Book Description
The second edition of The Disability Studies Reader builds and improves upon the classic first edition, which has sold well over 6000 copies since 1999. As a field, disability studies burst onto the scene across the social sciences and humanities in the 1990s, and the first edition of the reader gathered the best work that had been written on the subject, including essays by famous authors such as Susan Sontag and Erving Goffman.The new edition is more global in its coverage and adds material on genetic testing, the human genome, queer studies, and issues in developing countries.The size of the audience has grown since the first edition's publication, and the second edition's new material will make it even more useful for courses on the subject. Courses on the subject have mushroomed in the past ten years, and can now be found across the social sciences, humanities, and behavioral sciences. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Disability studies reader
I just got the book for a disability studies class. Book was in excellent conditions. However, this book is complicated and boring to read.

Normalcy: Garbage Force-fed by a Philosophical-wannabe Scholar
This novel was quite possibly one of the worst I have ever read.Poorly written, and grammaticly hard to swallow, Davis' arguements are hard to see through all the philosophical "crap" he presents.Davis paints of a picture of government conspiracy, and proposes a solution of anarchy and social equality (which he then goes on to contradict, because apparently there can be no equality).Disability is a serious issue,and should be treated as such.Davis makes a mockery of these people and their struggle, and should be tarred and feathered.Davis, here is my message to you: Please do not write anymore...you are not a scholar, an expert, or a professional for that matter.Move on and stop feeding America your radical ideas.

Terrific collection of essays, fiction, and poetry
This is a purposeful and strong collection of essays, fiction, and poetry that serves to illuminate a comparatively new (although long in coming) and vibrant discipline, Disability Studies, which, according to editor (and contributor) Dr. Lennard Davis, "is both an academic field of inquiry and an area of political activity."

Davis has written an elegant introduction that is ideological - with good reason. He provides an overview and defines the field and its terms. Davis cites many of the developers and 'early' thinkers (ancient times to the present) ofdisability studies and,in summary, asserts that Disability Studies is not about "sensitizing" "normal" persons. Disability Studies is, rather, "in favor of advocacy, investigation, inquiry, archeology, genealogy, dialectic, and deconstruction."

The book (which does not have to be read in any particular order)is divided intoseven main sections: "Historical Perspectives," "Politics of Disability," "Stigma and Illness," "Gender and Disability," "Disability and Education," "Disability and Culture," and finally a small section of fiction and poetry.

Davis' "Constructing Normalcy" appears first, appropriately so, for in my view it's really required reading. There is a generous selection of essays on Deafness and Deaf culture. (Davis himself grew up as the child of Deaf parents). Some of my favorite essays: Harlan Hahn's "Advertising the Acceptably Employable Image," on the relationship between capitalism and disability; Susan Wendell's deeply personal and thoughtful "Toward a Feminist Theory of Disability," in which she points out, "When you listen to this culture in a disabled body, you hear how often health and physical vigor are talked about as if they were moral virtues."Susan Sontag writes on AIDS and metaphor. "Blindness and Art" by Nicholas Mirzoeff is complex, difficult, and worth the effort. In addition there are a number of incredibly powerful historical discussions.

This is a terrific textbook - for it contains a wealth of material that is challenging and engaging. Readers interested in this field and its ideas will be pleased.As a reference work it'lldoubtless be useful for many years. It's solid and complex,and definitely worth reading.

"Enforcing Normalcy" A Mini-Review
The most priceless part of this book-- is the material he adds to the story of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's polio disability & his closetry about it.Like "Washington became a ramped city...."Like reporting that any press photographers who took pix of FDR being carried (suchas- to get into his car) had their film "confiscated" and destroyed by the Secret Service.Someday some innovative historian will note that as a person with a disability-- FDR was himself within the scope of the groups that the Nazis scapegoated & killed.(In the mid 1930's, they killed every disabled person in every custodial institution in Germany.)Thus, FDR was the hero in fighting a war that was-- in part-- a defense of his own kind.And he felt he had to hide that fact,I'm looking forward to the upcoming "From Charity To Confrontation: A History Of The Modern Disabled Rights Movement" by Fleisher (sp?) & Zames, from Temple Univ. Press.Freida Zames has been a disabled activist for decades.Her book should blow away the few similar titles. ... Read more

