I'm not particularly good at the academic genre of reflective writing; it intrudes too closely on the non-academic writing that I do, and the habits of self-reflection that I've developed as a memoirist overwrite the analytic skills I'm trying to develop to do formal self-critique. So, I apologize for not meeting certain expectations--I know in advance of writing this that I won't--and hope you will bear with me.
I don't know how class went yesterday, really. I know that I talked too much and failed to find easy entry points for other voices to join the conversation. I'm not certain how much of that is because I'm so excited by the potential of Crip Theory and Disability Studies to trouble and expand our ideas of rhetors and rhetorics, and how much of it is just that I'm a blabbermouth. If anyone felt silenced or overwhelmed by my enthusiasm, I'm very sorry. If you were just bored... well, not every lens works for every eye. I hope that at least you found something useful in the readings.
That said, I do think there were some interesting and productive moments of conversation. The discussion of able-bodied actors in crip roles, for instance, helped to create a deeper understanding of the fluidity of disability as an identity axis, particularly when we were talking about the show "Switched at Birth." Thank you, Brianna, for posting the link on authenticity and the show. (I thought it was very interesting... but I was a little taken aback by how heavily the hearing ASL consultant was praised and the deaf ASL consultant was not. But, wait, is that the sort of totalizing comment that might make it harder for other people to speak when I talk about Disability Studies? I think it might be.)
I'm excited for DC's discussion of autism and rhetoric on Thursday. I think that, perhaps because we find more persons with mental disabilities in our classrooms than with motor or sensory disabilities, it may be easier and more natural for us to engage in Crip Theory through that lens. Go, DC!
Sarah
This blog is the shared writing space for ENG 592A, Rhetorical Theories and the Teaching of Writing, a graduate seminar in English at Ohio University.
I, for one, found your rendition of Crip Theory and Disability Studies was very beneficial, mainly because I previously struggled separating those two strands from, as you put it yesterday, critical and cultural studies. And, it seems like this is key to understanding the scholarship, in general.
ReplyDeleteI was probably so quiet because I had no previous experience with Crip Theory and Disability Studies, so I didn't want to make a fool of myself haha. But I really enjoyed your introduction, Sarah, and hope I continue to learn more today!
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