Tanya Titchkosky, Ph.D. is Asst. Professor at the University of Toronto. After almost a decade of teaching Sociology and Disability studies, at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, Tanya Titchkosky is now at the University of Toronto, in the Department of Sociology and Equity Studies of OISE. Making use of her lived experience of dyslexia and her commitment to interpretive sociology, Tanya is helping to develop the emerging presence of disability studies at the University of Toronto.  She is also author of numerous articles and two books, the latest, Reading and Writing Disability Differently: The Textured Life of Embodiment (UTP 2007).  This book, like her first, Disability, Self and Society (UTP 2003, see reviews below), aims to explore disability as it is made by culture.  Her theorizing and her politics hold that made by culture, disability is a prime site to examine the makings of culture.  Tanya’s work is supported by a standard SSHRC grant, with co-investigator Rod Michalko.  They are examining how university life and knowledge production organize conceptions of disability and our collective and personal lives as embodied beings.

 

Abstract: Disability Studies and the Art of Theorizing the Normality Genre
Whether we are inclined to judge some images of disability as positive and others as negative, all such images can be understood as late-capitalism’s location where people buy and trade in the pleasures of the normality genre.  Paul Darke (1998:183) suggests that our ordinary relations to images of disability are not so much a validation or degradation of difference as they are the valorization of “… normality, the very illusion at the heart of the oppression of disabled people.”  Instead of finding better ways to judge images of disability as either negative or positive, my paper explores the kinds of ordinary social relations people establish to disability imagery.  Exploring these relations to disability imagery serves as an occasion to show that disability studies offers us the art of theorizing, and thus remaking, normalcy in everyday life.  My analysis of popular culture narrative depictions of so called “positive” images of disability, especially the overcoming narrative, will reveal how the normality genre works as well as the pleasures of normalcy in which this genre trades.  My ultimate aim is to demonstrate that disability studies offers the provocation necessary for people to develop a more theoretical and thus artful relation to our on-going ties to normality.

Praise for Dr. Tichkosky's recent book, Reading and Writing Disability Differently: The Textured Life of Embodiment

‘In this breakthrough account of discourses of disablement, Tanya Titchkosky reveals how pretexts for exclusion and annihilation are encrypted in our social and cultural vocabularies. Reading and Writing Disability Differently deciphers antipathies toward the disabled subject that are embedded in everyday bureaucratic, journalistic, and medical practice. This is a call to action for activists and scholars, ethicists and policymakers alike. Titchkosky has cracked the code, and we her readers must now rise to the challenge of seeding liberation – and celebration – in talk and texts that render disability meaning-rich.’
-Catherine Frazee, School of Disability Studies, Ryerson University-

‘Reading and Writing Disability Differently is an original, highly accessible, and well-structured exploration of the textu(r)ality of encountering, enacting, and reproducing the meanings of the disabled body. Tanya Titchkosky carries through the disability studies project of destabilizing socio-normativities with a light personal touch that engages with both everyday culture and contemporary theory.’
-Margrit Shildrick, School of Sociology and Social Policy, Queen’s University Belfast-Ireland

 

Stefan Honisch is currently completing a double Master’s degree in Piano and Composition at the University of British Columbia, where his teachers include Jane Coop and Stephen Chatman. He completed his undergraduate studies in Piano Performance at the University of Victoria in 2004 and graduated with distinction. His teacher was Eva Solar Kinderman. As well, he studied composition with.John Celona and David Clenman. He is planning on pursuing a PhD in Educational Studies with Dr. Roman as his supervisor to explore the relationship between disability-arts and post-war avant-garde movements in Western art music which embrace stylistic and aesthetic plurality. Stefan has twice received the Rick Hansen Man in Motion Fellowship as well as numerous other awards in recognition of his academic achievement and musical ability.  He is a member of the Society for Music Theory Interest Group on Music and Disability, and has presented his research into music and disability at conferences and a major lecture-series at UBC and the University of Western Ontario.

 

Abstract:  The Road to Marginalization is Paved with Good Intentions: In pursuit of the re-humanization of Physically Impaired Musicians
In his article “Normalizing the Abnormal: Disability in Music and Music Theory,” Joseph Straus summarizes research undertaken in the relatively new field of Disability Studies and identifies central concepts. He suggests that some of these ideas might be useful in the study of Western classical music. Building on Straus’ 2006 work, in this paper, I consider the practical implications of Disability Studies research in the context of advanced studies in piano performance, and the relevance to this discipline of two recurring narratives of disability, disability overcome and disability accommodated. The first narrative, according to Straus (2006) and other scholars (Thomson, 1997 and Bazzana 1997) figures prominently in the reception of physically disabled performers. I argue that manifestations of the triumphalist narrative of disability divert attention away from both the musical abilities of an impaired performer and from the music itself. The narrative of disability accommodated however, allows for a rational view of disability. 

The paper explores the distinction formulated by some Disability Studies scholars between impairment and disability. An existing physical impairment is potentially, not inherently disabling, as I illustrate with examples from my own experience. Going further, I draw a connection between the view of disability “overcome” and the sometimes patronizing reception of physically impaired performers.  I conclude by suggesting areas of further inquiry such as the lack of accessibility of public theatres for impaired performers, and the potential for interdisciplinary collaboration in constructing assistive devices to facilitate instrumental performance.

References:
Bazzana, K. (1997). Glenn Gould, The performer in the work: A Study in performance practice. Oxford: Clarendon  Press.
Straus, J. (2006). Normalizing the abnormal: disability in music and music theory. Journal of the American Musicological Society. 59(1), 113-84.
Thomson, R. G. (1997). Extraordinary bodies: Figuring physical disability in American culture and
literature. New York: Columbia University Press.

Stefan will perform select classical piano pieces: Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita in A minor; Richard Strauss: Five Piano Pieces Op.3; and Frederic Chopin: Fantasie in F minor Op.49

 

Sheena Brown is an MA candidate within the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia. She is a 2005 Social Sciences and Humanities MA scholarship award recipient and has been a panel speaker at the 2007 Canadian Disability Studies Association (Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences Congress) delivering her paper entitled, “Back to ‘Normal?’: A Familiar Conversation.” She has also previously worked both at Kindale Developmental Association as a Day Program Facilitator and at the Canadian Mental Health Association. She is one of the co-authors with Dr. Roman of a forthcoming chapter to be published in a sociology of education anthology edited by C. Levine-Rasky with Oxford University Press, which troubles the 'unavailable intersections' of issues of asylum-making, residential schooling and institutional confinement of people with disabilities and First Nations peoples. Her current interests include investigating the links between education, disability and ‘at risk’ youth. Her graduate work concentrations upon examining special educational policy by interviewing post secondary students who had previously been the recipients of such policy interventions. While expecting these students to be harshly critical, she has discovered that students’ reactions to these experiences where deeply intertwined with specific class, gender and racialized meanings of meritocracy.  She hopes to expand upon these findings later as a doctoral dissertation.

