Calls for Papers and Proposals

- Special issue of The Journal of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Identity
- Special issue of Technical Communication Quarterly
- Panel on Academics and Activists
- Special issue of Counselling, Therapy, and Emancipatory Praxis
- Special issue of Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping
- Updated call for papers for issue of Disability Studies Quarterly
- Research in Social Science and Disability, Volume 2
- Disability and Society: Student Perspectives
- CORPOREALITIES: Discourses of Disability (book series)
- Policy Studies Journal: "The Americans With Disabilities Act: Ten Years Later"

Queer & Dis/abled

Special Issue of The Journal of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Identity
Guest Editors, Dawn Atkins and Catherine Marston

We need one or two more papers for this volume. We need work that specifically addresses the issues of gay/bisexual men with disabilities.

We welcome 250 world abstracts for proposed papers. We will accept abstracts until we have found two appropriate papers. Final papers will be due April 15, 1998.

Looking for original scholarly articles, clinical studies, research papers, cultural and literary theory and analysis, history, as well as personal essays, interviews, and poetry which explore the intersections of lesbian/bisexual/gay/transgendered and disabled identities. Would particularly welcome contributions from people with various disabilities (physical, mental, developmental and learning disabilities) and people of color.

For more information contact:

Dawn Atkins
Email: dawn-atkins@uiowa.edu
Phone: (319) 354-0549
Regular Mail: 114 MacBride Hall, Anthropology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242

Catherine L. Marston
Email: catherine-marston@uiowa.edu
Phone: (319) 356-6252
Regular Mail: 205 Communications Center, Journalism & Mass Communication, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242

Call for Proposals

Special Issue of Technical Communication Quarterly on "Medical Rhetoric"

In Summer 2000, Technical Communication Quarterly will publish a special issue on Medical Rhetoric.

What is medical rhetoric? What does it include? How is it theorized? How do we come to know, describe, and apply a rhetoric of medicine? Contributors might focus on writing about pharmaceuticals, nurses talking to doctors, doctors talking to patients, consumers using medical language, or researchers analyzing a living will text.

Studies on medical discursive practices have been done by researchers in disciplines as diverse as communication studies, sociology of medicine, history of medicine, medical anthropology, and linguistics. With the exception of the American Medical Writers Association, however, little formal inquiry has been done by rhetoricians and researchers in technical communication. As a discipline, we have only now begun to examine this discourse from a rhetorical and/or technical communication point of view.

We propose, however, that our field has much to offer. The proposed collection seeks to demonstrate our disciplinary capabilities in this exciting and challenging discourse environment. To explore the new field of medical rhetoric (the field is old, the disciplinary focus is new), the editors seek original contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following topics:

What theories inform research on medical rhetoric? Should those theories be taught to students and how should they be taught?

How can medical rhetoric be incorporated into technical writing courses and curricula? Should it be taught in separate sections or integrated along with other professional discourses?

Should medical rhetoric be a part of a health communication curriculum? Does a health communication curriculum that includes medical rhetoric promise successful coursework for distance learning?

What texts are available and what research has been done to show the effectiveness of using such texts in medical writing and communication practices?

Are there ways that medical rhetoric can consolidate its interdisciplinary status and integrate its perspectives?

What ethical stances are involved in a rhetorical view of medical discourse and how can those be integrated into technical communication courses, and should they be integrated?

We seek contributions that are well grounded in theory and research. We especially welcome formal studies situated in sites of medical practice.

This special issue will be guest edited by Barbara Heifferon (bheiffe@clemson.edu; Clemson University) and Stuart C. Brown (sbrown@nmsu.edu; New Mexico State University); both encourage you to communicate with them about ideas, proposals, and drafts.

