This book uses previously unknown archive materials to explore the meaning of the term 'incapable of work' over a hundred years (1911-present). Nowadays, people claiming disability benefits must undergo medical tests to assess whether or not they are capable of work. Media reports and high profile campaigns highlight the problems with this system and question whether the process is fair. These debates are not new and, in this book, Jackie Gulland looks at similar questions about how to assess people's capacity for work from the beginning of the welfare state in the early 20th century. Amongst many subject areas, she explores women's roles in the domestic sphere and how these were used to consider their capacity for work in the labour market. The book concludes that incapacity benefit decision making is really about work: what work is, what it is not, who should do it, who should be compensated when work does not provide a sufficient income and who should be exempted from any requirement to look for it.

In Black Madness :: Mad Blackness Theri Alyce Pickens rethinks the relationship between Blackness and disability, unsettling the common theorization that they are mutually constitutive. Pickens shows how Black speculative and science fiction authors such as Octavia Butler, Nalo Hopkinson, and Tananarive Due craft new worlds that reimagine the intersection of Blackness and madness. These creative writer-theorists formulate new parameters for thinking through Blackness and madness. Pickens considers Butler's Fledgling as an archive of Black madness that demonstrates how race and ability shape subjectivity while constructing the building blocks for antiracist and anti-ableist futures. She examines how Hopkinson's Midnight Robber theorizes mad Blackness and how Due's African Immortals series contests dominant definitions of the human. The theorizations of race and disability that emerge from these works, Pickens demonstrates, challenge the paradigms of subjectivity that white supremacy and ableism enforce, thereby pointing to the potential for new forms of radical politics.

Out of print for nearly a century, "The World I Live In" is Helen Keller's most personal and intellectually adventurous work--one that transforms our appreciation of her extraordinary achievements. Here this preternaturally gifted deaf and blind young woman closely describes her sensations and the workings of her imagination, while making the pro-vocative argument that the whole spectrum of the senses lies open to her through the medium of language. Standing in the line of the works of Emerson and Thoreau, "The World I Live In" is a profoundly suggestive exercise in self-invention, and a true, rediscovered classic of American literature.
This new edition of "The World I Live In" also includes Helen Keller's early essay "Optimism," as well as her first published work, "My Story," written when she was twelve.

Until the recent recognition of Deaf culture and the legitimacy of signed languages, majority societies around the world have classified Deaf people as "disabled," a term that separates all persons so designated from the mainstream in a disparaging way. Damned for Their Difference offers a well-founded explanation of how this discrimination came to be through a discursive exploration of the cultural, social, and historical contexts of these attitudes and behavior toward deaf people, especially in Great Britain. Authors Jan Branson and Don Miller examine the orientation toward and treatment of deaf people as it developed from the 17th century through the 20th century. Their wide-ranging study explores the varied constructions of the definition of "disabled," a term whose meaning hinges upon constant negotiation between parties, ensuring that no finite meaning is ever established. Damned for Their Difference provides a sociological understanding of disabling practices in a way that has never been seen before.

In Black Madness :: Mad Blackness Theri Alyce Pickens rethinks the relationship between Blackness and disability, unsettling the common theorization that they are mutually constitutive. Pickens shows how Black speculative and science fiction authors such as Octavia Butler, Nalo Hopkinson, and Tananarive Due craft new worlds that reimagine the intersection of Blackness and madness. These creative writer-theorists formulate new parameters for thinking through Blackness and madness. Pickens considers Butler's Fledgling as an archive of Black madness that demonstrates how race and ability shape subjectivity while constructing the building blocks for antiracist and anti-ableist futures. She examines how Hopkinson's Midnight Robber theorizes mad Blackness and how Due's African Immortals series contests dominant definitions of the human. The theorizations of race and disability that emerge from these works, Pickens demonstrates, challenge the paradigms of subjectivity that white supremacy and ableism enforce, thereby pointing to the potential for new forms of radical politics.

Surface Tensions is an expansive, yet intimate study of how people remake themselves after catastrophic bodily change-the loss of limbs, the loss of function, the loss or replacement of organs. Against a sweeping cultural backdrop of art, popular culture, and the history of science and medicine, Manderson uses narrative epistemology based on in-depth interviews with over 300 individuals to show how they re-establish the coherence of their bodies, identities, and biographies. In addition to offering important new insights into the care, rehabilitation, and rehabituation of post-trauma patients, Manderson's work challenges conventional ideas about the nature of embodiment and is an important contribution to medical anthropology, disability studies, and cultural studies.

