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After Words

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Alice Sheppard*
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Extract

In the months since the emory conference, my relation to disability studies has changed. I attended the conference as a spectator, eager to probe the shape and problems of the field. My PhD is in medieval studies, and I was beginning a project on historical representations of disability, deformity, and miraculous healing. Now, as a member of the MLA's Committee on Disability Issues in the Profession, I am involved in the post-conference evaluatory process and in other disability-related professional initiatives. Each stage of this journey has been informed by a growing awareness of what might in other contexts be articulated as a problem of field identity. When I read the conference title—Disability Studies and the University—and looked through the program, I found myself imagining conversations between the theme and the paper titles. That there was such a difference between what I envisioned and what I saw might be an index of my interpretive skills, but it might also indicate the challenges of defining and recognizing disability studies.

Type
Conference on Disability Studies and the University
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 2005

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References

Works Cited

Bhabha, Homi K. Introduction. Nation and Narration. Ed. Bhabha, . London: Routledge, 1990. 17.Google Scholar
Davis, Lennard J. Bending Over Backwards: Disability, Dismodernism, and Other Difficult Positions. New York: New York UP, 2002.Google Scholar
“General Guidelines for Disability Studies Programs.” Society for Disability Studies. 5 June 2004. U of Illinois, Chicago. 27 Feb. 2005 <http://www.uic.edu/orgs/sds/generalinfo.html#4>..>Google Scholar
Linton, Simi. Claiming Disability: Knowledge and Identity. New York: New York UP, 1998.Google Scholar
Mitchell, David T., and Snyder, Sharon L. Narrative Prosthesis: Disability and the Dependencies of Discourse. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 2000.Google Scholar