Please submit a one-page abstract by June 1, 1999. Deadline for submission of the accepted papers is November 1, 1999. Follow the specifications which appear regularly in TCQ's "Journal Guidelines/Manuscript

***** CALL FOR PAPERS *****

The CENTRAL NEW YORK CONFERENCE ON LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
panel on ACADEMICS AND ACTIVISM: PUTTING YOUR THEORY TO WORK

DEADLINE for ABSTRACTS: 6/15/99
CONFERENCE DATE: 3-5 October, 1999 SUNY Cortland

How does "theory" (whatever that is) do work in and beyond the walls of the academy? "Theory" is often coupled with terms like "race," "gender," "sexuality," "economic" and "cultural" (to name a few): how do particular theoretical paradigms address, or fail to address, the material realities and practices which underlie these categories? Does literary theory have anything to do with "the real world"? This panel will pursue these and similar questions with two larger (and perhaps fantastic, i.e. grounded in fastasy) goals: (1) to consider the viability and relevance of English and Critical Theory as disciplines and departments and (2) to consider the obligation of academics to connect their work with the world beyond the academy.

Papers should explore any area related to these questions, and/or challenge the assumptions and definitions behind them.

Please send 350 - 500 word abstracts to:
Amy Vondrak
English Department
Syracuse University
401 Hall of Languages
Syracuse, NY 13204

For Special issue in Disability Studies:

Counselling, Therapy, and Emancipatory Praxis

Papers need to be between 4,000 and 6,000 words.

Aim of special Issue:
To examine some of the ways in which counselling and therapy can be either oppressive or emanciaptory in its effects on disabled people.

1. How can counselling be made accessible to disabled people, as trainees and clients?
2. How can concerns about inclusion shape the practice of counselling and therapy. To what extent is a political education necessary for those working in 'rehab' or therapeutic professions?
3. Which orientations are most helpful in understanding disability and difference?
4. How can counselling and therapy foster a sense of entitlement and criticial resistance to oppression?
5. Do you have particular personal experiences of counselling or therapy which have implications for the above questions (either from the perspective of therapist/counsellor or client)?
6. How useful is the concept of internalised oppression for a discussion of the experience of disability? What processes and contexts increase a person's vulnerability to internalised oppression.

Papers which address psychoanalytic theory are particularly welcome, since this is an area which has tended not to be addressed within disability theorising.

Deadline: March 2000

Form of the papers:
Please supply 100 word abstract.
4-6,000 word manuscript
double spaced
References within articles indicate surname and date of publication (Khan, 1972). Refs should include authors' names and initials, the date of publications in brackets, the full title of the article, Journal and the volume or pate references, or for books with the title underlined and the place of publication and the name of the publisher given.

Please send one hard copy and standard 3.5 disc, saved in word compatible format, to:

Dr. Deborah Marks
Centre Psychotherapeutic Studies
Sheffield University
16 Claremont Crescent
Sheffield S10 2TA
UK

Call for Papers

Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping (University Press, California State University) is planning a special issue on disability as diversity (see below). The deadline date for manuscripts has been extended to April 30, 1999.

CALL FOR NARRATIVES: SPECIAL ISSUE
RECOGNIZING DISABILITY AS DIVERSITY

EDITOR: THOMAS BUCARO

A special issue on the experience of "disability" and its recognition as an area of human differ-ences along the axis of ability. The earliest cultural representations associated disability with sin and evil. Later, the representation of disability became associated with illness and deficit and function. This association, based on a medical model, assumed impairment, and dominated the representation of disability in the education and training of academics and practitioners. Over recent decades, initiated by persons with disabilities, the cultural shift has been toward a social construction of disability. A minority group model that has in common with other minority collectives, themes of oppression and discrimination. This conceptualization of disability presents new visions for positive identification and opportunities for human actions. Disability as diversity is a cultural transformation not fully understood or accepted by academics and practitioners. The images of persons with disability as social participators challenge long held assumptions of practitioners. And, as the disabled have found their voice, their call for collaborative partnerships with practitioners and their demand for self determination are just beginning to be heard. In effect, practitioners are "at risk" - of exercising acts of oppression and discrimination, even if intended to follow standards of practice or acts of kindness. It is issue of critical importance for the helping professions as the population becomes aged, technology expands the prolongation of life, and the visibility of persons with disabilities expands as part of a worldwide disability rights movement. We seek narratives about all levels of practice: service, social change, academics, and research that helps us to understand, appreciate, and celebrate disability as diversity:

Narratives about practice; about experiences that describe work that either failed or succeeded, informing and challenging negative images of the disabled and existing modes of practice. The recognition of disability as diversity where it intersects with the helping professions brings us to a new level of discourse and the possibilities for narratives seem endless.

