hearing Voices is a Good Thing
• Describes how schizophrenia symptoms vary culturally - helps reinforce how disability is socially constructed
• Also presents people who are happy to have schizophrenia and don't see it as a bad thing
5. Connor, D. J., & Valle, J. W. (2015). A socio-cultural reframing of science and dis/ability in education: Past problems, current concerns, and future possibilities. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 10(4), 1103-1122.
• Discusses how science constructs disability rather than cures it
  
• Discusses why disabled people may be distrustful of science (and pseudo-science), such as due to the legacy of eugenics
  
• Critiques existing science education and discusses some ways forward (most of which are not unique to science education)
  
• Discusses implications for education
• Notes universal design for learning (UDL)

Optional:

1. More Wendell
2. TODO: a short reading on medical gaslighting (or just more Wendell)
   

Week 3: queer + activism

Topics: conversion therapies; queer, queering, queer theory; activism methods; history of activism; queer/crip affinities

Readings:

1. ASAN’s 2019 Anti-Filicide Toolkit pages 1-9
   
• Explains what filicide is
• Critiques media representations of filicide
• Illustrates how media focuses on abled parents instead of PWD
2. Two blog posts about ABA "Therapy': I abused children for a living (2017) and Invisible Abuse: ABA and the things only autistic people can see (2019)
   
• CW: abuse
• Explains how ABA is state-sanctioned child abuse
3. Kelsey Foreman on Youtube: What is Queer Theory? (~10 mins, has captions)
• Introduces queer theory, what it means to queer
• Gender performativity theory
4. TODO: excerpt from Lindsey Patterson: The Disability Rights Movement in the United States
• Want to give introduction to historical approaches to disability activism
  
5. Disability Visibility podcast episode 24: Disability Justice and Community Organizing (~30 mins, has transcript)
   
• Explains what disability justice is
  
• The interviewee gives a great illustration of how she as a disabled person realized that the oppression she was facing was systemic rather than “these are just the things I have to deal with”
  
• Discusses differences between Canada and the US in terms of disability rights
  
• Discussion of state of disability justice activism in Canada (mostly focusing on Ontario)
6. Contra* podcast episode 8: Contra*Hashtag with Moya Bailey and Vilissa Thompson (~1h, has transcript)
   • Discusses disabled hashtag activism, particularly by black disabled women
     
   • Discusses citation pratices as political and twitter as a site of scholarship
   
   

Optional readings

1. UnErased episode on history of gay conversion therapy & activism (Dr Davison & the Gay Cure) -- problem: no transcript
2. TODO: Epstein's AIDS book
   
3. Jennifer Smith in the Chicago Tribune: The Quiet Room
• CW: abuse
• Exposes the use of forced seclusion in American schools
4. Philosophy tube on queer, transphobia
5. DV on sex ed
6. Kim Sauder's twitter thead on parental abuse of disabled children
7. CL Lynch in The Aspergian: "It's a Spectrum" Doesn't Mean What You Think
   • Explains the difference between spectrum and gradient
   • Addresses misconception that ASD means a gradient from "high functioning" to "low functioning"

Week 4: Crip Theory

Topics: crip, cripping, crip theory; covering/passing, cripping up, compusory able-bodiedness, crip time

Due: post a short (~100 word) statement on the #project channel about what you offer as an activist (e.g. social standing, skills) and what topics/themes you'd be interested in for your final project. The purpose of this mini-milestone is to help you brainstorm project ideas *and* to find potential group members.

1. Jenna Reid in Canadian Art: Cripping the Arts: It's About Time
• Asks "what does it mean to crip the arts?"
• Then crips the Canadian art community, critiquing how access & inclusion is not enough, etc
  
2. Schalk, S. (2013). Coming to claim crip: Disidentification with/in disability studies. Disability Studies Quarterly, 33(2).
   