Book Description
This is a provocative look at writing by and about people with illness or disability—in particular HIV/AIDS, breast cancer, deafness, and paralysis—who challenge the stigmas attached to their conditions by telling their lives in their own ways and on their own terms. Discussingmemoirs, diaries, collaborative narratives, photo documentaries, essays, and other forms of life writing, G. Thomas Couser shows that these books are not primarily records of medical conditions; they are a means for individuals to recover their bodies (or those of loved ones) from marginalization and impersonal medical discourse.
Responding to the recent growth of illness and disability narratives in the United States—such works as Juliet Wittman’s Breast Cancer Journal, John Hockenberry’s Moving Violations, Paul Monette’s Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir, and Lou Ann Walker’s A Loss for Words: The Story of Deafness in a Family—Couser addresses questions of both poetics and politics. He examines why and under what circumstances individuals choose to write about illness or disability; what role plot plays in such narratives; how and whether closure is achieved; who assumes the prerogative of narration; which conditions are most often represented; and which literary conventions lend themselves to representing particular conditions. By tracing the development of new subgenres of personal narrative in our time, this book explores how explicit consideration of illness and disability has enriched the repertoire of life writing. In addition, Couser’s discussion of medical discourse joins the current debate about whether the biomedical model is entirely conducive to humane care for ill and disabled people.
With its sympathetic critique of the testimony of those most affected by these conditions, Recovering Bodies contributes to an understanding of the relations among bodily dysfunction, cultural conventions, and identity in contemporary America. ... Read more

Book Description
This path-breaking international handbook of disability studies signals the emergence of a vital new area of scholarship, social policy and activism.Drawing on the insights of disability scholars around the world and the creative advice of an international editorial board, the book engages the reader in the critical issues and debates framing disability studies and places them in an historical and cultural context.Five years in the making, this one volume summarizes the ongoing discourse ranging across continents and traditional academic disciplines.To provide insight and perspective, the volume is divided into three sections: The shaping of disability studies as a field; experiencing disability; and, disability in context.Each section, written by world class figures, consists of original chapters designed to map the field and explore the key conceptual, theoretical, methodological, practice and policy issues that constitute the field.Each chapter provides a critical review of an area, positions and literature and an agenda for future research and practice. The handbook answers the need expressed by the disability community for a thought provoking, interdisciplinary, international examination of the vibrant field of disability studies.The book will be of interest to disabled people, scholars, policy makers and activists alike.The book aims to define the existing field, stimulate future debate, encourage respectful discourse between different interest groups and move the field a step forward. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

What it's like to live with various disabilities
Handbook Of Disability Studies by Gary L. Albrecht (Professor of Public Health and of Disability & Human Development, University of Chicago, Illinois) is an informed and informative survey of the growing and evolving field of disability studies. Professor Albrecht presents the reader with an accurate picture of what it's like to live with various disabilities, and then examines how this critically important social issue has been regarded in the past, as well as its somewhat uncharted future. Handbook Of Disability Studies is very highly recommended reading for anyone interested in learning more about disabilities, how they affect life, and how the disabled adapt to their circumstances and conditions. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description
The role of quality assessments in social policy, especially health policy, and ethical and social issues raised by prenatal testing for disability are discussed in this analysis.A theme of the literature has been the role played by controversial assumptions about the quality of life of people with disabilities. This book turns the perspectives of disability scholars to issues that have largely been the province of health methodology, policy and philosophy, while re-directing philosophical policy analysis to problems that have largely been the province of disability scholarship. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Serious Look at a Problem of Our Time
With increased pre-natal genetic testing comes the knowledge to know of disabilities that the chile will face later. This book is a series of papers describing the ethical and social issues this raises. A second theme is a discussion of the quality of life for disable persons.