 

Sheena Brown, MA Candidate Educational Studies, UBC

ABSTRACT
Back to Normal? Reclaiming Productive Citizenship – A Familiar Conversation

Framed as a conversation between my mother and myself, together we explore some constructions of what it means to have a disability, particularly examining how people with disabilities are often and falsely constructed as economically non-contributing ‘burdens.’ Drawing upon the work of Meekosha and Dowse (1997) and Davis (1995) I argue that the critique of productive citizenship needs to be expanded to include a discussion of the construction normalcy, a construction deeply hinged within Western traditions guiding underlying assumptions of thought and reason (Bannerji: 2003). It is these modes of thinking that fail to recognize normalcy as a labor that denies its own productive power necessary for reproducing everyday life. For people with disabilities who struggle to make rights-based claims this recognition is essential in moving beyond and challenging waged/economic contribution as the only active expression of citizenship.

These assumptions are at the core of Canadian governmental polices (e.g. requirement qualifications for BC disability income benefits) and practices that determine not only what ‘counts’ as a disability but also determines the well being of many people who become cast inappropriately as ‘burdens.’ It is my desire that expanding the discourse of productive citizenship beyond the narrow parameters of waged labor might open the space for citizenship to be re-claimed (rather than re-named) promoting tangible and transformative change that would make accessible affordable housing, benefit allotments large enough to adequately provide basic necessities not currently covered in the below poverty rates assessed, a basic and mandatory right available to all citizens. My mother; however, has her own ideas…

 

Leslie G. Roman is Associate Professor of Educational Studies at UBC and the Inspired Creator/Producer of The Unruly Salon Series at Green College and an acrylic painter, poet and dramatist. She teaches and publishes in the inter-related areas of anti-oppression specifically, and through personal experience in disability studies, feminist theory, anti-colonialism, qualitative methodologies, youth subcultural studies, critical policy studies, and cultural studies. She has published widely in journals such as Educational Theory, the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Discourse: The Cultural Politics of Education and Anglistica, among numerous others. She is also primary co-editor and a contributor to Dangerous Territories: Struggles for Difference and Equality (Routledge, 1997), Views Beyond the 'Border Country': Raymond Williams and Cultural Politics (Routledge, 1993) and Becoming Feminine: The Politics of Popular Culture, (The Falmer Press,1988) which won the American Educational Studies, Outstanding Book of the Book of the Year. She is currently finishing a book entitled, Contested Knowledge: Feminist Theory, Pedagogies, Policies and Politics (Rowman & Littlefield). Leslie will be exhibiting a new collection of acrylics on canvas called, “Painting to Live: Art OUTS Depression, from her forthcoming exhibit, “Depression ≠Work: Transforming the Discourse of Productive Citizenship.” She is currently completing a SSHRC-funded project, “The Burden of Imperfection: Querying British Columbia’s Participation in ‘the Eugenic Atlantic’ (1878-1996)” which has been graced, informed transformed by the work of her research team: Sheena Brown, Rafael Wainer, Steve Noble, Alannah Earl Young and most recently, Dawna Lee Rumball. Together, the research team, Leslie Roman, Sheena Brown, Steve Noble, Rafael Wainer, and Alannah Earl Young co-authored an article entitled, “Unsettling Education’s Pastoral Sociology: Asylum-making, Nostalgia, and Medicalized Colonialism in British Columbia (1859-1897)” in submission to a cultural studies journal.

 

Abstract: “No Time for Nostalgia: Asylums, Residential Schools in British Columbia and Artistic Praxis for Social Transformation”. This paper will be co-presented by Leslie Roman, Sheena Brown and Alannah Earl Young
We ask the question: How have disability and indigenous arts and cultural praxis transformed and interrupted the historical sociological archival research journey we have undertaken to understand the relationships among asylum-making, medicalized colonialism and eugenics in the case of the Woodlands School, formerly the Provincial Asylum for the Insane in Victoria, British Columbia? Specifically, how can voices often silenced or suppressed in archival historical sociology and in official institutional records be re-claimed through the arts, oral history, and relational genealogies which are committed to engagement with communities, alternative ways of understanding the relationship between private and public lives, institutional or state secrets and the breaking of years of silence and silencing? Our presentation traces the significant encounters we have shared as a research team across our different epistemic, historical and social locations to learn from one another’s unruly histories. The paper shows how our research shifted and owes a significant debt to the art work of Tania Willard, the story of the land as told to us by Rhonda Larabee, and equally significantly, the powerful voices of the self-advocate survivors of the Woodlands, who speak for themselves in the documentary Inside/OUT (directed by Lorna Boschman and produced in conjunction with the British Columbia Association for Community Living) through their artwork. Our paper will show how unofficial and often artful and arts-inspired sources of disability and indigenous studies can variously interrupt, transform ableist normalizing medicalized colonialism.

 

Alex Lubet is the Morse Alumni/Graduate & Professional Distinguished Teaching Professor, Music/Jewish Studies/American Studies at the University of Minnesota and Head the Division of Composition and Theory, School of Music, while he is the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Center for Jewish Studies, sits on the Disability Issues Committee and the Associate Editor, Review of Disability Studies. He is a composer, performer, and author whose specialties include music and text for theatre, dance, and improvisation ensembles, and works on Jewish subjects. His compositions have received over 300 performances on six continents. A charter member of the University of Minnesota Academy of Distinguished Teachers, he is the only School of Music faculty member, the only Twin Cities campus arts faculty member, and the only artist to have received that honor. He has been a visiting professor in Bolivia, Poland, and China.

Lubet has had a career-long interest in encounters between cultures. Manifested in his early work in the use of musical and extra-musical influences from beyond the European tradition, especially the musics of Asia, his most recent projects have been in collaboration with artists from around the world. They include: Iris of Light, for Koto ensemble; Alyssa in Bali, for gamelan; And the Walls Come Tumbling Down, a dance-drama chronicling relations between African- and Jewish-Americans; The Wise Men of Chelm, a klezmer musical for children; Bosnia Blues, stagework (script by the composer) with Jewish and blues musicians and live electronics; and African Sabbath, for vocal soloists, chorus, and jazz and African instrumentalists. He directs and performs in Blended Cultures Orchestra, a professional multicultural improvisation ensemble.

Although principally active as a creative artist, Lubet has written for such journals as Ethnomusicology and The Annual Review of Jazz Studies. His most recent published scholarship is "Indeterminate Origins: A Cultural Theory of the American Experimental School," an essay on Asian-influenced American composers, in Perspectives on American Music since 1950 (Garland: 1999). He has curated concerts for the College Music Society and the American Composers Forum and has directed the Gathering at the River world music series since its inception in 1993.