Autism is a rising epidemic that affects 1 in 68 children. When Jennifer Noonan's son was diagnosed in 2009, she refused to accept the conventional wisdom that autism was largely permanent, instead launching a relentless investigation into the very latest dietary, immunological, and metabolic research available. "I certainly had no reason to believe at that time that autism was treatable," she writes, "but somehow I decided, in my classically pigheaded way, that it would be." This spirited audacity gave her not only courage,and ultimately success,in the face of such a devastating diagnosis, but also a self-aware and darkly funny perspective on her own faults and struggles over the next six years.With equal parts defiance, tenacity, and wry humour, No Map to This Country details one family's journey through the modern autism epidemic, and the lengths to which a mother will go to heal her family. Neither a medical manual nor a heartwarming tale of growth, Noonan's ground-breaking yet profoundly relatable memoir seamlessly combines cutting-edge research with a gripping and unapologetic account of her family's fight for recovery.

Amputation need not always signify castration; indeed, in Jack London's fiction, losing a limb becomes part of a process through which queerly gendered men become properly masculinized. In her astute book, Vulnerable Constitutions, Cynthia Barounis explores the way American writers have fashioned alternative-even resistant-epistemologies of queerness, disability, and masculinity. She seeks to understand the way perverse sexuality, physical damage, and bodily contamination have stimulated-rather than created a crisis for-masculine characters in twentieth- and early twenty-first-century literature. Barounis introduces the concept of "anti-prophylactic citizenship"-a mode of political belonging characterized by vulnerability, receptivity, and risk-to examine counternarratives of American masculinity. Investigating the work of authors including London, William Faulkner, James Baldwin, and Eli Clare, she presents an evolving narrative of medicalized sexuality and anti-prophylactic masculinity. Her literary readings interweave queer theory, disability studies, and the history of medicine to demonstrate how evolving scientific conversations around deviant genders and sexualities gave rise to a new model of national belonging-ultimately rewriting the story of American masculinity as a story of queer-crip rebellion.

This volume aims to critically engage with constructs and experiences of disabled sexualities through Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. In doing so, it is hoped that the questions raised, relfections, analyses and arguments will provide readers with a catalyst through which to (re)think disabled sexualities from the perspective of the Global South. What makes this edited volume unique is besides chapters from emerging academics and disability activists who either live or work in the Global South, it also includes personal contributions from disabled people across the Global South. This volume takes a broad perspective on disabled sexualities addressing such areas as gender, race, culture, colonialism, body image, sexual pleasure, sexuality education, sexual access, sexual and reproductive health services, queer sexualities, and sexual rights and justice. The volume will be of interest to international and national organisations for people with disabilities, gender and sexuality researchers, health professionals, social workers, academics and students at all higher education and training institutions interested in disability, gender queer and sexuality studies.

In this collection of primary sources, Eugene Smelyansky highlights instances of persecution and violence, as well as those relatively rare but significant episodes of toleration, that impacted a broad spectrum of people who existed at the margins of medieval society: heretics, Jews and Muslims, the poor, the displaced and disabled, women, and those deemed sexually deviant. The volume also presents a more geographically diverse Middle Ages by including sources from Central and Eastern Europe as well as the Mediterranean. Each document is preceded by a brief introduction and followed by questions for discussion, making The Intolerant Middle Ages an excellent entrance into the lives and struggles of medieval minorities.

Literatures of Madness: Disability Studies and Mental Health brings together scholars working in disability studies, mad studies, feminist theory, Indigenous studies, postcolonial theory, Jewish literature, queer studies, American studies, trauma studies, and comics to create an intersectional community of scholarship in literary disability studies of mental health. The collection contains essays on canonical authors and lesser known and sometimes forgotten writers, including Sylvia Plath, Louisa May Alcott, Hannah Weiner, Mary Jane Ward, Michelle Cliff, Lee Maracle, Joanne Greenberg, Ann Bannon, Jerry Pinto, Persimmon Blackbridge, and others. The volume addresses the under-representation of madness and psychiatric disability in the field of disability studies, which traditionally focuses on physical disability, and explores the controversies and the common ground among disability studies, anti-psychiatric discourses, mad studies, graphic medicine, and health/medical humanities.

Global awareness of autism has skyrocketed since the 1980s, and popular culture has caught on, with film and television producers developing ever more material featuring autistic characters. Autism in Film and Television brings together more than a dozen essays on depictions of autism, exploring how autistic characters are signified in media and how the reception of these characters informs societal understandings of autism. Editors Murray Pomerance and R. Barton Palmer have assembled a pioneering examination of autism's portrayal in film and television. Contributors consider the various means by which autism has been expressed in films such as Phantom Thread, Mercury Rising, and Life Animated and in television and streaming programs including Atypical, Stranger Things, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Community. Across media, the figure of the brilliant, accomplished, and "quirky" autist has proven especially appealing. Film and television have thus staked out a progressive position on neurodiversity by insisting on screen time for autism but have done so while frequently ignoring the true diversity of autistic experience. As a result, this volume is a welcome celebration of nonjudgmental approaches to disability, albeit one that is still freighted with stereotypes and elisions.