   • Introduces crip(ping), crip theory
   • Discusses relationship between disability, cripness, and fatness
   • Discusses the "Oppression Olympics"
   • Discusses inter-group (dis)identification
   • Discusses how gender, race, fatness, etc reflect bodyminds which misfit in society
3. [Optional] Evans, H. D. (2017). Un/covering: Making disability identity legible. Disability Studies Quarterly, 37(1).
• Discusses how disability is "emasculating" in a society where independence is tied to performing masculinity
• Discussion of "coming out" as having an invisible disability
4. Aparna Nair's blog post "Not what I paid for: Ableism in teaching evaluations"
• Discusses ableism in student evaluations of disabled educators
5. Contra* Performance
6. The Princess and the Scrivener on Youtube: The Wonder of Miscasting: The Misrepresentaton of Disfigurement and Disability (~10 mins, has captions)
1. Critiques casting abled actors into disabled & disfigured roles
2. Critiques media representations of disability

Optional readings

1. Part two of Princess & Scrivener on Shape of Water
   

Week 5: Disability and Technology

Due: post a short (~100 word) statement on the #project channel: three ideas that you (or your group) have for your final project. Like last week, this is to help you in thinking through project ideas, get feedback on your plans, and to potentially team up with other students.

1. s.e. smith in Vox: Disabled people don't need so many fancy new gadgets. We just need more ramps.
• Defines "disability dongle" and gives examples
• Critiques disability-focused techno-saviourism
2. TODO: something quick on friction
3. Hamraie, Aimi, and Kelly Fritsch. "Crip technoscience manifesto." Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience 5, no. 1 (2019).
• Introduces crip technoscience and differentiates it from disability technoscience
  
• Discusses relationship between disabled people and technology/science
  
• Discussion of VOCs and disability foreshadows our week on climate change
4. Disability Visibility on Cyborgs
5. Kate Ringland on Medium: The Problem of Social Media Versus the "Real World"
• Critiques the idea that online life is not the "real world" and how this dichotomy is ableist
6. This twitter thread on the history of service dogs (I recommend the link on Guide Dogs in Medieval Art and Writing)

Optional readings

1. Donna Haraway Cyborg Manifesto
2. [Optional] Jillian Weise in Granta: Common Cyborg
• Discusses how feminist theory neglects and erases disability
• Explores the "cyborg" concept from a disabled feminist standpoint
3. Ch 4: Sloped Technoscience in Hamraie, A. (2017). Building access: Universal design and the politics of disability. U of Minnesota Press.
   
   • Critiques universal design and liberal ideas of accessibility
   • Explains "friction" as a design concept
   • Discusses disability maker cultures
   • Mentions interest convergence, which is a concept from critical race theory
4. TODO: more on service animals!

Week 6: Segregation

Due: Milestone 1 for peer feedback

Readings

1. YouTube playlist on black issues
2. Dixson, A. D., & Rousseau, C. K. (2014). And we are still not saved: Critical race theory in education ten years later. In Critical race theory in education (pp. 45-68). Routledge.
• Introduces critical race theory, which we will be talking about next week
  
• Critiques multicultural education with respect to (anti-)racism --- we'll be returning to the idea of multicultural education
  
• Introduces the concept of "interest convergence", which will show up again in Hamraie's work in a few weeks
  
• Gives some more context on Brown v Board, this time from a critical race perspective
3. Ferri, B. A., & Connor, D. J. (2005). Tools of exclusion: Race, disability, and (re) segregated education. Teachers College Record, 107(3), 453-474.
• A history of special education in the US, and how it to a major extent was an antiblack response to Brown v Board in order to keep schools racially segregated
4. Watch: Unrest on Netflix

Week 7: Intersectionality

Due: Milestone 1 to Elizabeth

Readings

1. Imani Barbarin in Rewire: On Being Black and ‘Disabled But Not Really’
• Discusses how critical perspectives on disability too often ignore race
• Discusses how "ableism is used to perpetuate racism" (Barbarin)
2. Erevelles, N., & Minear, A. (2010). Unspeakable offenses: Untangling race and disability in discourses of intersectionality. Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, 4(2), 127-145.
• CW: abuse
  
• Discusses types of intersectionality
• Motivates the need for examining the intersection of race and disability
• Illustrates how medical diagnoses are impermanent
  
3. Annamma, S. A., Ferri, B. A., & Connor, D. J. (2018). Disability critical race theory: Exploring the intersectional lineage, emergence, and potential futures of DisCrit in education. Review of Research in Education, 42(1), 46-71.
• Introduces DisCrit and its tenets, with a focus on application to education
  
