The role of disability and deafness in art Distressing Language is full of mistakes-errors of hearing, speaking, writing, and understanding. Michael Davidson engages the role of disability and deafness in contemporary aesthetics, exploring how physical and intellectual differences challenge our understanding of art and poetry. Where hearing and speaking are considered normative conditions of the human, what happens when words are misheard and misspoken? How have writers and artists, both disabled and non-disabled, used error as generative elements in contesting the presumed value of "sounding good"? Distressing Language grows out of the author's experience of hearing loss in which misunderstandings have become a daily occurrence. Davidson maintains that verbal confusions are less an aberration in understanding than a component of new knowledge. Davidson discusses a range of sites, from captioning errors and Bad Lip Reads on YouTube, to the deaf artist Christine Sun Kim's audiovisual installations, and a poetic reinterpretation of the Biblical Shibboleth responding to the atrocities of the Holocaust. Deafness becomes a guide in each chapter of Distressing Language, giving us a closer look at a range of artistic mediums and how artists are working with the axiom of "error" to produce novel subjecthoods and possibilities.

Disability and Dissensus is a comprehensive collection of essays that reflects the interdisciplinary nature of critical cultural disability studies. The volume offers a selection of texts by numerous specialists in different areas of the humanities, both well-established scholars and young academics, as well as practitioners and activists from the USA, the UK, Poland, Ireland, and Greece. Taking inspiration from Critical Disability Studies and Jacques Ranciere's philosophy, the book critically engages with the changing modes of disability representation in contemporary cultures. It sheds light both on inspirations and continuities as well as tensions and conflicts within contemporary disability studies, fostering new understandings of human diversity and contributing to a dissensual ferment of thought in the academia, arts, and activism. Contributors are: Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Dan Goodley, Marek Mackiewicz-Ziccardi, Malgorzata Sugiera, David T. Mitchell, Sharon L. Snyder, Maria Tsakiri, Murray K. Simpson, James Casey, Agnieszka Izdebska, Edyta Lorek-Jezinska, Dorota Krzeminska, Jolanta Rzeznicka-Krupa, Wiktoria Siedlecka-Dorosz, Katarzyna Ojrzynska, Christian O'Reilly, and Len Collin.

Sociocultural and Family System Perspectives: Families Who Have Children with Disabilities helps readers acknowledge and appreciate the unique and diverse experiences of families caring for children with a range of disabilities. Among various aspects of supporting children with developmental, medical, or educational needs, the text explores the everyday challenges and opportunities families may experience. Throughout the text, readers develop insight into the responses and resilience of family who have children with disabilities with several theoretical perspectives; the laws and practices of the professionals involved; and the culturally appropriate responses and support available for families. In addition to presenting the historical, political, and educational aspects of disability in the United States, the book is written with consideration of the intersection of race/ethnicity, language, gender, sexuality, disability, social class, and culture. Readers are encouraged to read key articles, watch suggested films, and participate in reflections and activities to instill learnings and cultivate empathy. Sociocultural and Family System Perspectives is an ideal textbook for courses in family studies and child development, especially those with focus on children with disabilities and their families.

A much-needed look at the growth of emergency media and its impact on our lives In an emergency, we often look to media: to contact authorities, to get help, to monitor evolving situations, or to reach out to our loved ones. Sometimes we aren't even aware of an emergency until we are notified by one of the countless alerts, alarms, notifications, sirens, text messages, or phone calls that permeate everyday life. Yet most people have only a partial understanding of how such systems make sense of and act upon an "emergency." In Case of Emergency argues that emergency media are profoundly cultural artifacts that shape the very definition of "emergency" as an opposite of "normal." Looking broadly across a range of contemporary emergency-related devices, practices, and services, Elizabeth Ellcessor illuminates the cultural and political underpinnings and socially differential effects of emergency media. By interweaving in-depth interviews with emergency-operation and app-development experts, archival materials, and discursive and technological readings of hardware and infrastructures, Ellcessor demonstrates that emergency media are powerful components of American life that are rarely, if ever, neutral. The normalization of ideologies produced and reinforced by emergency media result in unequal access to emergency services and discriminatory assumptions about who or what is a threat and who deserves care and protection. As emergency media undergo massive growth and transformation in response to digitization and attendant entrepreneurial cultures, Ellcessor asks where access, equity, and accountability fit in all of this. The first book to develop a typology of emergency media, In Case of Emergency opens a much-needed conversation around the larger cultural meanings of "emergency," and what an ethical and care-based approach to emergency could entail.

Moving towards Inclusive Education: Diverse National Engagements with Paradoxes of Policy and Practice presents perspectives from Asia-Pacific and Europe that have seldom been heard in international debates. While there may be global consensus around United Nations' goals for inclusion in education, each country's cultural and religious understandings shape national views regarding the priorities for inclusion. Some countries focus on disability, while others bring in concerns about culture, ethnicity, language, gender and/or sexuality. In this fascinating collection, senior commentators explore the ethical difficulties as well as hopes for a more inclusive education in their countries, raising questions of interest for educators, policy-makers and all who support the work of inclusive education. Contributors are: Vishalache Balakrishnan, Bayarmaa Bazarsuren, Cleonice Alves Bosa, Yen-Hsin Chen, Lise Claiborne, Tim Corcoran, Bronwyn Davies, Carol Hamilton, Dorothea W. Hancock, Mashrur Imtiaz, Maria Kecskemeti, Silvia Helena Koller, Yvonne Leeman, Sonja Macfarlane, Roger Moltzen, Sikder Monoare Murshed, Sanjaabadam Sid, Simone Steyer, Eugeniusz Switala, Wiel Veugelers, and Ben Whitburn.

Moving towards Inclusive Education: Diverse National Engagements with Paradoxes of Policy and Practice presents perspectives from Asia-Pacific and Europe that have seldom been heard in international debates. While there may be global consensus around United Nations' goals for inclusion in education, each country's cultural and religious understandings shape national views regarding the priorities for inclusion. Some countries focus on disability, while others bring in concerns about culture, ethnicity, language, gender and/or sexuality. In this fascinating collection, senior commentators explore the ethical difficulties as well as hopes for a more inclusive education in their countries, raising questions of interest for educators, policy-makers and all who support the work of inclusive education. Contributors are: Vishalache Balakrishnan, Bayarmaa Bazarsuren, Cleonice Alves Bosa, Yen-Hsin Chen, Lise Claiborne, Tim Corcoran, Bronwyn Davies, Carol Hamilton, Dorothea W. Hancock, Mashrur Imtiaz, Maria Kecskemeti, Silvia Helena Koller, Yvonne Leeman, Sonja Macfarlane, Roger Moltzen, Sikder Monoare Murshed, Sanjaabadam Sid, Simone Steyer, Eugeniusz Switala, Wiel Veugelers, and Ben Whitburn.