>NARRATIVES:
--that portray practice (families, groups, communities, program/policy development with/for persons with disabilities
--about the commonality/ and differences in practice across disabilities; and workers that experience disabilities
--that show practice at different practice levels that contribute(d) to own/others understanding of the experiences of discrimination because of disability
--that focus on working, teaching, organizing, participating in and collaborating with the disability culture: issues of language, pride and identification, choice and self advocacy
--practice narratives that depict experiences associated with "coming out" or "hiding out," and the meaning of the experience for persons with invisible disabilities
--about practice in affecting environmental and attitudinal barriers faced by persons with disability; their families; and technology that liberates/harms persons with disabilities
-- about direct/indirect practice re issues of cumulative discrimination to persons with dis-ability and members of other minority groups

It is our belief, that the present discourse on disability, as it cuts across all classes, sexes, races and ethnic groups, will serve to alter some of our basic conception of human concerns like gender, competency, power, dependency toward better understanding of all human relationships.

Manuscripts Due April 30,1999

Send to:
Tom Bucaro, D.S.W. Director. Social Work Program, College of Staten Island, CUNY
2800 Victory Blvd. Staten Island, NY 10314
Phone: 718-982-3767
Fax: 718-982-3794
E-mail: Bucaro@postbox.csi.cuny.edu

UPDATE: Extended deadline and revised title for DSQ issue

Originally nicknamed the "Borders" issue, the Fall '99 edition of Disability Studies Quarterly has been more positively baptized: "BRIDGING the Divide: Disability in the New Millenium." As the last issue of the Twentieth Century, it seems more useful to be looking at an inclusive future for disabled people, rather than stressing the artificial borders that, like any social construct, are arbitrary and fragile. Many societal boundaries have already been crossed; exclusionary borders and categories are beginning to blur. The way forward now, for the Disability Movement, seems to call for more solidarity and common goals, in the expectation of enriching the lives of disabled people globally.

The "Bridges" issue of DSQ, then, is devoted to readings that explore the philosophical issues and multiple perspectives that arise within the disabled community itself, in the hopes that a more unified, cohesive bridge to empowerment might be built. Writers are invited to explore the differences and similarities--and the potential for merger--involved in positions on debatable questions such as these (which are meant to stimulate, not confine, your creative thinking!):

* Is there "A" Movement, or several? International contexts, variances in impairments, and such 'fringe benefits' to disability as ethnic or gender characteristics, will naturally complicate our perspectives; but are there POINTS OF STASIS, or agreement, from which all disabled people can begin an argument for equality?

* How is PHYSICAL disability different from impairments of a LEARNING or cognitive nature? And what do such differences mean for people with multiple impairments?

* Is legislation or POLICY change necessarily the first step to "real"equality--or, conversely, is it possible to PERSUADE people to reject the myth-information about disability that is so widely spread (by the media, for example)? If society were to adopt more egalitarian belief systems overall, might that reduce the need for, somehow, "legislating" attitude change?

* What do the advances in SCIENCE, such as the Genome Project, or the changing philosophy about PRENATAL TESTING or EUTHANASIA mean for our culture as a whole, and for disabled people specifically?

* In what ways do the "RIGHTS" approach and the "critical "AWARENESS" approach to disability issues coincide or diverge? How is the Disability Movement *like* the movements of groups arguing for ethnic-race-gender-religion-sexual preference freedoms; or how are disabled people seeking change that is *unlike* the causes of the former groups?

* Where is the place for the NONDISABLED activist or researcher, within the Movement? For comparison value, does one have to be black, female, elderly, or alcoholic to present the ethos required for participation in ethnic, gender, geriatric, or sobriety activities?

* What are the pros and cons to INCLUSIVE EDUCATION? Are there personal stories of "special schools" that demonstrate ways in which separatism can be a positive experience?

* Are there examples of cases where the Disability Movement is, or has been, itself elitist or EXCLUSIVE? How might the contradictions in philosophy be resolved?