This book came from a working group that the editors convened. Papers were presented on the subject, and then afterwards they were revised in light of the deliberations at the conference. The contents range from the social contract under which we all live to the right of the individual woman to terminate a pregnancy for any reason what so ever (as defined by Roe v. Wade). ... Read more

Book Description
Bringing together Tom Shakespeare's innovative work from over the past ten years, Disability Rights and Wrongs presents an analysis of the key issues in disability studies. Providing an original approach to the definition of disability, it examines issues such as biological and social factors, the challenge to medicine and genetics, rhetoric and empowerment. Shakespeare re-examines care, charity and independent living, making an argument for the importance of intimacy and solidarity in disabled peoples lives. Accessible, stimulating and provocative, this text is a welcome addition to the current literature on disability and disability politics. ... Read more

Book Description
For new lawyers and paralegals who support a lawyer who appears before administrative law judges with the Social Security Administration, this is a comprehensive and easy-to-read procedure manual that includes a five-step sequential evaluation process for Social Security disability claims.Beginning with an introduction to the Social Security system and the administrative judicial, this book provides an education to the practice.Also helpful for educating clients, it is an invaluable resource for all law offices. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Social Security Disability and the Legal Professional (West Legal Studies (Paperback
This book is an excellent resource.

social security disability and the legal professional
Having represented many people in their appeal process for disability benefits for the past 13 years, I have found that understanding the Administration's maze of regulations is full time effort.After a careful review of this book, it is my opinion that it will provide invaluable information for a newcomer to Social Security Representation as well as otherswith more experience. Wolf and Prozcek did a very good job and find myself referring to this book several times each week,to make certain that I did not leave "a stone un-turned'.It is my understanding that Wolfe is an Administrative Law Judge(ALJ) and Mrs. Proszek was a senior staff attorney with the Office of Hearings and Appeals-SSA, which adds to the credibility of this book.They write the decisions.Therefore, they covered in the book exactly what they would expect of a representative to provide for there client during the appeal process and at a hearing.It is a prudent practice to fully develop your case before you step in the hearing room, follow the steps in the book and you will make a better impression on the ALJ andprovide your best effort for your client.I wish that I had a copy of this book 13 years ago! ... Read more

Book Description
As a field of inquiry, disability studies in education stands at the broad intersection of disability studies and educational studies. This book introduces graduate students, educational researchers, and teacher educators to the range of scholarly inquiry emerging from this exciting new field. Susan L. Gabel pulls together a sampling of the vast array of available scholarship that includes readings that intersect curriculum theory, critical policy analysis, personal narrative, and much more. Although disability studies in education has only recently been recognized as a field of inquiry with an identifiable body of literature, the chapters in this book present the work of some of the major scholars of disability studies in education. ... Read more

Book Description
Over recent years there has been an unprecedented upsurge of interest in the general area of disability and disability studies amongst academics and researchers throughout the world. This has generated an increasingly expansive literature, from a variety of perspectives, including cultural studies, development studies, geography, history, philosophy, social policy, social psychology and sociology. Perhaps inevitably, given this heightened interest, a number of important challenges and debates have emerged which raise many significant questions for all those interested in this newly emergent and increasingly important field. Disability Studies Today provides an invaluable introduction to and an overview of these concerns and controversies.

Although the field is increasingly interdisciplinary in nature, the emphasis is primarily a sociological one since sociology continues to play a central role in the development of disability studies. Whilst the focus is primarily on theoretical innovation and advancement, the arguments presented in this book have important political and policy implications for both disabled and non-disabled people. Moreover, since disability studies, like ethnic, women's and gay and lesbian studies, has developed from a position of engagement and activism rather than one of detachment, the articles in this volume maintain this tradition. The book contains contributions from established figures, as well as newcomers to the field. Topics covered include: the history of the development of disability studies in Britain and America, key ideas, issues and thinkers, the role of the body, divisions and hierarchies, history, power and identity, work, politics and the disabled peoples' movement, globalization, human rights, research and the role of the academy.