 

Abstract: Music and the Case for Inclusive Education
The field of disability studies can only truly matter in the pragmatic context of the betterment of the lives of those regarded as people with disabilities.  That disability is understood as a socially constructed state renders it an extremely fluid category, far more than is typically imagined, as well as a multifunctional political tool in the service of exclusion or inclusion of individuals and populations categorized as less than normatively functional.

Music provides an extraordinary window into the praxis of disability.  In many cultural systems including the “the West,” musical activity is regarded as the reserve of people of “talent” or hyperability.  Among the ramifications of this construct of talent, popular culture treatments of classical music feature disability themes with great frequency, always in the context of potential or realized tragedy.  Such popular myths of this kind naturally has lived ramifications, one of these the virtual exclusion of many people with disabilities from music education and other active musical participation. Obvious exceptions such as music therapy and other “special” settings simply prove the exclusion hypothesis.

Alternatively, music is elsewhere regarded as an activity of daily living, even a duty of citizenship; a site of inclusion.  Because music is nearly unique as a universal human praxis and both a taught activity and a critically important pedagogical instrument, its value in considering the case for inclusive education in toto is substantial.  This paper will examine case studies from Western classical and vernacular culture, the ancient and contemporary Middle East, and the meeting of East and West in Minnesota classrooms in both stating the case for inclusive education and acknowledging challenges to its implementation.

Sources:
Lubet, Alex.  2004.  Tunes of Impairment:  An Ethnomusicology of Disability.  Review of Disability Studies 1:1.
Merriam, Alan.  1964.  The Anthropology of Music.  Northwestern University Press.
Mithen, Steven.  2005.  The Singing Neanderthals:  The Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body.  London:  Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

Integrated with his paper, Professor Lubet will play three musical pieces with Ms. Iris Misae Shiraishi, whose bio is also listed: “Fantasy on a Theme” by Dave Tarris 2) Hamakaze, a solo composition by Iris Misae Shriraishi and, 3). “By the Rivers of Babylon.”  Between pieces, Alex will be offering excerpts from mu prose and music pieces on disability themes.  He will also talk some about performing after musician's injuries.

 

Iris Misae Shiraishi took her first taiko class at Theater Mu (now Mu Performing Arts) with Artistic Director/Taiko Artist Rick Shiomi in 1997 and became one of the founding members of Mu Daiko, Mu's resident professional taiko group.  Her passion for the art of taiko has led her to study with internationally acclaimed artists including Kenny Endo (Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble), Masakazu Yoshizawa (Kokin Gumi), Chabo (Shidara), PJ Hirabayashi (San Jose Taiko) and Kaoru Watanabe and Chieko Kojima (Kodo).  She has traveled to Sado Island, Japan for workshops with members of Kodo and to Hachijojima to study that island's distinctive drumming style.  Iris has taken instruction in the traditional Edo Bayashi (shinto shrine music) and Edo Kotobuki Jishi (Japanese lion dance) and is also developing skills in fue (Japanese flute) and shamisen (3-stringed lute).

She is currently Taiko Programs Coordinator of Mu's taiko program offering a full range of classes to the general public.  Iris is an active residency and performing artist working extensively to bring taiko experiences to both the greater Twin Cities metropolitan area as well as outside of Minnesota.  Performing highlights include annual full-length concerts at the Southern Theater; she was honored to be a part of Mu Daiko's performance at Taiko Jam '05, the showcase performance of the North American Taiko Conference in Los Angeles.
Iris began composing for taiko in 1999, and has been fascinated with both the rhythm and movement possibilities in the art form.  She has most recently been experimenting with Okinawan melodic scales, different time signatures and playing techniques within the structure of very traditional Japanese music forms. 

Iris will play her solo composition, “Hamakaze” and accompany Alex’s performances.

 

'A great drummer.'
-Rick Shiomi, Artistic Director, Mu Performing Arts, Minneapolis.

'Iris Shiraishi melds a dancer's elegance with her sheer joy in sonorous, rhythmically explosive taiko drumming.'
-David Harris, Executive Director, Rimon, the Minnesota Jewish Arts Counci

Geoff McMurchy is a dancer, choreographer, and sculptor. He is also the Artistic Director of the Society for Disability Arts and Culture (S4DAC) in British Columbia and one of the five artists featured in the Bonnie Sherr Klein film "Shameless: The Art of Disability".

S4DAC was the first to take up the challenge of creating a ‘disability arts movement’ in Canada, a movement that has gained strength and respect around the globe. The Society’s signature event, the kickstART Festival of Disability Arts and Culture in Vancouver (2001, 2004), was Canada’s first international festival of disability arts.

 

Building upon his innate and deep love of art -- his earlier dance experience with groups such as the Alberta Contemporary Dance Theatre, and inspired by CandoCo (British integrated dance company) following their 1999 Vancouver performance -- Geoff returned to the dance floor in early 2000, performing within Canada, at the High Beam Festival in Adelaide, Australia, and internationally.

Geoff will screen a 20-minute DVD of Wingspan Three, the most recent iteration of a dance performance that has developed over several years. The work, with dance partner Lori Hamar, explores various aspects of human experience; yearning, companionship and transcendence. Wingspan Three has recently been performed in Toronto, Calgary and Victoria.

Praise

'Wingspan Three took me on a powerful dance journey, using movement, sound and image to communicate the push and pull of the human body and spirit in search of liberation. Performers/choreographers Geoff McMurchy and Lori Hamar caressed and jostled with images of urban anonymity and with each other to produce a complex and rich emotional landscape.'
-Rose Jacobson, Project Manager, Picasso PRO

'Breathtaking...'
Nicole Dunbar, Producer, Balancing Acts Festival

Bonnie Sherr Klein and her husband Michael immigrated to Canada from the United States as Vietnam War resisters in 1967. Bonnie joined the National Film Board, where she made films with the Challenge for Change Programme and later the historic feminist unit, Studio D. Her many films include VTR St. Jacques (the first experience with community video); SPEAKING OUR PEACE: A Film about Women, Peace, and Power; and the infamous NOT A LOVE STORY: A Film about Pornography.
Bonnie’s filmmaking life halted abruptly in 1987, when a congenital anomaly caused a catastrophic brainstem stroke at the age of 46. After many years of rehabilitation, she now gets around on two canes or her motorized scooter, Gladys. Using her intimate personal journals, Bonnie described her experience on radio (the BONNIE & GLADYS series, CBC) and print (SLOW DANCE, Knopf Canada, 1997.) She found `rolling models’ in the disability rights movement, and co-founded the Society for Disability Arts and Culture, which produces Canada’s landmark KickstART! Festivals.

Bonnie returned to filmmaking and the NFB seventeen years after her stroke to make SHAMELESS: The ART of Disability, which is premiered in 2006. Five artists challenge the scarred stereotype of disability as tragedy by telling their own stories in various artistic genres. `It turned out to be a film not about disability nor about art, but about different ways of being human. It’s an intimate film about humans, being.’

