Disability Studies Commons^™

Improvising Across Abilities: Pauline Oliveros And The Adaptive Use Musical Instrument [Book Review], Maria A. Souliotis

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

This book reviews how the AUMI movement has evolved in the years since its inception, with the people involved in it most closely detailing its impact on music education and disability activism. Narratives, case studies, and personal reflections highlight Oliveros’ philosophical and realized contributions to the AUMI movement, which until this book’s publication has received little attention.

Sincerely, Harriet [Book Review], Isaiah Mark Roby

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

"Sincerly, Harriet" follows Harriet as she moves to a new city and her adventures trying to adjust to her new neighbor, her new family dynamic, and her new diagnosis.

Blindness Through The Looking Glass [Book Review], Mollie Frazier

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

This review analyzes Gili Hammer’s Blindness Through the Looking Glass: The Performance of Blindness, Gender, and the Sensory Body. This book offers insight into the lives of blind women in Israel and challenges assumptions about beauty, femininity, and gender through interviews and years of Hammer's fieldwork as an anthropologist. She shows how blindness is not defined by what is missing, but by how women use their experiences to shape their own understandings of gender and society. The book explores gender identity, visual culture, and the sensory body, highlighting how blind women navigate a world so centered on visual beauty while …

Proceedings Of The 25th International Symposium On Adapted Physical Activity, Catherine Carty, Gerard Masdeu Yelamos

Publications

This volume presents the Proceedings of the 25th International Symposium of Adapted Physical Activity (ISAPA 2025), hosted by Munster Technological University under the Patronage of UNESCO. It is intended as a permanent scholarly record of the symposium, its themes, and its contributions across research, practice, policy, culture, and inclusion in line with CoARA principles.

Nursing Students’ Attitudes Regarding Technical Standards For Entrance Into A Bachelor Of Science In Nursing Program, Jordyn Cook

Honors Theses

Admission into a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program requires students to meet specific criteria including a non-negotiable set of technical standards. Technical standards encompass physical abilities including twisting, bending, and handling objects of varying weights (Good Samaritan College of Nursing and Health Science, n.d.). While physical capabilities may hold significance in bedside nursing, the American Nurses Association does not establish specific physical qualifications (American Nurses Association, 2010). Due to admission criteria and technical standards, individuals with disabilities are rarely found among career nurses and nursing students (Leslie & Miller, 2020).

This study aims to determine nursing students’ attitudes towards …

Blackward [Book Review], Imani Spence

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

Blackward (2023) is a graphic novel which follows the story of 4 friends who are looking to build Black and queer community. They solicit help from their local bookseller to host a Black zine fair.

Dislis Interview With Alice Wong On Disability Visibility, Jj Pionke

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

DisLIS editors interview Alice Wong about her disability advocacy and creative process.

Destined To Fail [Book Review], Jessica Schomberg

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

A deep dive into the eugenical ideas that grounded the work of influential educator and psychologist Carl E. Seashore. While Seashore was working a century ago, the author demonstrates how his ideas continue to influence education today.

Art And Film: Addressing Autistic Stigma Through A Cultural Disability Festival At Pace University, James Lawler

Social Justice Week

A presentation given as part of Social Justice Week 2025, discussing the Disability is Diversity annual film festival at Pace University. Prof. Lawler presented some of the themes of the film festival and screened three short films from previous years' festivals.

Disability And Human Trafficking: Prevention Education And Professional Training, Andrea Nichols, Sarah Slutsker, Melissa Oberstaedt

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Aim: This pilot study aimed to explore the intersection of disability and anti-trafficking prevention and training efforts from the perspectives of human trafficking survivors with disabilities and the professionals who work with them to inform further research.

Methods: The current study draws from in-depth interviews with seven participants, including two survivors and five professionals who regularly worked with human trafficking survivors with disabilities. Data analysis involved independent co-coding of transcribed interviews by a three-member research team to identify core themes and subthemes.

