Tossing Around Some Ideas

So for my curriculum studies class I've got a paper due on Thursday. Specifically, it's a 2-3 page critical synthesis of an article or issue. Sounds simple, right? Well, unfortunately, given my tendency to let my mind bounce out of orbit, this is not an easy task. See, I'm also taking a disability studies class right now, and it just so happens that the first book (well part of a book) that we read for class was actually related to disability studies curriculum in higher education. I told Dr. C about it and she said she thought it would be great for me to explore this topic and present it to the class since disability studies has not been a focus of her curriculum course before and thought it would be an interesting topic. I'm (of course) excited to do so because I love sharing new things with my classmates.

I thought I had a brilliant idea and told myself that I'd read the whole book (!) and do my paper on the book. Unfortunately, there is WAAAAAY too much covered in the text for me to present on it in class AND write a 2-3 page paper on it AND support my critique with class readings. Not gonna happen. So there was one particular chapter that jumped out at me, and luckily, that chapter has actually been published as an article in a journal, so I may use that for my focus.

The article/chapter is Simi Linton's Disability Studies/Not Disability Studies in which she does a pretty good job of defining the boundaries of what disability studies is and is not...or what should and shouldn't be considered disability studies in curriculum. She identifies 12 problems related to the dominant curriculum's presentation of disability and discusses what is needed in disability studies curriculum, given these 12 issues. She also offers four related rationales for delineating between disability studies and not disability studies. I think perhaps I'd focus on these four rationales.

Hrm. What would I have to do? Well, I'd have to give a background on disability studies: how I became interested in the topic, models of disability, person first language, etc. Then maybe talk about Linton's four rationales: 1) distinction of the term "disability studies" (vs. impairment), 2) disability studies as a minority group status and marker of identity, 3) comparing disability studies to the women's studies trajectory, and 4) who should teach and write in the field. Man, I have tons to say on these topics. I also still need to tie class readings into this paper.

Things I could draw upon:

*Stark & Lattuca Ch 3 - perspectives on content selection

*Tierney - power conflicts over knowledge & uncovering voices that aren't present

*Kreber Ch4 - understanding others through listening to your own voice and to others

*Kreber Ch7 - p. 76? 82-83

*Kreber Ch 9 - quantifiable areas of engagement within internationalization? real world democratic education? p.102

Maybe I can do this.