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Disability studies: new conference; two new journals
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Mar. 2, 2004 -- This weekend Atlanta's Emory University hosts the Modern Language Assn's Conference on Disability Studies and the University. The Conference website says it's "the first national conference in the humanities for members of the academic community who are committed to diversity and who want to know more about disability studies and how it can shape learning environments." There'll be sessions on "defining disability," "what disability studies teaches us about learning," "the inclusive university," "disability studies and the humanities," "developing disability studies programs and minors," "disability identity" and "coming out in the classroom." Over two dozen speakers include most of the nation's pre-eminent disability studies scholars. There's more information at http://www.mla.org/conference_on_disabi
The Disability Studies Quarterly, founded by early disability studies scholar Irving Kenneth Zola nearly 25 years ago, started 2004 with a changed home -- its website is now hosted by the American Foundation for the Blind and can be accessed at http://www.dsq-sds.org/ The journal's new editors, Corinne Kirchner, Ph.D., Director of Policy Research and Evaluation at the Foundation in New York, and Beth Haller, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Journalism at Towson University in Maryland, say they are "strengthening the journal's peer reviewing process, expanding the book and video review section to add an emphasis on popular commercial films and theatre, and guaranteeing the highest level of online journal accessibility for blind and visually impaired readers." They are looking for "original research for peer review, research in progress, pilot studies, commentary/essay, fiction, and poetry. Letters to the editors, news from the disability studies field, and calls for papers are also welcomed," they say. The first issue of 2004 focuses on children's literature; access it at http://www.afb.org/dsq/current_issue.html
Until now, DSQ's website was affiliated with the Center for Disability Studies at the University of Hawaii; however, that center is now hosting a new disabiltiy studies journal, the Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal. RSD's inaugural issue, published last month, is dedicated to the journal's founding editor, the late Dr. David Pfeiffer. The Inaugural Issue includes a tribute to Dr. Pfeiffer from many of his friends and colleagues, as well as a forum on "Disability Culture: A Decade of Change." More at http://www.rds.hawaii.edu ; you can download the inaugural issue in either Word or PDF format.