This book will prove invaluable to scholars, researchers, students and policy makers and, indeed, all those involved in this increasingly important area of social enquiry. ... Read more

Book Description
Includes 17 competencies/skills found on the CST Students with Disabilities test and 478 sample-test questions. This guide, aligned specifically to standards prescribed by the New York Department of Education, covers the sub-areas of Understanding and Evaluating Students with Disabilities; Promoting Student Learning and Development in a Collaborative Learning Community; and Working in a Collaborative Professional Environment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

HORRIBLE
This Book is THE worst study guide available. Like others have stated, this is the only book available as a study guide for the CST Students with Disabilities and what a shame for all of us who rely on these books for added support and study materials. The book is filled with mistakes: grammatical errors, incorrectly marked answers and complete nonsense. I called the number in the book to ask for a refund and the young man who I spoke to was extremely rude. He told me I would have to return the book to the place I bought it from.I explained to him the mistakes in the book and he offered no excuse or apology. When I told him that Borders would not accept a return because it was obvious by the binder that the book had been fully read, and that it was not Borders fault in providing for sale it its store such a poorly edited book, he then finally offered me the address to request a refund directly from XAM itself, and then he hung up on me. Please do yourself a favor and do not waste your money on this book.

Not worth the money
Although this book does have good information, the book is filled with typographical errors. There are questions that have no answers. There are words that are so badly misspelled that you actually have to stop and try to figure out what they are talking about. There are missing words in sentences, so again you have to guess the missing words. The book is way over priced for its quality.

Bad book
This book does not help for the test. The practice test does not have any questions from the test, so it does not help at all. Bad book for the test

HAPPY CUNY STUDENT - I WILL PASS THE CST!!!!
This book is a great resource for special educators. I think this book can be used as a reference in the classroom as well as for test preparation. I like the fact that this book explores all the aspects of special education and especially the laws. Being a special educator, I can relate with many of the scenario questions.

If you want a book without typos, skip this purchase...
I was very disappointed with this book. Words are spelled wrong, there are typos on every other page, certain review questions during the practice test are missing answers, and some answers give you a letter (ie: answer c) but then the explanation corresponds with answer a. I was so upset because I was really trying to cram and this book did not help at all because I kept getting angry about the fact that I spent so much money for it. I just don't understand how a book can be published with typos! If I had paid under a dollar, I would forgive but since I paid A LOT of money for it, I expected something with proper grammar and correct spelling. ... Read more

Product Description
The burgeoning field of disability studies has recently emerged within the humanities and social sciences and, as a result, disability is no longer seen as the biological condition of an individual body but as a complex product of social, political, environmental, and biological discourses. The groundbreaking essays of This Abled Body engage biblical studies in conversation with the wider field of disability studies. They explore the use of the conceptual category disability in biblical and Near Eastern texts and examine how conceptions of disability become a means of narrating, interpreting, and organizing human life. Employing diverse approaches to biblical criticism, scholars explore methodological issues and specific texts related to physical and cognitive disabilities. Responses to the essays by established disability activists and academics working in the social sciences and humanities conclude the volume. The contributors are Martin Albl, Hector Avalos, Bruce C. Birch, Carole R. Fontaine, Thomas Hentrich, Nicole Kelley, Janet Lees, Sarah J. Melcher, David Mitchell, Jeremy Schipper, Sharon Snyder, Holly Joan Toensing, Neal H. Walls, and Kerry H. Wynn. ... Read more

Book Description
Disability studies has become a legitimate area of academic study. It is multi-disciplinary in its critique of the oppressions that have historically "dumped" disabled people on the margins of society. This fully revised and updated edition not only explains disability studies as an academic field of inquiry, it also explores many of the current issues affecting the lives and circumstances of disabled people.

The book explores and analyzes "quality of life" factors in the lives of disabled people in relation to the professional development of undergraduates and examines the emergence of "rights" for disabled people in the local area, the UK and abroad.The author indicates the strengths and weaknesses of organizations "of" and "for" disabled people, and provides examples of individual and institutional oppressions against disabled people and "success stories," exploring how these have been overcome in education and employment. The book suggests how disabled and non-disabled people can collaborate in the development of inclusive communities and neighborhoods.

The text is suitable for students taking courses in the areas of health, social care and allied services at NVQ, BTEC, Degree and PGCE level. The author encourages students to raise their own questions and develop their own forms of inquiry. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Study of the Bible
Mr. Schipper has put forth a worthy contribution to the field.The combination of literary analysis and solid text criticism makes this a must read for anyone interested in Davidic studies, or simply wants to become a better reader of the Bible.This book is written with a compelling style and straight-forward approach to reading the Bible.