Results: The results showed a lack of human trafficking prevention education for people with disabilities, as well as …

Die [Book Review], Sierra Schuman

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

This review of Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans's comic series Die offers a general overview as well as an examination of various representations of disability, including post-traumatic stress disorder, physical disability, depression/grief, and gender dysphoria.

Stand Up! [Book Review], Amanda Harrison

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

Tori Sharp’s graphic novel Stand Up! follows best friends Clay and Kyle as they navigate the end of middle school, the school play, first crushes, and their podcast. This feel-good story offers an affirming and relatable escape for LGBTQIA+ and neurodiverse middle-grade readers.

Committed: Remembering Native Kinship In And Beyond Institutions [Book Review], George E. Gottschalk

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

Committed is a nuanced history of the Canton Indian Insane Asylum.

Shrink: Story Of A Fat Girl [Book Review], Jessica Luetger

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

Armed with research, personal experience, and stunning art, Rachel M. Thomas shows readers the experience of being a fat woman and how society regularly views, fears, and tries to control fat bodies.

Counter-Cartographies [Book Review], Jessica Schomberg

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

An examination of the work of performance artists as that art relates to pre-DSM 5 diagnostic concepts of autism. French anti-institutionalization activist and experimental filmmaker Fernand Deligny is the artist under primary discussion. Some attention is also paid to the art of Pope.L and Mel Baggs.

The Impending Blindness Of Billie Scott [Book Review], Jj Pionke

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott by Zoe Thorogood is the story of a young artist who is unexpectedly going blind due to retina detachment. She has about two weeks to create ten paintings for an exhibition and she goes on a journey to do just that.

Extremity [Book Review], Sierra Schuman

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

This review covers the Extremity comic series by Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer, and Rus Wooton. In addition to discussing disability representation (as the protagonist, Thea, has her right hand forcibly removed), this review will also focus on the comic's themes, visual style, and hyperviolence.

Interview With Paul Castle On Adoroscopes, Jj Pionke

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

JJ Pionke interviews Paul Castle about his book Adoroscopes and his creative process as a visual artist who has a degenerative eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa.

Cannibalizing The Starving: Poverty And Disability In The Late 19th And Early 20th Century America, Cole M. Hayes

Graduate Masters Theses

Cannibalizing the Starving analyzes how the American ruling class and their institutions perceptually disabled people in poverty alongside the repercussions of this disablement within the late 19^th and early 20^th century. This thesis deploys an anarchist framework of understanding hierarchies, the state, and violence is utilized alongside critical disability studies to understand how disability was socially constructed in the context of poverty. Further, much of the framing involved is from the context of labor or those who could not or did not labor. At the heart of the issue is understanding seemingly innocuous language used to denigrate those …

Examining The Relationship Between Stigma And Physical Disability Through Lived Experiences, Apphia M. Donoghue

Student Journal of Occupational Therapy

The primary objective of this study is to examine the relationship between stigma and physical disability, to discover the impact that perceived stigma has on several factors in a person’s life including overall health, well-being, and quality of life. A qualitative research design was used. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted to examine the relationship between stigma and physical disability, and to discover the impact of stigma on overall health and well-being. Three themes are identified: stigma narratives, shifts in awareness, and factors inhibiting quality of life. Stigma narratives contained three subthemes: experiences with stigma, frequency of stigma, and settings where …

Tank Chair [Book Review], Jj Pionke

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

We are introduced to Nagi our wheelchair using assassin, and his adorable younger sister, as they try to figure out how improve the amount of time where he is awake.

How Could You [Book Review], Sierra Schuman

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

This book review will cover How Could You, the debut graphic novel by Ren Strapp. Although disability is not the main focus of this graphic novel, disability depiction is discussed, alongside the art style, overall narrative, and queer representation.

I'M So Glad We Had This Time Together: A Memoir [Book Review], Jj Pionke

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

Maurice Vellekoop's I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together: A Memoir is a recounting of his realization and embracing of his homosexuality ultimately through getting therapy for his depression.