* What consequences or, alternatively, benefits, might there be from the MARKET ECONOMY encroaching upon academic and "caring" services?

* Is there more than one meaning of "PARTNERSHIP," as the notion is applied for the contact zones of parents and professionals, or between disabled people and the management of services they might require?

* If the theory of "Inclusion" is meant to cross boundaries between school, community, and society writ large, what would an inclusive society look like? What is your idea of UTOPIA for disabled people, and what changes seem unachievable? Who defines the parameters that currently exclude disabled people from total participation in life-and how might those parameters be contested?

* Has there been progress in "disciplining disability," i.e. in the university CURRICULUM? How has that been achieved, and under which departments (e.g. Sociology, Humanities, Cultural Studies, or the psych-medical colleges)? How is the philosophy of the Social Model maintained, or distorted, depending on syllabi construction or instructor's approach?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My vision for this issue of DSQ is that it will represent a truly international, multidimensional, interdisciplinary dialogue, with both researchers and "the Researched" exchanging their views, offering provocative insights for readers who may be, like myself, confused about the Movement and what/who it stands for/against. Convening for an open debate in print, the disability community might together grasp a working Mission Statement, with which we can move forward.

Please send abstracts of no more than 750 words, via Email, by 30 April, to donauk@swin.demon.co.uk. Typed drafts of accepted papers (in WP 5.0, please) will be due 1 July.

Call for Papers

Research in Social Science and Disability is an annual volume to be published by JAI Press. It focuses on linkages between disability and the social and cultural environment. It is based upon the premise that disability is not purely a medical phenomena, but rather is based on the interaction between the social and physical environment and a person's physical or mental state. It will consider aspects of disabilities as viewed through the lens of social science disciplines including history, economics, geography, political science, psychology, anthropology, sociology, demography, or closely related fields. It will consider all forms of disability, including mental and physical.

Submissions could include theoretical and critical papers, analyses based on qualitative as well as quantitative research methodologies, methodological or conceptual papers, and comprehensive reviews of the literature. Examples of submissions could include topics such as cultural aspects of blindness, the history of institutionalization for mental illness, the demography of mental retardation, the social structure of deaf communities, measuring disability for research purposes, or changing attitudes towards persons with disabilities.

Research in Social Science and Disability will not consider medical, or clinical aspects of disability, case studies, practice descriptions, or program evaluations. All articles will be peer-reviewed by reviewers from the same disciplinary background.

The editors, Barbara M. Altman and Sharon N. Barnartt, are soliciting original, unpublished manuscripts for Volumes 2, which will be published in 2000. For Volume 2, we are particularly looking for well thought out discussions of disability research methodologies, papers on definition and measurement of disability and theoretical conceptualizations. Papers on other topics will be considered as space allows. Papers should not exceed 40 pages double spaced. Four copies should be submitted by June 1, 1999, for Volume 2, to Sharon Barnartt, Department of Sociology, Gallaudet University, Washington, DC 20002. Volume 1 should be available in late summer, 1999. Information on purchasing Volume 1 and/or instructions for authors available on request, e-mail Barbara Altman at baltman@ahcpr.gov.

DISABILITY AND SOCIETY: STUDENT PERSPECTIVES

CALL FOR PAPERS

In seeking to stimulate and maintain an interest in disability studies, we have decided to establish and annual monograph on "STUDENT PERSPECTIVES."

Papers will be refereed and can explore any topic related to disability issues and questions. The papers MUST BE AUTHORED BY STUDENTS ONLY and with the submission students must identify the course or research degree they are registered on.

We need THREE copies of the paper (including an abstract of 100-150 words on a separate sheet) to be submitted to Professor Len Barton, Department of Education Studies, University of Sheffield, 388 Glossop Road, Sheffield, S10 21A, United Kingdom, on or before the 21 SEPTEMBER 1999. The accepted papers will be published in the first monograph in 2000.