Bonnie has received the YWCA Women of Distinction Award the Governor General’s ‘Persons’ Award and she was given an Honorary Doctorate at Ryerson University.

Bonnie will screen her film, SHAMELESS: The ART of Disability and speak about it. For more information on Shameless, click here.

 

'There is a lot to digest in Shameless. Thought-provoking, it is an eye-opener of a film that may shock viewers at times and may also cause some to feel uncomfortable. However, as Klein and her collaborating artists intended, the film will get people thinking about disability "as a valued human condition that contradicts everything we're taught and that we fear." This is a "must see" documentary that should be in all public, high school and university libraries. A valuable resource with wide-spread appeal, Shameless certainly would pique, arouse and stimulate interest and discussion among students, educators and professionals involved in areas of disability studies, family studies, women's studies, rehabilitative medicine, ethics (the artists talk about euthanasia and refer to the highly publicized Tracy Latimer case in Saskatchewan), psychology, the arts and special education.'
-Lois Brymer, CM Magazine

'Bonnie Sherr Klein is a true gem.'
-The Belonging Initiative

Lynn Manning is an award winning poet, playwright, actor, and former Blind Judo Champion of The world who lives in the San Francisco Bay-area.  He accomplished all of this after being shot and blinded in a bar fight at age twenty-three.  In WEIGHTS, his autobiographical solo show, Manning brings the listener into a world of sound through storytelling, poetry, music and the rhythms of life around him. He is co-founder of The Watts Village Theater Company, which brings new and relevant theatre to L.A.'s Afro/Latino community, and president of Firehouse Theater Co., dedicated to expanding participation of disabled persons in all aspects of theatrical performing arts. WEIGHTS has received 3 NAACP Theater Awards, including Best Actor for Lynn. His one act plays, SHOOT, THE CONVERT, and THE COLORIZED VERSION have been produced in Los Angeles and New York. Lynn's trilogy of one acts, ON THE BLINK, and his one act double header, VISITATIONS, earned him the Dramalogue Critic's Awards for playwriting. Lynn’s CENTRAL AVE. CHALK CIRCLE received an Ovation Award for Best Small Theater Production. Lynn's original one act play, SHOOT, is included in the ground breaking 2007 TCG anthology, BEYOND VICTIMS AND VILLAINS (CONTEMPORARY PLAYS BY DISABLED PLAYWRIGHTS).  Lynn both wrote and starred in the short film adaptation of SHOOT, by the same title.  It premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, and is currently distributed by HBO.  Lynn is an active member of The Playwrights/Directors Unit of The Actors Studio West Coast. His poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies and a solo spoken word CD, CLARITY OF VISION was released on New Alliance in 1994. Determined to realize his dreams, Lynn Manning has overcome the obstacles in his path to become a successful playwright, a world-class athlete, and a dedicated teacher and volunteer. The son of an abusive father and alcoholic mother, raised in the foster care system, Manning illustrates the story of his impoverished upbringing in 1960s South Central Los Angeles, and the fateful incident which led to the loss of his sight. As he sets off down the road to independence, he must confront not only his fears and the new challenges of his everyday life, but the assumptions of others and his perceived weakness as a blind man in a sighted world. Lynn Manning’s first appearance in Canada was on the Art with Attitude stage with the Canadian premiere performance of Weights. WEIGHTS is a passionate, inspiring dramatic work which has received much critical acclaim along with three NAACP Theater Awards, including one for Best Actor. Since its debut in 2001, WEIGHTS has been performed across the United States as well as overseas, in such locations as Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., Canada, and Croatia.
In order to bring Manning's story to an even wider audience, Bridge Multimedia and Remote Recording have now recorded and produced WEIGHTS for audio CD, both in stereo and in 5.1 Surround Sound. Listen and be uplifted by WEIGHTS. For more information, visit www.lynnmanning.com

 

Praise for WEIGHTS-One Blind Man's Journey:
“If Manning has lived the sort of life a poet can tell best, it’s ironic that he had to become a blind Homer to tell it…Manning gives us the mean streets of L.A., a childhood straight out of hell and a liberation entirely of his own making.”
–Jay Reiner, The Hollywood Reporter

“A poignant story. Like others who have lost one of their physical senses, Mr. Manning finds others intensified. It takes a strong person to recognize it.”
–Anita Gates, The New York Times

“Lynn Manning has created a monologue that is intriguing, engaging, and purely inspirational. We, the captive audience, hang on to every word.”
–Entertainment Magazine Online

“Lynn Manning once was lost, but now is found; could see, but now is blind…. Manning helps the audience to see the world through his own shattered lens.”
–Adam Feldman, Time Out New York

“Manning is the real thing, a writer of clarity, finesse and overriding humanity. His story vaults back and forth in time, splicing surrealism and realism, humorous banter and fiercely poetic outbursts into a sweeping autobiographical sampling.”
–F. Kathleen Foley, Los Angeles Times

WEIGHTS has received three National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Theater Awards, including Best Actor for Lynn Manning.

 

Victoria Maxwell, Actress, Playwright, Performer is Crazy for Life. Crazy For Life is a ‘tour-de-force’ one-woman show of Victoria Maxwell’s roller-coaster ride with bi-polar disorder. A brave, funny, and compelling look at experiencing, surviving, and coming to terms with mental illness, actress, motivational speaker, writer and educator Victoria Maxwell takes us ‘round the bend, and back again: from meditation groups to hospital psych wards, from black depressions to manic highs and psychedelic psychoses. Most memorable moment: joyfully running down the street… naked… in posh Point Grey, playing hide n’ seek with the Divine. In Toronto she performed to sold-out audiences and rave reviews. Last September, she ‘hit the boards’ in England and continues to tour throughout North America and Europe, being translated into both Japanese and Spanish. An award-winning actress and playwright with over 15 years experience, Victoria has worked alongside David Duchovny, John Travolta and Johnny Depp, among others, and appears on stages and in films across North America.

Victoria will perform her ‘tour-de-force’ one-woman show, Crazy for Life.

