Tagged: disability studies

Book Talk | HandiLand: The Crippest Place on Earth

Join us for a presentation by Elizabeth A. Wheeler (Associate Professor, Department of English and Director, Disability Studies Minor) for her newest book, HandiLand: The Crippest Place on Earth. Disability in Young Adult and Children’s Books (University of Michigan Press, 2019).

Book Talk: HandiLand: The Crippest Place on Earth
by Associate Professor Elizabeth A. Wheeler, Department of English

Monday, October 28th, 2019
3:30-5:30 p.m.
Special Collections Paulson Reading Room, Knight Library

Event is free and open to the public
To be followed by a Q&A and refreshments

Sponsored by Special Collections and University Archives

HandiLand: The Crippest Place on Earth is the first disability studies book on contemporary children’s and young adult literature. HandiLand claims that literature for young readers is the ideal viewing stand for a parade of political changes as youth with disabilities have infiltrated public space. This viewing stand allows us to see how far we’ve come toward defeating ableism and how far we still need to go. HandiLand examines the new prominence of youth with disabilities in contemporary English-language books from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ghana. Many of these books are bestsellers with a passionate fan base, including The Fault in Our Stars, Harry Potter, and Wonder. Elizabeth A. Wheeler argues that these new portrayals result from the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) and other worldwide rights laws, which enabled the movement of disabled youth into public space.

This event is free and open to the public. Accommodations for people with disabilities will be provided if requested in advance by contacting the UO Accessible Education Center. See: https://aec.uoregon.edu/content/support-and-services

 

Exhibit and Lecture | People with Disabilities Securing Civil Rights

Through a new traveling exhibition, discover an overlooked moment in U.S. history when people with disabilities occupied a government building to win their rights. The exhibit Patient No More: People with Disabilities Securing Civil Rights will be on display at University of Oregon Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives from Monday, April 23rd, 2018 to Friday, June 15th, 2018. The exhibition uncovers the stories behind a turbulent April in 1977, when people with disabilities successfully launched protests across the nation to get Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 signed into law.

Please join us at the opening of this forthcoming exhibit on Monday, April 23rd, 2018, 4:00-5:00 pm in the Knight Library Browsing Room for a public lecture by guest speaker Professor Catherine Kudlick. Following the lecture there will be a reception and public viewing of the exhibition in the Paulson Reading Room. All events are free and open to the public.

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New Exhibit | Black Deaf Americans: History, Culture, and Education

 

— David de Lorenzo, Giustina DirectorPoster of exhibit titled Black Deaf Americans.

Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) has recently mounted an exhibit focusing on Black Deaf Americans to celebrate Black History Month.

Black Deaf people have one of the most unique cultures in the world. The Black Deaf Community is largely shaped by two cultures and communities: Deaf and African-American. Some Black Deaf individuals view themselves as members of both communities. Since both communities are viewed by the larger, predominately hearing and White society as comprising a minority community, Black Deaf persons often experience an even greater loss of recognition, racial discrimination and communication barriers coming from both communities.

Little has been written about the Black Deaf community. Even though segregated schools existed until the mid-1950s, no historical analysis of that experience, its people, or events has been written. Only a handful of memoirs by Black Deaf individuals have been published. Recent interest in Black Deaf sign language has produced a seminal work on the subject, The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL, but much more research needs to be pursued. This exhibit seeks to highlight the history, experiences, and accomplishments of Black Deaf Americans through six themes: segregated schools for Black Deaf students, memoirs by Black Deaf adults, incarceration of Black Deaf, Black Deaf sign language, Notable Black Deaf, and artwork of Black Deaf. Some of the archival material exhibited is extremely rare and difficult to find. Several publications on exhibit are considered rare books. Even some recent titles on exhibit are difficult to find.

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