| Description |
* Why has 'the discursive turn' been sidelined in the development of a social theory of disability, and what has been the result of this? * How might a social theory of disability which fully incorporates the multidimensional and multifunctional role of language be described? * What would such a theory contribute to a more inclusive understanding of 'discourse' and 'culture'? The idea that disability is socially created has, in recent years, been increasingly legitimated within social, cultural and policy frameworks and structures which view disability as a form of social oppression. However, the materialist emphasis of these frameworks and structures has sidelined the growing recognition of the central role of language in social phenomena which has accompanied the 'linguistic turn' in social theory. As a result, little attention has been paid within Disability Studies to analysing the role of language in struggle and transformation in power relations and the engineering of social and cultural change. Drawing upon personal narratives, rhetoric, material discourse, discourse analysis, cultural representation, ethnography and contextual studies, international contributors seek to emphasize the multi-dimensional and multi-functional nature of disability language in an attempt to further inform our understanding of disability and to locate disability more firmly within contemporary mainstream social and cultural theory. |
| Author Biography |
Sally French is a part-time Lecturer in the Department of Health Studies at Brunel University. She also works as a freelance writer, researcher and physiotherapist. She has written and edited numerous articles and books relating to Disability Studies, including Disabling Barriers, Enabling Environments (Sage, in association with The Open University) and On Equal Terms (Butterworth-Heinemann). |
| Table of Contents |
Series editor's preface Introduction reclaiming language in disability studies Part one: Personal narratives Inside aphasia The wind gets in my way I am more than my wheels Depressed and disabled some discursive problems with mental illness Narrative identity and the disabled self Part two: The social creation of disability identity Why can't you be normal for once in your life? From a problem with no name to the emergency of a new category of difference Unless otherwise stated discourses of labelling and identity in coming out Carving out a place to act acquired impairment and contested identity Discourse and identity disabled children in mainstream high schools Transforming disability identity through critical literacy and the cultural politics of language Talking 'tragedy' identity issues in the parental story of disability Part three: Cultural discourses Studying disability rhetorically Modern slogan, ancient script disability in the Chinese language Bodies, brains and behaviour the return of the three stooges in learning disability Joseph F. Sullivan and the discourse of 'crippledom' in progressive America Art and lies? Representations of disability on film What they don't tell people with learning difficulties Final accounts and the parasite people Disability discourse, the principle of optimization and social change Biographical notes References Index. |
