Law Commons^™

Tone It Down A Bit!: Euphemism As A Colonial Device In Australian Indigenous Studies, Colleen Mcgloin

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

In a previous article discussing the politics of language in Australian Indigenous Studies teaching and learning contexts, my colleague and I stated our objective in writing that article was to ‘‘instill’’ a sense of the importance of the political nature of language to our student body (McGloin and Carlson 2013). We wanted to engage students in the idea that language, as a conduit for describing the world, is not a neutral channel for its portrayal or depiction; rather, that it is a political device that is often a contributing force to racism and the perpetuation of colonial violence.While reviews of …

Ramp Up’S Shut-Down Robs Us Of A Needed Voice On Disability Issues, Shawn Burns

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

The headlines said it all.

Back to work: Disability support pension on the scrapheap, screamed Melbourne’s Herald Sun. Beating the bludgers will help the disabled was the lead on The Sunday Telegraph.

The mothballing of the ABC’s Ramp Up website, announced earlier this month, could not have come at a worse time for people with disability.

Too often, media representation of people with disability is embedded within familiar models of “tragedy” and “hero” – but the weekend’s coverage of potential changes to the disability support pension and the welfare system paint an equally distorted and harmful image.

The news media …