 

Praise/Reviews:

'A hilarious and compelling masterpiece, Crazy for Life not only ignites a beacon of understanding, but also of hope and acceptance. At the end the audience took home a few laughs, a few heart-felt tears and a better awareness of the stigmatism that is associated with mental illness.'
- Jennifer Luna, New University Press, University of California performance, October 23, 2007

'Victoria takes the painful reality of living with mental illnesses and turns it into something we can understand, laugh with her about and come away feeling empowered and ready to take action. Brava!'
- Sue Bergeson, USA National President, Depression Bipolar Support Alliance

'One of the brightest stars at the UK festival…passionate, mesmerizing and empowering.'
  - Moya Harris, Executive Director, Equata Company, London, England

'Simply phenomenal. One minute, people were rocking with belly-laughs, the next they were reaching for Kleenex.'
-Patrick Buchannon, General Manager, New Chelsea Society

'Authentic…honest…with a transformative ending that will move every heart.'
-Aaron Bushkowsky, award-winning playwright of Strangers Among Us and The Waterhead

'Artistically marvelous… the writing poetic, the delivery superb.'
-Karen Freeborn, President/Artistic Director, Moonstone Theatre

'Victoria’s presentations are incredibly enlightening…recommended at the highest level.'
-Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Director, Continuing Medical Education, Psychiatry, University of BC

'Excellent…terrific speaker …Victoria is outstanding. The mixed audience (psychiatrists, health professionals, residents, students) enjoyed the show and the insights revealed'
-Dr. Raymond W. Lam, Head of Clinical Neuroscience & Director UBC Mood Disorder Clinic

'Touching, accurate, informative and educational…We were so impressed with her that we recommended her as the keynote for another association's annual conference.'
- Patti Holland, Director of Community Development, Collaborative Support Programs, New Jersey

'Truly talented…the story she shares through her gift continues to inspire lives'
- Martin Labelle, President, The Aequitas Group, Toronto

'Superb. An absolutely superior presentation… entertaining and very, very powerful.'
- Lynn Carter, Social Service Worker/Instructor, Langara College

'Fantastic workshop… the participants all fell in love with Victoria! She inspired many folks.'
- Wayne McNiven, Head of Community/Career Education, Vancouver Community College

'One of the brightest stars at the UK festival…passionate, mesmerizing and empowering.'
- Moya Harris, Executive Director, Equata Company, London, England

'Victoria is magic…the response was unprecedented. All sold-out shows. We are still receiving calls about the power of those performances…a leader in mental health education.'
- Katie Hughes, Executive Director, Canadian Mental Health Association, Vancouver

'Loved it...funny, beautiful and profound... a show for everyone.'
- Phil Patston, President/Founder, International Guild of Disabled Artists, New Zealand

'Rare for an excellent writer to bring words to such vivid life on stage…irresistible stage presence, humour and acting ability.'
- David Roche, International Humorist, California

'Victoria is an inspiration, giving hope to all.'
- Rafe Mair, Broadcaster/Author, Radio 600AM, Vancouver

'By popular demand, we opted to add a performance to our already tight schedule.  We were not disappointed. It educates and entertains. Great!'
- Geoff McMurchy, Artistic Director, KickstART! Festival, 2004 Courage to Comeback Award

'Smart, wry and full of wonderful imagery. The end is a knockout.'
- Frank Moher, Director and Governor-General’s Award Nominee, Vancouver

'Excellent! Vulnerable, insightful, intimate and honest.'
- Stacy Sprague, Director of Vancouver Hospital, Employee & Family Assistance Program

'Wonderful…the staff keep telling me it was the best education they ever had. They want more!'
- Theresa Castro, Psychiatric Nurse, BC Housing Commission, Victoria

 

Claudia Malacrida is Associate Professor, Sociology at the University of Lethbridge. Her research centers on motherhood, disability, social control and the intersections of public policy into the private lives of women. She is the author of three books: Mourning the Dreams: How Parents Create Meaning from Miscarriage, Stillbirth and Early Infant Death (Left Coast Press, 1998, 2007), Cold Comfort: Mothers, Professionals and Attention Deficit Disorder (University of Toronto Press, 2003), and Sociology of the Body: A Reader (Oxford University Press, forthcoming in 2008).

Abstract: Home Care Services for Mothers with Disabilities: Ironies of Surveillance, Gender Performances, and Infantilized
Women are normatively expected to provide nurturance to the men in their lives through emotional support, and to the children in their lives through active, involved and expert mothering – indeed, being a caregiver is a master status for adult women in modernity (Hays, 1996; McMahon, 1995; Ruddick, 1982). While this may be the case for all women, mothers who are disabled can have more a complicated relationship to care-giving than others, because they are both receivers and providers of care in the home. Women with chronic disabilities are often recipients of home care services that are designed to provide them with ongoing personal care, housekeeping assistance and health or support services (Capital Health Region; Chinook Health Region; CHR; Lupton, 1996). Conversely, mothers with disabilities, like all mothers, are expected to be providers of services to their partners and children. In this article, I examine the contradictions and tensions embedded in disabled mothers’ relations of care, with a particular focus on the ways that barriers embedded in public home care delivery complicate disabled mothers’ abilities to provide care. I find that home care policies operate in ways that assume that disabled women will not, perhaps even should not, fill gendered partnership or mothering roles. At the same time, because little support specific to mothering is available, women with disabilities are left alone to assume these roles. In turn, this can cause problems for these women in terms of providing care, of achieving adequate mothering and occasionally, of maintaining custody of their children.

 

Randy Rutherford is a writer, humorist and solo performer who makes his home in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was a folksinger in Alaska during the 70s. After giving up music and performing because of a progressive hearing loss, he earned an MFA in Painting from California College of Arts and Crafts. He began to miss performing and returned to the stage in the early 90s. He has written two critically acclaimed autobiographical plays and is working on a third."Arctic Tales" (working title) chronicles his days in Alaska as a hearing impaired folksinger who falls in love with his guitar teacher's girlfriend and gets attacked by a grizzly bear. In his play, Singing At The Edge Of The World, Rutherford chronicles his folk singer days in Alaska in the 70s when he was a budding musician, who's deeply in love and discovers he's losing his hearing. Will he destroy all that he holds dear or will he find a way to sing?

Randy will perform his play, Singing at the Edge of the World.

 

CBC Reviews:
“A blind person, Randy Rutherford says in this one-man act, loses their connection to objects. A deaf person loses their connection to people. Rutherford should know: he was finally paying the bills as a folk singer and living the boho dream in '70s Alaska when congenital hearing loss sucked the sound from his world. Three decades and one digital hearing aid later, he recounts his struggle with impending deafness in this show. If it’s quiet, Rutherford can still hear the guitar, and so he peppers his monologue with bits of song and defiantly deft finger picking. While that gives Singing an uplifting heart, his one-dimensional characterization of breezy girlfriend Molly grates; luckily, Rutherford’s self-effacing wit and dramatic metaphoric imagery of ravens and gray Alaskan afternoons (as well as audible signs of his hearing loss) make this an intimate and moving portrait of one man’s struggle to connect with a life going silent.”
- CBC review

“Randy's show this year was worth coming 2000 kilometers to see. A tale of abandoned opportunities, huge obstacles, regrets, and overcoming fear. A story for our time. This is my favourite Rutherford show. Not to be missed.”
-CBC Review

“Plan to take this one in. It is a very moving story of this man's life told with modesty and honesty. It is funny and sad and hopeful all at once. He's a great singer and picker too. 4 bars from me on this one.”
- CBC review

 

Max Fomitchev, Mime, Actor, Physical Comedian, Deaf Hero, Father, Jewish, Entertainer in the persona of Max-i-mime is considered to be one of Canada's most expressive artists. He’s been called many things … mostly brilliant! A talented mime artist, Max was often the only deaf performer in his classes and competitions. After graduating at the top of his class receiving his Master of Fine Arts Degree in Drama from Schukin University, Moscow, graduating top of his class. Max was recruited by the Zukatof Players. With this ecclectic  theatre group he performed around the former Soviet Union, Taiwan, Germany, Spain, England, the USA, and Canada. Max’s incredible talent gave him opportunities most of his peers where denied. Fleeing the growing anti-Semitism o of his homeland, he came to Vancouver in 1992, making Canada his new home.
It was a struggle to reestablish life in this new land, but again his talent stood out. He built a reputation for his physical performances and his hilarious expressions on stage, and broke into the US film industry in Canada landing small roles on TV series, commercials and a feature film “Saving Silverman” starring Jack Black and Neil Diamond.