It's Lonely At The Centre Of The Earth [Book Review], Jessica D. Gilbert Redman

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth focuses on the author/artist’s battle with depression and anxiety—and the overwhelming urge to end her own life. Readers who are dealing with anxiety or depression will recognize themselves over and over again, as they read the graphic novel and identify the myriad of ways they themselves are trying to function and “make it” in a world that doesn’t seem to be built for them—or to understand them.

Phenomenological Study Of Disabled Student Experiences Related To Inclusive Learning Environments In Public Higher Education, Kristin Burgess

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Students with disabilities represent the largest and most diverse minority group in higher education, facing numerous barriers to accessing their learning environments. Historically, societal views have marginalized individuals with disabilities, perpetuating exclusion and discrimination. This study explores the experiences of disabled students in higher education, examining various models of disability, including the moral, charity, medical, social, and human rights models. These models influence how students experience their learning environments.

Higher education has traditionally been exclusive, primarily serving privileged groups. However, as societal narratives evolve, disciplines like disability studies have emerged, challenging these dominant narratives. The researcher, a community faculty member …

Meeting People Where They Are At: Accessible Approaches To Ceramic Design And The Artistic Process, Molly E. Thompson

Publications and Research

This paper explores accessibility for disabled people in ceramics, drawing upon my personal experiences as a disabled potter at Artistry Community Arts Center in Vermont. I begin with a discussion of how the process of creating pottery can be made more accessible, with a list of adaptable tools I have discovered and anecdotes about how pottery instructors can adapt their teaching styles to different needs. I then explore different examples of adaptive pottery made specifically for disabled people, including some of my own work. While recounting my own successes and failures in pottery production, I conclude that imperfection is the …

Ableism And Museum Art Education: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study Of Museum-Based Visual Studio Art Teachers, Elizabeth W. Buck

Doctor of Education Program Dissertations

All people, including individuals with disabilities, who participate in hands-on visual art can experience various benefits. However, visual studio art teachers, especially museum-based teachers, have various backgrounds that do not always include education or training in serving individuals with disabilities. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore how museum-based visual studio art teachers perceived that their training and preparation informed their awareness of ableism and ability to serve students with disabilities in art museums in the New England region of the United States. Twelve museum-based, visual studio art teachers participated in this study through semi-structured interviews. Through …

Exploring The Relationship Between Disability And Stress: A Preliminary Study, Katie Mcclyman

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Mental health issues can become disabling, and living with a disability in an ableist world can cause mental health struggles. This project explores what aspects of living with a disability generate stress. This project is a survey that gathered data through a two-questionnaire survey of disabled college-aged students. The need for a project like this came from the fact that there is not substantial research from the field of psychology done on disabled people and the relationship between disability and stress. The results of this study found that the more disability impact increases, so does disability related stress. This means …

Designing And Installing A Disability Accessible Teaching Garden, Annabelle D. Denham

Horticulture Undergraduate Honors Theses

As horticulture becomes increasingly popular as a subject, activity, and form of therapy, its inclusivity has not kept up with the pace of its growth. In order to address the need for inclusivity and accessibility, gardens must adopt universal design. Individuals with special needs continuously face discrimination. While horticulture therapy has long been studied and catered to primarily neurotypical and able-bodied individuals, there is limited research on creating gardens specifically to include those with disabilities. This project aimed to create a garden that could serve the needs of all participants, regardless of their ability and sensory needs. The garden was …

The Different Rhetoric Between Upholding And Overriding Disability Rights Inside The United States Supreme Court, Shane Egan

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper seeks to explain the rhetoric the U.S. Supreme Court uses when deciding disability cases, specifically when the Court upholds or overrides disability rights. The paper attempts to show how when the Court upholds disabled rights they use passive and weak rhetoric, and utilizes active and enforcing rhetoric when overriding disability rights. This paper analyzes this rhetoric inside education, healthcare, and employment cases heard by the Supreme Court.