Theory in Practice: Disability studies journal article about recent government and media representations of disability

Picture: protesters at today’s ‘Hardest Hit’ march, carrying a sign which is partly written in Braille. It reads “We’re being —- by the government.” Someone has written a translation of the Braille word below it: “shafted”. Photograph copyright Lisa Egan.

‘The language of shirkers and scroungers?’ Talking about illness, disability and coalition welfare reform – Disability & Society.

Yesterday’s discussion on the BBC’s You and Yours was about disability, cuts and welfare reform, and featured Where’s the Benefit‘s own Bendy Girl. Some contributors’ comments offered a clear example of how attitudes to disability haven’t really changed much since Victorian times – if not before. Some academic research recently published has been talking about how these attitudes might relate to the way that the government and the media are representing disability at the moment. Academic journal articles are expensive if you’re not at a university, but I think research around disability and society is vitally important, and this article’s conclusions are a late-but-appreciated part of academic debate – so here’s a bit of a summary of the article.

The Price of Education

Image of the entrance to Leeds University. Photo by Martin Toole (cc).

Rise in university applications slows amid fears about degree costs |  The Guardian

This is an interesting one. A market research company has asked current students whether they would have gone to university if they’d had to pay £9000 fees. Around half of students surveyed say that they would not have done.

Daily Blogging Challenge

Image of a writing hand. Photo by Rachel Davies (cc).

Inspired by people who’ve been doing the April A to Z blogging challenge, like fellow PhD student kirstyes, I’m thinking about blogging daily.

Plain English: My Research

Image: a stack of books. Photo by Dayna Bateman (cc).

If you’re a postgrad student and you haven’t discovered #phdchat on twitter yet, it’s worth taking a look. A number of contributors to the discussion have been putting their research into plain English to make it more accessible for readers – here are some examples. It’s a brilliant idea, and especially relevant to my project.

Theory in Practice: ‘Digital Researcher’ Conference, 2011

Image: woman presenting at the Digital Researcher conference. My photograph.

Inspired by Jennifer Jones‘ liveblogging, I’m putting down my thoughts on the Digital Researcher 2011 conference (twitter tag: #dr11) while experiencing it.

Constructing Interpretations

Image of a Bible open at a page of the gospels. Photo (cc) Rachel Davies.

I did give the warning that ‘regular’ for me actually means ‘biannual’, didn’t I? Apologies for the long absence. We moved house, so life took over for quite a while. But! I am now enrolled on my PhD (although not ‘registered’ until I’ve submitted an extended proposal, which I’ll be doing after Christmas).

Theology in Practice: A Tale of Three Masses – 1*

Image: a church with steps leading up. Photo (cc) Reinante el Pintor de Fuego.

Hoping to make a bit of a semi-regular series of theology/theory in practice, to complement more theoretical thoughts. Although to me, ‘regular’ tends to mean ‘more than once a year’. So we’ll see how it goes!

I’ve been to three churches recently, where I had very different access experiences.

Emancipatory Disability Research (or: Why it matters that the ‘academy’ isn’t more accessible for disabled people)

Image: picture of a student’s desk. My photograph.

Last week a commenter on this blog asked the following question:

“Could you also explain, though, why does your research HAVE to be done by a disabled person…?”

Piloting In

Image: aeroplane flying overhead. Photo (cc) Andy Mabbett.

I’m currently working on a pilot study into the experiences of disabled Christians. This will be an entirely qualitative study focused primarily on disabled people’s experiences, as a way in to research on the theologies or practices of specific churches.

Why critique religion?

Image of a clock on the spire of a church. Photo (cc) Daniel Jackson.

We live in a secular age. Despite the odd throwback (bishops in the House of Lords and an established Church of England come to mind), religion has ceased to have much, if any significance in most areas of society. ¹ At least, that’s what I read in the papers and hear from my many non-religious friends. It’s not my perspective — but it’s clearly that of many people in our largely secular society.

So why critique religion? Aren’t there social structures where disability discrimination affects more people, and shouldn’t we be critiquing those first?

Welcome!

Being stuck between the end of an MA and the beginning of a PhD programme (I hope) is somewhat isolating. I have all sorts of things to say and no one to listen to me. Apart from my long-suffering partner, that is — who, while interested in all things social theory-related, does have a tendency to go away and have a real life. Inconveniently.