PMLA: Volume 120 - | Cambridge Core

Developing Diversity and Equal Opportunity: Why the Disability Perspective Matters
Paul Steven Miller
Published online by Cambridge University Press:

23 October 2020, pp. 634-637
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After Words
Alice Sheppard
Published online by Cambridge University Press:

23 October 2020, pp. 637-641
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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.

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