The two-volume set LNCS 10896 and 10897 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs, ICCHP 2018, held in Linz, Austria, in July2018. The 101 revised full papers and 78 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 356 submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: Web accessibility in the connected world; accessibility and usability of mobile platforms for people with disabilities and elderly persons: design, development and engineering; accessible system/information/document design; accessible e-learning - e-learning for accessibility/AT; personalized access to TV, film, theatre, and music; digital games accessibility; accessibility and usability of self-service terminals, technologies and systems; universal learning design; motor and mobility disabilities: AT, HCI, care; empowerment of people with cognitive disabilities using digital technologies; augmented and alternative communication (AAC), supported speech; Art Karshmer lectures in access to mathematics, science and engineering; environmental sensing technologies for visual impairment; 3D printing in the domain of assistive technologies (AT) and do it yourselves (DIY) AT; tactile graphics and models for blind people and recognition of shapes by touch; access to artworks and its mediation by and for visually impaired people; digital navigation for people with visual impairments; low vision and blindness: human computer interaction; future perspectives for ageing well: AAL tools, products, services; mobile healthcare and m-health apps for people with disabilities; and service and information provision.

This book provides a diverse range of basic information and practical advice for adults with dyspraxia. Colley is able to describe in detail the impact that coordination and motor learning difficulties can have on many everyday activities, including cooking, shopping, sewing, gardening and swallowing medicines. This book provides a very readable, comprehensive and useful resource for adults with dyspraxia and their carers. It might also be useful for clinicians who are new to the field and have limited practical experience.' - British Journal of Occupational Therapy 'This concise and interestingly written handbook is aimed at helping dyspraxic adults to understand their condition and its impact on work, study, social relationships and leisure activities. It contains practical tips on everyday living, including voice control, body language, cooking, study skills, driving and self-care. Especially fascinating are the accounts by four dyspraxic adults of their own experiences. I would recommend the book to teachers and parents, student therapists and clinicians (especially those working in a multidisciplinary setting) who need an insight into developmental dyspraxia as experienced by adolescent and adult clients and an overview of the help available.' - Speech and Language Therapy in Practice For people with Developmental Dyspraxia, everyday life can pose a multitude of problems. Tasks the majority of people would find simple can often be taxing and fraught with difficulty. Living with Dyspraxia was written to help all adults with Dyspraxia tackle the everyday situations that many people take for granted. It is full of practical advice on everything from getting a diagnosis to learning how to manage household chores. Important topics are addressed, such as self-esteem, whether to disclose your condition within the workplace, how to communicate more effectively and also how Dyspraxia often interacts with other conditions, such as Dyslexia, ADHD and Asperger's Syndrome. This practical resource will be of use to adults with Dyspraxia, the professionals and families members who come into contact with them as well as those who simply wish to learn more about Dyspraxia.

Disabled children's lives have often been discussed through medical concepts of disability rather than concepts of childhood. Western understandings of childhood have defined disabled children against child development 'norms' and have provided the rationale for segregated or 'special' welfare and education provision. In contrast, disabled children's childhood studies begins with the view that studies of children's impairment are not studies of their childhoods. Disabled children's childhood studies demands ethical research practices that position disabled children and young people at the centre of the inquiry outside of the shadow of perceived 'norms'. The Palgrave Handbook of Disabled Children's Childhood Studies will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, as well as practitioners in health, education, social work and youth work.

* What is the relevance of feminist ideas for understanding women's experiences of disability? * How can the social model of disability be developed theoretically? * What are the key differences between Disability Studies and medical sociology? In answer to these questions, this book explores and develops ideas about disability, engaging with important debates in disability studies about what disability is and how to theorize it. It also examines the interface between disability studies, women's studies and medical sociology, and offers an accessible review of contemporary debates and theoretical approaches. The title Female Forms reflects two things about the book: first, its use of disabled women's experiences, as told by themselves, to bring a number of themes to life, and second, the author's belief in the importance of feminist ideas and debates for disability studies. The social model of disability is the book's bedrock, but the author both challenges and contributes to social modelist thought. She advances a materialist feminist perspective on disability, producing a book which is of multi-disciplinary relevance. Female Forms will be useful to the growing number of students on Disability Studies courses, as well as those interested in women's studies, medical sociology and social policy. It will also appeal to those studying or working in the health and social care professions such as nursing, social work, occupational therapy and physiotherapy.

