The Body And Physical Difference

Groundbreaking perspectives on disability in culture and the arts that shed light on notions of identity and social marginality

Issues of equity remain an essential theme throughout the study and practice of physical education (PE), youth sport and health. This important new book confronts and illuminates issues of equity and difference through the innovative use of narrative method, telling stories of difference that enable students, academics and professionals alike to engage both emotionally and cognitively with the subject. The book is arranged into three sections. The first provides an overview of current theory and research on difference and inequality in PE, youth sport and health, together with an introduction to narrative forms of knowing. The second section includes short narratives about difference that bring to life the key themes and issues in a range of physical activity contexts. The third section draws upon a selection of narratives to offer detailed, practical suggestions for how they might be used in, or inform, teaching sessions. This is the first book to explore issues of equity through narrative, and the first to examine the pedagogical value of a narrative approach within PE, youth sport and health. With contributions from many of the world’s leading equity specialists, it will be invaluable reading for all students, scholars and professionals working in PE, youth sport, health, sports development, gender studies and mainstream education programmes.

Annotation A study of the culture of disability in China and the emergence of the government institution known as the China Disabled Persons' Federation.

Literary and filmic depictions of the disabled reinforce an "ableist" ideology that classifies bodies as normal or abnormal--positive or negative. Disabled characters are often represented as aberrant or evil and are isolated or incarcerated. This book examines language in film, fiction and other media that perpetuates the representation of the disabled as abnormal or problematic. The author looks at depictions of disability--both disparaging and amusing--and discusses disability theory as a framework for reconsidering "normal" and "abnormal" bodies.

For vulnerable older, disabled, or homeless people who need accommodation and support, a variety of different services have been developed, from hostels and group homes to extra-care housing and retirement villages. But do these settings effectively improve the well-being of those who live in them? This book explores the rationale behind these accommodations and the impact different forms of accommodation policy and practice have on the lives of vulnerable people, arguing for a flexible policy approach that places people in control of their own lives. Applying an original evaluation framework to case studies in the United Kingdom and Sweden--two countries with long and differing service histories--Accommodating Difference raises important questions, making it a valuable resource for supported housing practitioners and policy makers, as well as for students of urban studies, planning, and health and social care.

If eugenics -- the science of eliminating kinds of undesirable human beings from the species record -- came to overdetermine the late 19th century in relation to disability, the 20th century may be best characterized as managing the repercussions for variable human populations. A Cultural History of Disability in the Modern Age provides an interdisciplinary overview of disability as an outpouring of professional, political, and representational efforts to fix, correct, eliminate, preserve, and even cultivate the value of crip bodies. This book pursues analyses of disability's deployment as a wellspring for an alternative ethics of living in and alongside the body different while simultaneously considering the varied social and material contexts of devalued human differences from World War I to the present. In short, this volume demonstrates that, in Ozymandias-like ways, the Western Project of the Human with its perpetuation of body-mind hierarchies lies crumbling in the deserts of failed empires, genocidal furies, and the rejuvenating myths of new nation states in the 20th century. An essential resource for researchers, scholars and students of history, literature, culture, philosophy, rehabilitation, technology, and education, A Cultural History of Disability in the Modern Age explores such themes and topics as: atypical bodies; mobility impairment; chronic pain and illness; blindness; deafness; speech; learning difficulties; and mental health while wrestling with their status as unreliable predictors of what constitutes undesirable humanity.