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Identity Politics Of Disability: The Other And The Secret Self, Alice Wexler

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

Ambivalence with severe physical and mental abnormality runs deep in pedagogy, but it is only a reflection of an historical ambivalence in western culture. By analyzing institutionalized behaviors towards, and assumptions about, disability in art and education, I hope to speak to the theme of the journal, which is "(Un)becoming." For at least a century individuals with severe physical disabilities have been derided as freaks, while for two decades of youth counterculture, the same term denoted a rite of passage. Individuals who exhibit their disability professionally want to be called performers or entertainers, while the Mothers of Inventions' first album …