Announcing a book series from the University of Michigan Press

CORPOREALITIES: Discourses of Disability

Series editors:
David T. Mitchell and Sharon L. Snyder,
Department of English, Northern Michigan University

Editorial Board:
Susan Bordo, University of Kentucky
Julia Epstein, Mills College
Lennard Davis, Binghamton University
Sander Gilman, University of Chicago
Elizabeth Grosz, Monash University
David Hevey, BBC, United Kingdom
Simi Linton, Hunter College
Paul Longmore, San Francisco State University
Rosemarie Garland Thomson, Howard University

CORPOREALITIES: Discourses of Disability promotes a broad range of scholarly work analyzing the cultural and representational meanings of disability. Definitions of disability underpin fundamental concepts such as normalcy, health, bodily integrity, individuality, citizenship, and morality - all terms that define the very essence of what it means to be human. Yet, disabilities have been traditionally treated as conditions in need of medical intervention and correction. Rarely has disability been approached as a constructed category forwarded by social institutions seeking to legislate the slippery line that exists between normative biologies and deviant bodies. In addition to identifying the social phantasms that have been projected upon disabled subjects in history, the series aims to theorize the shifting coordinates of disabled identities.

Although cultural discourses have long relied on images of disability, professional vocabularies and methodologies have historically avoided analyses that attend to the meanings ascribed to disabled populations. CORPOREALITIES will participate in ongoing scholarly efforts to conceive of a more humane constellation of narratives about physical and cognitive difference.

The series seeks work that will expand the interpretive options for theorizing disability in the humanities. We encourage submissions on any aspect of the social construction of disability: textual representations of people with disabilities in history; the relationship between narrative forms and bodily differences; disciplinary dependencies upon disabled people and definitions of aberrancy; linguistic studies of disability terminology; disability studies and methodologies; aesthetics and bodily variation; genre studies and disability "types"; theorizations of technology and disability; historical modes of institutionalization, segregation, and assimilation; the disruptive presence of disability in discourse; biological norms and the designation of deviance; bodily difference and theories of materiality; disability subjectivity and essentialism; disability and performance; disability in literature and medicine; the relationship of disability to philosophical systems of thought; "final" solutions and "cure" narratives.

Inquiries can be addressed to any of the following people:

David T. Mitchell, Department of English, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI 49855; e-mail: dmitchel@nmu.edu.
Sharon L. Snyder, Department of English, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI 49855; e-mail: shsnyder@nmu.edu.
LeAnn Fields, University of Michigan Press, 839 Greene Street, PO Box 1104, Ann Arbor, MI 48106.

CALL FOR PAPERS / Policy Studies Journal
The Americans With Disabilities Act: Ten Years Later

The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 has been called the most sweeping civil rights law in U.S. history, affecting nearly sixty million individuals, as well as their families, employers, private businesses, state and local governments, the telecommunications industry, building owners, and transportation providers, among many others. Researchers now believe that when both houses of Congress overwhelming passed the ADA, policymakers had little idea of the impact the law would soon have on virtually every segment of society. Some legislators appear to have perceived the statute in limited terms, building wheelchair ramps, providing special telephones for the hearing impaired, or installing braille signage. But in the decade since President Bush signed the law in an emotionally charged public ceremony, the ADA has led to programs and policies that have been variously described as "haphazard," "piecemeal," and "patchwork." Disability advocates note that while there have been some areas of progress in improving the lives of persons with disabilities and the discrimination the law was intended to address, there is clearly much more left to do.

This multi-disciplinary symposium in the Policy Studies Journal seeks to bring together the research of scholars and practitioners whose work focuses on the implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The goal is to present an evaluation of the law's successes and failures, including the following potential topics:

o Case studies of local or state implementation of Titles I-IV of the Act
o Pre-/Post ADA evaluations of service delivery to persons with disabilities
o The continuing debate over "reasonable accommodation" and "undue hardship"
o The role of disability advocates and other groups to secure ADA compliance
o The ADA and issues of policy ambiguity and legislative intent
o Unintended consequences of the law and its regulatory apparatus
o Programmatic overlaps and gaps in service delivery
o Studies of compliance in the public and private sectors
o Implications for other programs such as workers' compensation and social security

Dr. Jacqueline Vaughn Switzer
Department of Political Science
Northern Arizona University
Box 15036
Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5036
(520) 523-8224 Fax (520) 523-6777
E-mail: Jacqueline.Switzer@nau.edu

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