Month: December 2016

Disability and dependency: access to education and employment

“Disabled people face major barriers in the labour market… A major barrier to obtaining employment is lack of qualifications. Disabled people are less likely than non-disabled people to have either vocational or academic qualifications.” (Hurstfield et al 2004a, p7)

Barnes (1991) indicates that the majority of disabled people are typically provided with education that does not enable them to achieve personal autonomy, attain meaningful employment or be able to fully participate in the community. Continue reading “Disability and dependency: access to education and employment”

Interdependency, precariousness and the myth of autonomy

I think that Butler’s notions of precariousness, precarity and the socially constructed body are valid in disability discourse, although Butler does not actually broach disability head on and disability scholars do not tend to use her ideas in their disability theory work. Continue reading “Interdependency, precariousness and the myth of autonomy”

Disabled artists/artists on disability

One of the things that I have been constantly coming up against is this idea of ‘normal’ society and how disabled people are regarded – in the words of Sontag, describing the subjects of Arbus’s photographs: “Do they see themselves, the viewer wonders, like that? Do they know how grotesque they are?” (1977, p 36). Continue reading “Disabled artists/artists on disability”

Nicholas Nixon: photographing the fragility of the human condition

“The world is infinitely more interesting than any of my opinions about it.” (published statement by Nixon, 1975)

The first work by Nixon that I came across was his photographic series The Brown Sisters. This project in itself is a microcosmic study of the bodily process of ageing, and to my mind serves as an introduction to Nixon’s other work. It has been noted that as the sisters age, so Nixon moves in with his camera, getting closer to the sisters as they become older. Continue reading “Nicholas Nixon: photographing the fragility of the human condition”

Disability culture

Disability culture and politics emerged from the 1970s rights movement, and aims to change perceptions and attitudes about disability through radical and activist means:

“anything from articulating the experiences of impairment and disability openly and without shame, through to the rejection of prostheses or other artificial aids designed to conceal or minimise the visibility or effects of impairment” (Barnes 2003, p 6) Continue reading “Disability culture”

Vital Signs: Crip Culture Talks Back

This documentary looks at disability as an issue as well as disabled performance artists. If nothing else, it’s a chance to see activists and theorists like Harlan Hahn (who sports a Piss on Pity T-shirt) and Ann Finger, as well as artists and performers like Cheryl Marie Wade, Eli Clare (who was still Elizabeth when this film was made) and Mary Duffy and hear their views and anecdotal stories of discrimination and oppression. The film is available on YouTube in 3 parts (part 1, part 2 & part 3). Continue reading “Vital Signs: Crip Culture Talks Back”

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