• Table 1 provides a ton of examples of DisCrit being applied to various themes (e.g. eugenics, school-to-prison pipeline) which should be useful for helping you find literature for your final project
4. Annie Elainey on Youtube: Why is Disability Representation So White? (~5 min, has captions)
   
• Critiques media representations of disability for erasing disabled POC

Optional readings:

1. DV on Disability Studies
2. Vilissa Thompson in Rewire: The Overlooked History of Black Disabled People
   

Week 8: Borders

1. Kim Sauder’s blog post on how Canada denies immigration to people with disabilities
   
   • Addresses how most people seem to have no idea that it’s common for countries to deny immigration applications on the basis of disability, and that Canada does this
   • Explains why it's not feasible for Americans with chronic illness to not "just move to Canada"
   • Note: not just a Canada thing. Australia, New Zealand, formerly the US (and maybe again soon), etc.
2. Carlos Oen in The Tyee: Discovering the Secrets Behind Indigenous Hand Talkers
   
• Notes that there is a long history of Indigenous sign languages which predate colonialization
• Notes how sign language is functional in ways spoken language is not
3. Meekosha, H. (2011). Decolonising disability: Thinking and acting globally. Disability & Society, 26(6), 667-682.
• Critiques disability studies for its centring of Global Northern assumptions and values
• Carefully discusses how colonialism creates impairments
4. TODO something on ablenationalism (McRuer?)

Optional:

1. Ross Perlin in The Guardian: The Race to Save a Dying Language.
• Discusses the effects of globalization on Indigenous sign languages
2. Sekerci and Altiraifi in Al Jazeera English: A US immigration history of white supremacy and ableism
• Discusses ableism and white supremacy in US immigration law

Week 9: Climate Darwinism

Due: Milestone 2 for peer feedback

1. Belser, J. W. (2015). Disaster and Disability: Social Inequality and the Uneven Effects of Climate Change. Tikkun, 30(2), 24-25.
1. Discusses how "natural" disasters disproportionately affect disabled people, and how climate change will make these disasters more frequent and severe
2. Discusses what climate activists can learn from the disability community (e.g. interdependence, vulnerability)
2. Saigon Flowr in The Establishment: Strawgate: The Ableism Behind Exclusionary Activism
   
• Explains why straw bans are ableist
• Also discusses how straw bans are a smokescreen from meaningful climate activism
3. Imani Barbarin in Forbes: Climate Darwinism Makes Disabled People Expendable
• Introduces the concept of climate Darwinism
4. Kafer, A (2017). Bodies of Nature: The Environmental Politics of Disability.
• Crips ideas of natural parks and the outdoors
5. TODO: Consider the spoons paper
   

Optional:

1. Hall, K. Q. (2017). Cripping Sustainability, Realizing Food Justice.
• Crips common ideas of sustainability, particularly with regard to food sustainability (e.g. local eating)
2. Jampel, C. (2018). Intersections of disability justice, racial justice and environmental justice. Environmental Sociology, 4(1), 122-135.

Week 10: Empathy

Due: Milestone 2

1. A11Y
   
2. TODO: chapter from Restricted Access, critiquing technical-only view
   
3. Lalvani, P., & Broderick, A. A. (2013). Institutionalized ableism and the misguided “Disability Awareness Day”: Transformative pedagogies for teacher education. Equity & Excellence in Education, 46(4), 468-483.
• Critiques the “multicultural education” style approach to teaching about disability
• Critiques how social justice education neglects disability justice
  
• Critiques the idea of disability simulations
4. Bennett, Cynthia L., and Daniela K. Rosner. "The Promise of Empathy: Design, Disability, and Knowing the Other." In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, p. 298. ACM, 2019.
   
• Discusses how “empathy” actually others disabled people
5. TODO: reading on cross-species empathy?

Week 11: Student responsive

TBA. Some topics worth considering: intersex issues, nonspeciesism

Week 12: Student responsive

Due: Milestone 3 for peer feedback

TBA

Week 13: Student responsive

Due: Milestone 3

TBA