AspergerWorld is a fascinating, part-autobiographical book written by Joely Williams, a young woman with Asperger's syndrome. It aims to inspire and empower those on the autistic spectrum, and teach them the joy of self-acceptance. AspergerWorld shares Joely's journey: from the challenges she faced as a child, to successfully completing her education, to her current role as an autism activist. It also contains invaluable advice for both parents and professionals on how to best support those with autism. Most importantly, it aims to educate, igniting what Joely calls 'a positive rainbow of change' into the heart of the autistic community.

Challenging existing approaches to autism that limit, and sometimes damage, the individuals who attract and receive the label, this book questions the lazy prejudices and assumptions that can surround autism as a diagnosis in the 21st Century. Arguing that autism can only be understood through examining 'it' as a socially or culturally produced phenomenon, the authors offer a critique of the medical model that has produced a perpetually marginalising approach to autism, and explain the contradictions and difficulties inherent in existing attitudes. They examine and dispute the scientific validity of diagnosis and 'treatment', asking whether autism actually exists at the biological level, and question the value of diagnosis in the lives of those labelled with autism. The book recognises that there are no easy answers but encourages engagement with these essential questions, and looks towards service provision and practice that moves beyond a reliance on all-encompassing labels. This unique contribution to the growing field of critical autism studies brings together authors from clinical psychiatry, clinical and community psychology, social sciences, disability studies, education and cultural studies, as well as those with personal experiences of autism. It is essential and challenging reading for anyone with a personal, professional or academic interest in 'autism'.

The Story of My Life (1903) is the autobiography of Helen Keller. Written while she was an undergraduate student at Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, The Story of My Life was a joint effort between Keller, her teacher Anne Sullivan, and Anne's husband John Macy. "Gradually I got used to the silence and darkness that surrounded me and forgot that it had ever been different, until she came-my teacher-who was to set my spirit free. But during the first nineteen months of my life I had caught glimpses of broad, green fields, a luminous sky, trees and flowers which the darkness that followed could not wholly blot out. If we have once seen, 'the day is ours, and what the day has shown.'" After losing her hearing and sight as an infant, Helen Keller received a life-changing education from her dedicated teacher Anne Sullivan, herself vision impaired. As she learned to communicate through signs, she found an innate determination to surpass the expectations of those around her, eventually becoming the first deafblind person to obtain her Bachelor of Arts. Her autobiography is a rich retelling of the first twenty-one years of Keller's life, a period marked by tragedy and miracle alike, shaping her into one of the twentieth century's leading civil rights activists and public speakers. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Helen Keller's The Story of My Life is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.

From workplace accidents to polio epidemics and new waves of immigration to the returning veterans of World War II, the first half of the twentieth century brought the issue of disability-what it was, what it meant, and how to address it-into national focus. Out of the Horrors of War: Disability Politics in World War II America explores the history of disability activism, concentrating on the American Federation of the Physically Handicapped (AFPH), a national, cross-disability organization founded during World War II to address federal disability policy. Unlike earlier disability groups, which had been organized around specific disabilities or shared military experience, AFPH brought thousands of disabled citizens and veterans into the national political arena, demanding equal access to economic security and full citizenship. At its core, the AFPH legislative campaign pushed the federal government to move disabled citizens from the margins to the center of the welfare state. Through extensive archival research, Audra Jennings examines the history of AFPH and its enduring legacy in the disability rights movement. Counter to most narratives that place the inception of disability activism in the 1970s, Jennings argues that the disability rights movement is firmly rooted in the politics of World War II. In the years immediately following the war, leaders in AFPH worked with organized labor movements to advocate for an ambitious political agenda, including employer education campaigns, a federal pension program, improved access to healthcare and education, and an affirmative action program for disabled workers. Out of the Horrors of War extends the arc of the disability rights movement into the 1940s and traces how its terms of inclusion influenced the movement for decades after, leading up to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

This book brings together research relating to the economics of disability in Ireland. It addresses a range of issues of relevance to the economic circumstances of people with disabilities, considering topics such as social inclusion, poverty, the labour market, living standards and public policy. It also considers issues of specific relevance to children, working-age adults and older people with disabilities, providing important evidence that can help improve disability policies, services and supports. Each chapter presents a clear and relatively non-technical treatment of the specific topic under consideration, making it accessible to a greater number of interested readers. In doing so, it provides an important addition to our knowledge and understanding of the economics of disability and will serve as a useful and up-to-date resource for a range of interested parties both in Ireland and internationally. -- .