In his stage show “Rain-man Returns” Max portrays a simple man caught up in a world he doesn’t fully understand. He bounces from positions of insensitivity, loss, gambler, and egotist…until he finally learns that love is the only thing he really wanted, and sometimes when you lose something you never quite get it back.

Touching and funny narrative, Max uses physical comedy and prop manipulation to tell a silent story that takes the audience to an emotional places to which we can all relate. Today, he has a family here. He works in TV and film, live comedy, festivals, schools, while teaching workshops in mime and drama. During the Unruly Salon he will present a new work based on his life story.

For more information go to www.maximime.ca

 

'Max is the most unique person I've ever had the overwhelming pleasure to know. He's talented beyond belief, and his life is an amazing story itself.'
-Rob Middleton-Hope, Precussionist

 'This guy is all class.'
-Stuart Derdeyn, The Province

Catherine Frazee, PhD, is Director of the Ryerson RBC Institute for Disability Studies Research and Education. Catherine Frazee has been involved in the equality rights movement for many years, most notably during her term as Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission from 1989 to 1992. Her current work as a writer, educator and researcher focuses upon the rights, identity, experience and well-being of persons with disabilities. Catherine is a committed activist who has lectured and published extensively in Canada and abroad on issues related to disability rights, disability culture and the disability experience. She is currently a member of DAWN Canada's Equality Rights Committee and serves on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Association for Community Living, where she chairs the Association's Task Force on Values and Ethics. Catherine was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of New Brunswick in October, 2002. She writes: “In three words, I’m a writer, an educator and an activist.  These three identities come together for me at Ryerson University, where I happily indulge my activist inclinations and curiosities about disability rights, identity, culture and resistance.  In writing as in teaching, I draw from my own life experience as a disabled person as well as from many years of varied involvements in the equality struggles of marginalized groups in Canada. Along with my partner of 17 years, I live a split life -- from late autumn to early spring in Toronto's fast lanes, and as much of the remaining time as possible in Nova Scotia, at a home on the rocky coast that steadies and replenishes me. Each morning I awake to the moods of the sea, the daily engagements of small creatures and the deep and careful persistence of Nature.  In this place, I find my writer's voice.”

 

Abstract: Unleashed and Unruly: Staking Our Claims to Place, Space and Culture

Rod Michalko, PhD, Associate Professor of Equity Studies, New College at the University of Toronto teaches disability studies in the Department of Equity Studies, New College, University of Toronto.  He is also adjunct professor of Disability Studies in the Critical Disability Studies program at York University. Rod is author of numerous articles and three books, the most recent, The Difference that Disability Makes (Temple UP 2002).  He is currently in the final stages of completing his forth book, Double Trouble: Disability and Disability Studies.  All of Rod’s work is committed to the exploration of disability as a cultural phenomenon and his starting point is his own blindness experience. 

 

Abstract: Too Much and Not Enough:  Disability and the Problem of Excess
James Porter (2002: 197) says that the disabled body is somehow “too much a body, too real, too corporeal” and, at the same time, “it seems too little a body… not real enough.” This paper explores the problem of excess as it is imagined in the body conceived of as simultaneously too real and not real enough.  The disabled body is one which is too much for us to identify with and not enough to generate an identification.  Contemporary Western culture has little difficulty with excess in relation to the body but only if excess is paired with the “natural” or “normal” body.  Bodies are not typically conceived of as too beautiful, too strong nor are minds conceived of as too intelligent and neither are emotions thought of as too stable.  “Pushing the limits” of the “natural body” is common practice in our culture expressed in endeavors such as high performance athletics and super modeling.  In this regard, excess is framed within a notion of artifice in opposition to the idea of natural – performance enhancing and diet enhancing drugs are often thought of as too much.  The disabled body, however, is not conceived of as “pushing the limits” of the natural body since it is always-already too much and not enough, it is not normal and thus cannot be enhanced.  This paper demonstrates how body, mind, or sense enhancement is thought of as belonging to the realm of the normal while the disabled bodies, minds or sense, are conceived of as “out of control” and thus as too much or not enough.   By examining popular culture expressions of fitness, athletics, and beauty, this paper will also show how these extreme practices are manifestations of pushing the limits of normalcy, of showing that these extremes while “not normal” are, at the same time, “not abnormal.”

 

Alannah Earl Young is from the Opaskwayak Cree/Peguis Anishnabe Nations in Manitoba. She is a facilitator and trainer with University of British Columbia's First Nations House of Learning in Vancouver. She is trained in the areas of movement, body mind expressions and arts-based socially transformative pedagogies. She has an M.A. from the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia. Alannah's current work has been developing and delivering holistic programming that reaffirms Indigenous Leadership and Sovereignty and anti racism education. Her current research is in the field of sociology of education and is working with Dr. Roman’s team on developing a theory of relational genealogy at UBC. She is also part of an investigative cohort in the field of disabilities studies at the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia. She is an artist activist, Traditional practitioner and singer.

 

Abstract: “No Time for Nostalgia: Asylums, Residential Schools in British Columbia and Artistic Praxis for Social Transformation”. This paper will be co-presented by Leslie Roman, Sheena Brown and Alannah Earl Young
We ask the question: How have disability and indigenous arts and cultural praxis transformed and interrupted the historical sociological archival research journey we have undertaken to understand the relationships among asylum-making, medicalized colonialism and eugenics in the case of the Woodlands School, formerly the Provincial Asylum for the Insane in Victoria, British Columbia? Specifically, how can voices often silenced or suppressed in archival historical sociology and in official institutional records be re-claimed through the arts, oral history, and relational genealogies which are committed to engagement with communities, alternative ways of understanding the relationship between private and public lives, institutional or state secrets and the breaking of years of silence and silencing? Our presentation traces the significant encounters we have shared as a research team across our different epistemic, historical and social locations to learn from one another’s unruly histories. The paper shows how our research shifted and owes a significant debt to the art work of Tania Willard, the story of the land as told to us by Rhonda Larabee, and equally significantly, the powerful voices of the self-advocate survivors of the Woodlands, who speak for themselves in the documentary Inside/OUT (directed by Lorna Boschman and produced in conjunction with the British Columbia Association for Community Living) through their artwork. Our paper will show how unofficial and often artful and arts-inspired sources of disability and indigenous studies can variously interrupt, transform ableist normalizing medicalized colonialism.

Pubications:
Young, Alannah Earl (1998) Ways of Knowing: Focusing and Trauma Folio: Journal for Focusing and Experiential therapy. 17 No 1 

Young Alannah, E. (2003) Longhouse Student Leadership Program: The honour of one is the honour of all.  First Nations House of Learning Newsletter. Vol 9:1 UBC

Young Alannah, E. & Nadeau, Denise, M. (2005) Decolonizing Bodies in Indigenous Women: The State of Our Nations, Atlantis: A Women’s Studies Journal/Revnue d’etudes les femmes, 29.2, Spring.

Young Alannah, E. & Nadeau, Denise, M. (2006) Education bodies foe self -determination: A decolonizing strategy, Canadian Native Journal of Education. UBC

Young, Alannah, E. & MacIvor Madeleine (2005) Longhouse Leadership Learning. Canadian Association of College & University Student Service: CACUSS Comminque. Kingston, ON
Young, Alannah  (2007) Transformative Educational Leadership: Elders Teachings on Indigenous Leadership. Theme: Educational leadership: Aboriginal Perspectives, Educational Leadership e-journal, UBC http://slc.educ.ubc.ca/eJournal/index.htm

Praise/reviews:
Praise for the related work of Leslie Roman, Sheena Brown, Alannah Earl Young, Steve Noble and Rafael Wainer at the 2007 Canadian Disability Studies Association conference in Sasketoon, “This was one of the only works we heard that nailed colonialism and figured out its ableism and racism took their tolls on actual people.” A graduate student in the Ryerson Disability Studies Program.

'For a change, we felt moved to our core. Instead of theorizing abstractly, we felt the paths you took from the art work and documentary films of the survivors and self-advocates to the chilling archival documents and letters of the medical superintendents back again challenged us think about the historical present. A brave, original and ground-breaking piece of work worth the trek from Edmonton.'
- Audience member reaction at the CDSA.

'Thanks Alannah for the drumming and singing' and the courage to shift our heads back to indigenous spaces.'
- Laura, Ryerson.

'Alannah Young’s work with the UBC First Nations House of Learning (FNHL) and her scholarship are cutting edge examples of Indigeneity that are grounded in Indigenous wholistic knowledge, Elders’ teachings, and creative expression. She has made a substantial impact upon Aboriginal student retention through her role as FNHL Counsellor. Her research work with Indigenous Elders regarding cultural leadership is an exemplary piece of scholarship that has made a significant contribution to leadership literature and practice.'
-Dr. Jo-ann Archibald, Associate Dean for Indigenous Education, Faculty of Education, UBC

 

Tania Willard of Red Willow Designs is an artist, woodcutter and designer from the Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation in the Interior of BC, who works with narrative and story in the arts, media and advocacy to share First Nations’ history and experiences in the struggle for social justice. Tania Williard-Artist and designer from the Secwepec (Shuswap Nation) will introduce the exhibit, “Crazymaking” and tell us about the historical traumas that frame mental health issues for First Nations people, particularly those that are hidden or erased such as stories about “Indian Insane Asylums, Mohawk Saints and Native Veterans”.Tania recently collaborated to produce the hard-hitting and powerful exhibit at Gallery Gachet entitled, “Crazymaking”. This exhibit deals with the impact of colonialism and its legacies for First Nations, including mental health and substance abuse issues. The title for this exhibit,“Crazymaking,”grew out Tania Willard’s thinking about these issues , the substance use, residential schools, colonization, abuse all of our ‘crazymaking’ history. Tania Willard describes the symbolism underlying her woodcut, “Free Your Mind” with the original image taken from a picture in a calendar of a First Nations girl in the sleeping room of a residential school. There are rows of iron beds and these girls are sitting on the beds posing with dolls all wearing matching outfits with the same haircut for a calendar the church -produced of residential school students. Willard (Personal Communication, May 12, 2007) describes that this woodcut “was essentially about the cutting of hair at residential school as an indicator of the completely different systems and worldviews of the indigenous  peoples and the church/Europeans. One of the first things to happen at residential school was the cutting of First Nations’ children’s hair. There are many indigenous stories about hair and the spiritual significance of it. “[Hair] stores so much of us. [W]e [has] kept long hair [because] it was our power. The “Free Your Mind” piece is about the historical trauma of residential school and about being able to escape it, to survive it and to continue to resist and be a strong people who have our own  ways. That is why on one side the girl has a residential school haircut and on the other side her hair, her spirit is shape shifting into birds, survival and hope. The sacred heart takes on a secular symbolism of the power of the passion for justice and the strength of our peoples. The lines on her face represent her tears, and also are an allusion to the other systems of institutions like prisons and other ways that the system has dealt with Native people in order to  take away the spirit.” In thinking about my residency with Gallery Gachet and [by] exploring mental health issues for First Nations people in my work and with a group, I wanted to acknowledge the historical traumas that affect our people. My approach was to reflect on these issues but also to celebrate the strength of aboriginal people and the strength all marginalized people have to endure, and change their worlds. I am interested in telling stories that are hidden and erased, stories about Indian Insane Asylums, about Mohawk Saints and Native veterans, stories that are full of the paradoxical push and pull between our worlds. My grandfather was of mixed blood, Secwepemc and European roots, he said he lived in two worlds. I wanted to express this tension; this sacrifice and survival that we as Native people navigate and that sometimes (or always in some ways) drives us crazy. 

 

'Tania creates work that provokes and inspires—celebrating our beauty as Aboriginal people; asking tough questions; affirming our important place in Canadian society, history, and land. And, as such, she helps lift us all up.'
- Kamala Todd, Storyscapes

'I've been a long-time fan of Tania Willard; her art is political and provocative and evokes strength and beauty and resistance. She's known for her work as the past editor of Redwire Magazine, was recently the artist-in-residence at Gallery Gachet, and her art has been showcased and donated to countless community projects from Under the Volcano to the Bus Riders' Union to Prisoners Justice Day.'
- Krisztina, Beyond Robson

'I believe she is a incredibly vital and important artist'
- Chris Bose, Secwepemc News

'As an artist Tania speaks the truth. from the heart and with emotion. She is bold and rebellious. Her visual art encompasses her fervent beliefs in her culture, community and the land.'
- Spirit Magazine

'Tania played a key role in the growth of Redwire Magazine, which has been one of our organization’s main media arts projects. Over the years she has illustrated countless articles with provocative designs and created many of our cover images.'
- Redwire Magazine

'Tania is re-telling the older stories using a voice that is turning to the older teachings'
- Peter Morin, co-curator 'First nations Now' Burnaby Art Gallery 2004

 

 

David Roche, Comedian, Inspirational Humorist, informal educator and motivational speaker. David's face distinguishes him from all other presenters and motivational speakers. What really makes David unique, however, is his remarkable spirit, warmth, wit and authenticity.

David has transformed the challenges and gifts of living with a facial disfigurement into a compelling message that uplifts and delights audiences around the world. The story of his heroic journey from shame to strength has inspired standing ovations from the Clinton White House to the Sydney Olympics Arts Festival, from most of the 50 states to Canada, England, New Zealand and Moscow, from the Vancouver public schools to the Faculty of Education’s 50th Anniversary.

 

Abstract:
The Church of 80% Sincerity is an award-winning, solo show that has played to enthusiastic audiences across the United States and Canada, in Australia, England, Ireland, the former Soviet Union, and at the White House. From Roberts Creek Elementary School in Vancouver, British Columbia to Stanford University and New York University, from receiving the 2005 Martin Luther King 2005 Award in Marin County to Opening the Arts Festival of the Sydney Olympics, from speaking on CNN and other major networks to celebrating the UBC Faculty of Education’s 50th anniversary with warmth and connection, he conveys powerful lessons about disability, diversity and acceptance. David encourages everyone in his audiences to ask in unison, "What happened to your face?" After satisfying their curiosity, he tells stories about his own school days that help students and educators relate to the experience of feeling different.

As David puts it: "Working with students is the most exciting work I do."

David's book, The Church of 80% Sincerity, with Penguin is just published (appearing in Feb. 2008) and getting rave reviews…

http://www.davidroche.com/david-roche-schools

Praise/Reviews:
'What is most striking, and finally, moving, is the way he draws attention to his disfigurement and makes his audience see beyond it as well'
-Steven Winn, San Francisco Chronicle

'We've had dozens of speakers here over the years, but none have sparked such overwhelmingly powerful responses from our students as did David....His message is joyous and uplifting--our kids and faculty loved him'
-Blair Fisher, Dean of Students, Middle School, Marietta Georgia.

'When a person tells a story with tremendous honesty and humor, we all share in the delight of what great theatre is. David Roche can’t be missed!'
- Anthony Edwards, Actor and Director

'In laughing at himself, David Roche tricks us into laughing at ourselves, and thus disarmed, we dare to challenge our fears and assumptions.'
- Bonnie Sherr Klein,Award-winning documentary filmmaker and author.

'David Roche is a theater pioneer, a major contributor to the emerging culture of disability. His groundbreaking work is helping to create and define a much-needed disability aesthetic in the arts. He gives voice to people who have been hidden and shamed, people who have been named freak or monster and been made invisible by a society that worships shallow beauty. David cuts into the deep heart of difficult matters with embracing and insightful humor, grace and charm. He is a truly gifted communicator. His disability, facial disfigurement, is the strength and driving force behind his work. In his one-man show, The Church of 80% Sincerity, he weaves childhood memories, scars, dreams, desires and every day human experiences into a funny, moving and absolutely mesmerizing evening of theater.'
- Cheryl Marie Wade,Playwright and poet,Disability Rag

'David Roche’s The Church of 80% Sincerity is a powerful and richly humorous one-man show that should be seen on college campuses throughout the country. The response at UCLA was enthusiastically positive. We would love to have him back anytime!'
-Kathy Molini, Executive Director,Office for Students with Disabilities, UCLA

'Your one-man show should be on the ‘must see’ list of anyone who cares about quality theater. We can’t wait to have you back here at the JCC.'
-Matt Biers-Ariel, Marin Osher Jewish Community Center

'The best humor grows out of dark, loamy soil. It has deep, deep roots. Those roots enable David Roche to make us howl with laughter one second and weep the next. His comedic genius – for that’s what it is – cannot be reproduced in words alone, because he’s fashioned it from exquisite timing, vocal nuance, body language, all the traditional tools of the comic actor, to which he adds another tool, his experience of being feared and shunned because of his appearance. It’s the mixture of comic technique combined with a deeply examined life that makes his ‘material’ irresistibly human – because his material is himself.' -Bob Guter, Bent

'Everyone watching gets happy because he's secretly giving instruction on how this could happen for them, too, this militant self-acceptance. He lost the great big outward thing, the good-looking package, and the real parts endured. They shine through like crazy, the brilliant mind and humor, the depth of generosity, the intense blue eyes, those beautiful hands. … There was thunderous applause, and he bowed shyly, ducking his head and then looking up, beaming at us all. He holds his palms up as if about to give a benediction. His hands caught the light like those of the youngest child there.” Anne Lamott, Plan B
“100% Comedic Revelation! Nobody cuts through the patronizing ‘special’ treatment of people with disabilities in a more direct, nuanced, and humane manner.'
- David Mitchell, Ph.D. in Disability Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago.

 

Jody Berland is Associate Professor of Humanities, York University, Toronto. She has published widely on cultural studies, Canadian communication theory, music and media, cultural studies of nature, and the cultural technologies of space. She is co‑editor of several books, most recently Cultural Capital: A Reader on Modernist Legacies, State Institutions and the Value(s) of Art, McGill/Queen's University Press (2000).  She is the editor of Topia: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies (www.yorku.ca/topia).    Her article “Cat and Mouse: Iconographies of Nature and Desire” is forthcoming with Cultural Studies, Spring 2008.  Her book North of Empire is forthcoming with Duke University Press.

 

Abstract: How about:  The Elephant in the Classroom: Forgetting and Remembering with Invisible Disabilities

The experience of people with so-called "invisible disabilities" differs from others in several respects, some of which trouble the concept of "visibility."  They are frequently the target of extra surveillance by insurance companies and private medical enterprises who strategically define their illness as psychosomatic.  The transition of Multiple Sclerosis and Myalgic Encephomyalitis (Chronic Fatigue and Immune Deficiency Syndrome) from psychological to medical diagnoses represents a significant victory for their predominantly women patients, but it is not yet complete.  They keep alive the debate about who "gets" to be disabled.

I stopped working when I could no longer remember words in the classroom and got lost driving home from the university.  I spent almost seven years on disability, both invisible and forgotten. This paper explores the multiple sites of forgetting through which such illness travels.  It simultaneously traces the contemporary narrative of the elephant, an endangered species much loved in literature and metaphor for its connection with memory.  Elephants' memory defines its relations with others, its relations with place, its practices around illness and dying, and its unquenchable desire for social justice.   I join these narratives as a reminder of how much we can learn from them and how, as one writer suggests, "if we cannot save the elephants there is no hope for us."