His inclusion of disability studies is a refreshing new approach to a topic that has seen many of the same historical studies over the years.

If there is any great failure to this important book, however, it is that Mr. Schipper is unable to sufficiently define the difference between an illness and a disability.This topic certainly requires further study, and this book provides an excellent new paradigm with which to do so. ... Read more

Book Description
This book is the second in a series with the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities (Series Editor: Matthew P. Janicki). These publications are designed to address the issues of health, adult development and aging among persons with intellectual disabilities.

Physical health considerations of persons with an intellectual disability are attracting attention within the contexts of human rights, public health, and health promotion. Research has shown that the prevalence of certain conditions and diseases is much higher in adults with an intellectual disability than in the general population. Experts from specific healthcare specialties draw on a strong research base to discuss key physical health considerations for the intellectual disability community. The result is a core resource for practitioners, researchers, students and advocates in this field. ... Read more

Book Description
Disability studies in education is a provocative and innovative field of social inquiry that challenges standard ways of thinking about disability in education, practices that serve to exclude disabled people from equal educational opportunity, and policies that support or drive inequality. This book brings together the best disability studies in education scholars to address the pressing questions facing the field. It provides an introduction to the field for the newcomer, a sharp challenge to the status quo in special and general education, and a map to understanding the serious disability issues confronting education today. ... Read more

Book Description
Unlike other books looking at inclusion and exclusion, this book draws on the experiences of the full circle of people involved in and affected by exclusion. This, therefore, is the first book to integrate the voices of an excluded child, the parents of excluded children, the voices of teachers, remaining pupils and researchers, with their reflection on inclusion and exclusion in the context of schools that do not cater well for diversity. The contributors, and issues raised, are international, giving the reader everything necessary for considering concepts and practices across countries and cultures, and highlighting ways in which schools might bring down the barriers to participation and learning. ... Read more

Book Description

"Bending Over Backwards is a welcome dismemberment of all that was unknowingly artificial from the start."
—The Minnesota Review

”[Its] uniqueness of thought is this collection’s strength as it makes for an interesting and proactive read.”
—American Journal of Occupational Therapy

"Davis's work offers creative and challenging examples that may be useful to our discipline and particularly to Disability historians.Bending Over Backwards remains an important and useful work for historians as a template for examining the myriad ways disability and Deafness infiltrate vital aspects of our identity, including laws, cultural icons, literature, and citizenship."
—H-Net Reviews

"Taken all together, the chapters offer an important, theoretically rich introduction to disability issues."
—Novel

"It is crucial, if at times uncomfortable, reading for medical professionals and scholars in the medical humanities alike. . . . Daring to mix the literary and the medical, the symbolic and the instrumental, the interpretive and the interventionist, Davis demonstrates what disability can teach us about the life that awaits any human baby."
—Literature and Medicine

"This superlative book is highly recommended for undergraduates, scholars, and researchers in the fields of disability studies, sociology, psychology, anthropology, ethics, and cultural studies."—Choice

"Lennard Davis is history in the making; for he is one of the foremost proponents of "disability studies," the newest theoretical kid on the block, noteworthy in part because it brings together scholars from the humanities and the medical sciences."
—Stanley Fish, in Chicago Tribune

”A collection of essays written over several years for different audiences, it contains fascinating traces of Davis’s intellectual journey from novel theorist and Foucauldian to disability studeis scholar and memoirist.”—American Literature

With the advent of the human genome, cloning, stem-cell research and many other developments in the way we think of the body, disability studies provides an entirely new way of thinking about the body in its relation to politics, the environment, the legal system, and global economies.

Bending Over Backwards reexamines issues concerning the relationship between disability and normality in the light of postmodern theory and political activism.Davis takes up homosexuality, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the legal system, the history of science and medicine, eugenics, and genetics.Throughout, he maintains that disability is the prime category of postmodernity because it redefines the body in relation to concepts of normalcy, which underlie the very foundations of democracy and humanistic ideas about the body.

Bending Over Backwards argues that disability can become the new prism through which postmodernity examines and defines itself, supplanting the categories of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation.