No description available.

While there is an extensive and distinguished body of scholarship exploring the intersection of Thomas Eakins and medical science, his art has not been contextualized critically in relation to American Civil War medicine or the institutional practices of the Army Medical Museum. Within the context of Civil War medicine, Eakins's heroic portraits of surgeons and scientists become more than a reflection of his personal admiration of science and medicine, more than a reflection of the growing professionalization of the medical community in the United States, but implicates him in the narrative of offsetting the horrors wrought by the Civil War by actively enshrining the professionalization of medicine and claims to the advancement of body-based research. Furthermore, while there is an extensive and distinguished body of scholarship exploring the intersection of Thomas Eakins and the body from the perspective of race, gender, and sexuality, the consideration of his work from the perspective of critical disability theory has not been contemplated. Civil War medicine is critical to the art of Thomas Eakins because it demystifies his fascination with the human body, and engages him in the aesthetic reconstruction of disabled veterans and the cultural privileging of the healthy body during and after the American Civil War. By historicizing the science and medical practices that Eakins used and by critically examining his depictions of the body through the lens of disability studies, my thesis raises new critical questions about two of the most researched and theorized topics in Eakins scholarship: medicine and the body. / Art History

Public memory of "the Asylum" in contemporary American culture is communicated through a host of popular forms, including horror-themed entertainment such as haunted attractions. Such representations have drawn criticism from disability advocates on the basis that they perpetuate stereotypes and inaccurately represent the history of deinstitutionalization in the United States. In 2010, when Pennhurst State School and Hospital, a closed Pennsylvania institution that housed people understood as developmentally/intellectually disabled, was reused as a haunted attraction called "Pennhurst Asylum," it sparked a public debate and became an occasion for storytelling about what Pennhurst meant to the surrounding community. I apply theoretical perspectives from memory studies and disability studies to the case of "Pennhurst Asylum" in order to understand what is at stake when we remember institutional spaces such as Pennhurst. More specifically, this case study uses narrative analysis of news stories and reader letters, ethnographic observation at the haunted attraction, interviews with key storymakers, and historical/cultural contextualization to examine why this memory matters to disability advocates, former institutional residents and employees, journalists, and other community members. The narrative patterns I identify have ramifications for contemporary disability politics, the role of public communication in the formation of community memory, and scholarly debates over how to approach popular representations of historical trauma. I find that Pennhurst memory fits within contemporary patterns in the narrative, visual, and physical reuse of institutional spaces in the United States, which include redevelopment, memorialization, digital and crowd-sourced memory, amateur photography, Hollywood films, paranormal cable television shows, and tourism. Further, this reuse of institutional spaces has been an occasion for local journalists to take on the role of public historian in the absence of other available authorities. In this case study, the local newspaper (The Mercury) became a space where processes of commemoration could unfold through narrative--and, it created a record of this process that could inform future public history projects on institutionalization in the United States. In the terms of cultural geographer Kenneth Foote (1997), disability advocates attempted to achieve "sanctification" of the Pennhurst property by telling the story of its closure as a symbol of social progress that led to the community-based living movement. Paradoxically, since this version of the Pennhurst story relied on a narrow characterization of Pennhurst as a site of horrific abuse and neglect, it had this in common with the legend perpetuated by the haunted attraction. In contrast, other community members shared memories that showed Pennhurst had long been a symbol of the community's goodwill, service, and genuine caring. In short, public memory of Pennhurst in 2010 was controversial, in part, because the institution's closing in 1987 had itself been controversial. Many still believed it should never have been closed and were thus resistant to the idea of sanctifying its story as an example for future change. When the State abandoned the Pennhurst campus, it left an authority vacuum at a site about which there was still as much public curiosity as there had been when it first opened in 1908. Indeed, this easily claimed authority is part of what "Pennhurst Asylum" is selling. Its mix of fact and fiction offers visitors the pleasure of uncertainty and active detective work--something usually missing at traditional historic sites. Visitors get to touch a mostly unspecified, but nonetheless "real" past mediated by an abundance of historical and contemporary public communication that all attach an aura to Pennhurst as a place where horrific events happened. Rather than suggesting historical amnesia, the strategic fictionalizations made to create the Pennhurst legend show exactly what is remembered about "the Asylum." The legend distances the story away from American history and sets it in a deeper past beyond most living memory. From my observation at the haunted attraction, it appears that the problem isn't that the American public has forgotten "the Asylum"; it may be that we remember too well. Overall, the relationship between institutions and their communities is one of intractable complicity, ensuring that the public memory of "the Asylum" will continue to be deeply fraught. News archives show that for decades local newspapers reported on adverse events at Pennhurst including fire, disease outbreak, accidental death, violence, criminal activity, and a series of State and Federal probes into mismanagement and abuse. This is especially significant because the power structures that allowed the institution to function remain mostly intact. Indeed, the "Pennhurst Asylum" relies not only on our previous knowledge of Pennhurst and the mythic figure of "the Asylum;" it also relies on our fear of medical authority, bodily difference, and most of all, our collective vulnerability to the social mechanisms that continue to define and separate the "normal" and the "abnormal." Even among disability advocates, the act of remembering threatens to recreate the hierarchy of the institution. Some of the same people who had authority at Pennhurst continue to have the authority to tell its story today. Finally, the usefulness of the ghost story as a memory genre reflects both rapid change and surprising stagnation in the role of institutionalization in the United States. / Media & Communication

Clinical decision making is influenced by available literature, technology, and guidelines, but also by cultural expectations, physician experience, and personal biases. The treatment of various forms of disability is especially vulnerable to these prejudices. Alzheimer Dementia (AD) and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) represent forms of cognitive and physical disability, respectively. In severe forms of both diseases, patients are often unable to communicate and do not meet traditional definitions of autonomy. However, physicians and consensus guidelines adhere to these very same definitions of autonomy, which subsequently disadvantages patients that cannot verbalize. This bias is reflected in available guidelines for catheter-directed thrombectomy for acute ischemic strokes, which passively discourage physicians from treating patients with baseline AD. Inversely, pediatric definitions of autonomy may expose patients to over-treatment with nusinersen, a medication recently approved for the treatment of SMA. Adapting theories of bodily autonomy will allow physicians to approach the treatment of those who cannot verbalize in a more ethical fashion. / Urban Bioethics

Relying on the perspectives of critical disability studies and mad studies, this graduate thesis seeks to uncover the experiences of youth with undiagnosed mental health issues who have been streamed into alternative education. Guided by methodological principles of interpretive phenomenological analysis and arts-informed inquiry, the 5 participants in this study were invited to a focus group where they could engage in an arts-based activity, meant to provide the opportunity to reflect on their experience, build rapport with the researcher, express themselves through alternative means, and connect with peers who have shared experience. Participants were then invited to discuss their experiences with the topic in a one-on-one, semi-structured interview. This study reveals the ways in which the system of education, school communities, teachers, and social workers can support youth who are not diagnosed with a mental illness but still experience mental health challenges that impede on their school experience. Supported by mad studies, this study reveals how peer support has become the method of mental health response and treatment through which students feel is most effective. This study also challenges medical hegemony and the ways in which access to services is dependent on medical diagnoses. Finally, this study reminds stakeholders of the value of building trusting and empathic relationships between school staff and students. School communities and school boards are challenged to think about the structuring of their systems, and the ways in which they may present barriers to the success of all students regardless of ability and/or need. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

This dissertation is informed by lived experience of disability, artistic practice, and medical practice. My dissertation is also intended to be a model of how to bring to bear professional expertise, personal history, and personal obligations on scholarship. An inter-field survey of critical lenses within the humanities is developed, making for a heterogeneous model of engagement for scholars interested in studying medicine and medical representations in literature and other artistic genres and forms. A fusion of fields is created, demonstrating that many different approaches can be brought to bear – a deliberate choice because medicine is in need of critique from the humanities. Settler/bioscientific epistemologies are unpacked alongside Indigenous epistemologies. Metaphor, intersubjectivity, Indigenous place-thought, and disability studies are also deployed. I develop a way to link all of these pieces when they use the representation of pain as a common cause. I respectfully consider Indigenous knowledge without defining same or clinicalizing their knowledges. Ultimately, I develop a pain poetics. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Many scholars have discussed Austrian music theorist Heinrich Schenker (1868-1935). While discourse has mainly focused on Schenkerian analysis, recent scholarship has started to examine the role of Schenker as a person (e.g., Schenker as a Jewish individual, Schenker as a racist, etc.), and how these identities influenced his views on music. Yet, within these new explorations and discussions, the aspect of disability and Schenker as an individual with a disability have not been as seriously examined. After examining his biography through the lens of disability in the introduction (Chapter 1), this thesis discusses disability's influence on Schenker through two additional chapters. The second chapter explores disability within the social context of fin-de-siècle Vienna and attempts to deduce, from the opinions of Schenker’s contemporaries, what Schenker's own views on disability might have been. The third chapter then demonstrates, through statistical analyses, that disability affected the everyday mechanics of writing for Schenker and how this in turn influenced his style of prose. The thesis concludes (Chapter 4) that there was a correlation between Schenker’s disability and the different writing styles observed in his earlier work and his later, post-disability work. By shedding light on Schenker’s disability, the thesis aims to provide a platform for future discussion on this subject, either in the field of musicology, music theory, or disability studies.

As rates of autism diagnosis continue to rise, more autistic students are graduating high school, and seeking to pursue postsecondary education options. Dual credit coursework has proven to be advantageous for college enrollment, success, and completion rates. Autistic students, however, are not equally represented in these college-level courses. The purpose of this qualitative study was to review dual credit recruitment practices and experiences, as told from the perspective of autistic students who completed one or more dual credit courses. Relying on student voice and a disability studies perspective, the intent of this study was to inform school leaders on how to facilitate the recruitment and participation of autistic students in dual credit courses, reducing the impact of institutional ableism. Traditional informational sessions proved ineffective as a recruitment tool. While parents influenced students' decisions to enroll in dual credit classes, parents' previous college experience factored into how much support students received. Teachers had the most meaningful influence due to their personal relationships with the students. Students with early-identified advanced academic ability received more encouragement to enroll, suggesting staff training and recruitment intentionality are key components for increasing autistic students' enrollment in dual credit programs. The intense bullying that students experienced in their traditional secondary classes versus the more accepting dual credit postsecondary learning environment also influenced their decisions to enroll and remain in dual credit classes. Implications for future practice and recommendations for future research are provided.

Ethical respect for others is central to culturally-responsive teaching. While a variety of research in higher education has examined the use of narratives to foster ethical respect for different cultural groups, there has been little research on using narratives to foster an ethical respect for people with disabilities. Two questions informed this study: (1) What kinds of disability narratives are available? and (2) What kinds of narratives are used in pre-professional education? Question 1 was addressed by drawing on an examination of the scholarship of other culturally adjacent categories and content analysis conducted on the descriptions of a small sample of seventeen disability-related narratives from across a wide range, for example graphic novels, and fiction such as kid-lit, young adult lit, and adult literature and so on. That analysis established that the historically dominant framing of disability is the pathography, a narrative that focuses on medical diagnoses, problematizes disability and focuses on reductive limitations. Two genres speak to the dominant pathologized framing: inclusion literature and illness narratives. Two counter-narratives embody what it is to experience the body/mind with this particular disability: somebody narratives which are written by individuals with disabilities, and caregiver narratives which discuss the proximate lived experience of an intimate, ally, or caregiver. Within these four classes of narratives, 16 discrete sub-genres were identified as a proposed disability-genre taxonomy. Question 2 was addressed by an employing the genre taxonomy to examine of a sample of nine syllabi and 98 narratives from courses designed for pre-professionals in the field of disability. Two additional subgenres were identified for a total of 17 discrete subgenres. Analysis revealed that narratives appear to be chosen on the basis of authors’ lived experience of disability. Of the seventeen possible genres from which to choose, 80% of the narratives were of one of four genres: endure accept or accommodate illness narratives, protest narratives, liberatory narratives, and self-revealing narratives. Understanding the range of disability-related genres that are available and used will allow researchers to do more nuanced analyses of how narratives are taken up by pre-professionals, will allow professors to make more informed decisions about their curricular choices, and presents new models by which professionals can encourage self-narrative texts written by individuals with disabilities. / Educational Leadership

Contemporary research into the values, bias, and prejudices within "Artificial Intelligence" tends to operate in a crux of scholarship in computer science and engineering, sociology, philosophy, and science and technology studies (STS). Even so, getting the STEM fields to recognize and accept the importance of certain kinds of knowledge— the social, experiential kinds of knowledge— remains an ongoing struggle. Similarly, religious scholarship is still very often missing from these conversations because many in the STEM fields and the general public feel that religion and technoscientific investigations are and should be separate fields of inquiry. Here I demonstrate that experiential knowledge and religious, even occult beliefs are always already embedded within and crucial to understanding the sociotechnical imaginaries animating many technologies, particularly in the areas of "AI." In fact, it is precisely the unwillingness of many to confront these facts which allow for both the problems of prejudice embedded in algorithmic systems, and for the hype-laden marketing of the corporations and agencies developing them. This same hype then intentionally obfuscates the actions of both the systems and the people who create them, while confounding and oppressing those most often made subject to them. Further, I highlight a crucial continuity between bigotry and systemic social projects (eugenics, transhumanism, and "supercrip" narratives), revealing their foundation in white supremacist colonialist myths of whose and which kinds of lives count as "truly human." We will examine how these myths become embedded into the religious practices, technologies, and social frameworks in and out of which "AI" and algorithms are developed, employing a composite theoretical lens made from tools such as intersectionality, ritual theory, intersubjectivity, daemonology, postphenomenology, standpoint epistemology, and more. This theoretical apparatus recontextualizes our understanding of how mythologies and rituals of professionalization, disciplinarity, and dominant epistemological hierarchies animate concepts such as knowledge formation, expertise, and even what counts as knowledge. This recontextualization is then deployed to suggest remedies for research, public policy, and general paths forward in "AI." By engaging in both the magico-religious valences and the lived experiential expertise of marginalized people, these systems can be better understood, and their harms anticipated and curtailed. / Doctor of Philosophy / The twenty-first century has been increasingly full of conversations about how human values, biases, and prejudices make their way into what is usually referred to as "Artificial Intelligence." These conversations have increasingly involved experts from not just science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), but also sociology, philosophy, and science and technology studies (STS). Even so, it's still often difficult to get the STEM fields to accept the importance of certain kinds experience and knowledge— especially that of marginalized people. Additionally, religious scholarship is often excluded from these conversations because many in the STEM fields (and the general public) feel that religion and science and technology should be separate fields of study. Here, I demonstrate that knowledge developed from lived experience and religious, even occult beliefs have always already been part of how we think about and understand many technologies, especially "AI." In addition, I show how people's unwillingness to accept the importance of our experience and beliefs is what leads to the prejudice embedded in algorithmic systems, and the hype-laden marketing of the people developing them. This same hype obscures the mechanisms of actions of both the systems themselves and the people who create them, and that obscurity makes it harder for the people most often oppressed by the systems to do anything about it. I highlight a line of connection between bigotry and large-scale social programs like eugenics, transhumanism, and the idea of the "supercrip," to reveal how they all stem from white supremacist colonialist myths about which kinds of lives count as "really human." These myths became part of the religious practice, scientific education, and social fabric from which "AI" and algorithms are developed. I combine tools from multiple fields to help show how mythologies and rituals of education, notions of what it means to "be a professional," and dominant cultural beliefs about knowledge all animate concepts such as learning, expertise, and even what counts as knowledge. By considering both the magical/religious elements and the lived experiences of marginalized people, we can chart new paths for research and public policy, toward making more ethical and just "AI."