Disabilities Division Society for the Study of Social Problems Fall 2010 Statement from the Chair Val Leiter Dear Friends and Colleagues, Just a few more weeks before the end of the semester, so it must be time to start thinking about papers to submit for next yearÕs meeting! There is a broad range of panels for next year, plus weÕve added a roundtable session this year which will allow scholars whose work may not fit into one of the panels to still have the opportunity to present. Please see page 4 for our detailed call for papers. Being a SSSP co-chair is one of the best opportunities for professional service within the field. You share the work with a co-chair, so itÕs not too onerous. You get connected to colleagues, through working with your co-chairs. ItÕs a great way to get to get involved with SSSP as an organization, though the Council of Chairs at the annual meetings. And you oversee giving out a graduate student award each year, helping the next generation get started in the field. ItÕs a meaningful and enriching experience, and Jeremy Brunson (my co-chair) and I are looking for co-chair candidates, to replace me. This is a two-year term, which runs from 2011-2013. I am happy to answer any questions that you might have about running. You can e-mail me at valerie.leiter@simmons.edu. SSSP is also asking sections to encourage their members to run for slots in the general election. It would be great to see more people from our division in leadership positions in the organization, so please consider running or nominating others who would like to run. Additional information about the general election nominations is provided on page 2. Good luck with the rest of the semester, and I hope that you enjoy a well-deserved mid-semester break. Best, Val Leiter Renewing your SSSP membership soon? There is now an opportunity to make contributions to the SSSP accommodations fund, to help pay for accommodations for participants with disabilities at the annual meetings. Look for this new way to contribute to accessibility on the on-line renewal system. Call for Nominations Please consider nominating yourself or a SSSP colleague for one of the following offices: President elect Vice president elect Committee on Committees Secretary Treasurer Budget, Finance and Audit Committee Board of Directors Board of Directors, student member Editorial and Publications Committee Membership and outreach committee Contact Val Leiter at valerie.leiter@simmons.edu by November 30th for nominations or more information. Call for Co-Chair Nominations We are currently soliciting nominations for the position of Co-Chair for the Disabilities Division. Co-Chairs serve overlapping two year terms, and are jointly responsible for: developing the Division program (identifying sessions and organizers) for the annual meeting; running the Division business meeting at the annual meeting; working with the newsletter editor to assure publication of the annual newsletter; and other Division business. If you are interested in learning more or in nominating yourself or another individual for this rewarding position, please contact Val Leiter at valerie.leiter@simmons.edu by November 30th Call For Papers Special Issue of Disability Studies Quarterly Topic: Mediated Communication Guest Editors: Jeremy L. Brunson and Mitchell E. Loeb Individuals who experience disablement are often left without complete participation in the society in which they live. This can take different forms and have varying consequences depending the specific type of disability and the environmental accommodations that are available. Individuals whose communication modality differs from the rest of society are often dependent on assistive technologies to facilitate their communication or an intermediary to communicate on their behalf in order to fully participate in society. This Special Issue of Disability Studies Quarterly will focus on mediated communication. Submissions can include but are not restricted to: * Theoretical/empirical papers * Cultural/social commentaries * Creative works * Book/film reviews * Policy/legal analyses Mediated communication is a cross-cutting subject area that can be explored through literal applications, such as sign language interpreting for deaf people, the use of communication boards and facilitated communication for autistic individuals or individuals with intellectual disabilities; or more figurative/creative representations. Scholars from all disciplines are encouraged to submit an abstract by December 15, 2010. Authors will be notified by January 15, 2011 with an anticipated publication date of fall 2011. Submissions can be sent to: jeremy.brunson@gallaudet.edu and mloeb@cdc.gov Disability Studies Quarterly (DSQ) is the journal of the Society for Disability Studies (SDS). It is a multidisciplinary and international journal of interest to social scientists, scholars in the humanities, disability rights advocates, creative writers, and others concerned with the issues of people with disabilities. It represents the full range of methods, epistemologies, perspectives, and content that the multidisciplinary field of disability studies embraces. DSQ is committed to developing theoretical and practical knowledge about disability and to promoting the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in society. Call for Papers Graduate Student Paper Award Deadline: May 1, 2011 The Disabilities Division is pleased to announce its 2011 Graduate Student Paper Competition. Papers may be empirical or theoretical, may concern any social aspect of disability, and should not exceed 30 double-spaced pages. They should be prepared for anonymous review. Current graduate students and recent graduates (who received their degrees after December 2010) may submit a paper if it was written while still a student. Co-authored papers are acceptable as long as all the listed authors are current graduate students. Double submission to other SSSP award competitions will be disqualified. The award recipient will be required to present the winning paper at the 2011 SSSP Annual Meeting in Chicago. Thus it is strongly recommended that an abstract of the paper be submitted to a Disabilities Division session by the January 31st deadline. The recipient will receive a monetary prize of $100, student membership in SSSP, SSSP conference registration, and a ticket to the SSSP awards banquet. Send an electronic copy of the paper (in Word format) and a cover letter identifying your graduate program to: Val Leiter at valerie.leiter@simmons.edu. Division and Co-Sponsored sessions 2011 Annual Meeting Š Submission Deadline 1/31/11 Disabilities, Sexuality, and Social Change (co-sponsored with Conflict, Social Action and Change and Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities) Organizers: Morrison, Linda J. (morrison2841@duq.edu) and Timberlake, Maria (mariat@brandeis.edu) Victims and Victimization (co-sponsored with Crime and Juvenile Delinquency) Organizer: Steele, Paul D. (pd.steele@moreheadstate.edu) Disability Rights Movements: A Tribute to Paul Longmore Organizer: Leiter, Valerie (valerie.leiter@simmons.edu) Disabilities Roundtables Organizers: Brunson, Jeremy L. (jeremy.brunson@galludent.edu) and Chiri, Giuseppina (gchiri@brandeis.edu) Service, Advocacy and Disabilities - THEMATIC Organizer: Lillie, Timothy (tlillie@uakron.edu) Aging and Disability (co-sponsored with Youth, Aging, and the Life Course) Organizer: Bender, Alexis A. (alexisbender@gmail.com) Go to www.sssp1.org to submit abstracts and for more information about the annual meetings. Congratulations to our new Co-Chair! Jeremy Brunson is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. JeremyÕs work focuses on issues of disability and access, professionalization of sign language interpreting, changing nature of work of sign language interpreters, and the identity of deafness. Jeremy was the recipient of the 2009 Irving K. Zola Emerging Scholar in Disability Studies award.ŹIn addition to his work in sociology, Jeremy is a certified sign language interpreter and a member of the ACLU. Congratulations, Jeremy! Are you attending the Eastern Sociological Society Meetings? If so, donÕt miss this great panel! Intersectionalities and Complex Inequalities Philadelphia, PA February 24-27, 2011 Thematic Session: Intersectionality in Disability Studies Organizer and Presider: Val Leiter, Simmons College Liat Ben-Moshe, Syracuse University Resistance to Incarceration in Prisons and Institutions: an Intersectional Approach Allison Carey, Shippensburg University Contradictions of Ideology and Commerce: Race, Idiocy, and Treatment, 1800-1930 Reshawna Chapple, Arizona State University Intersecting the Margins: d/Deaf African American Women in Higher Education Jay Chaskes and Anthony Sommo, Rowan University Examining the Intersectionality Paradigm: The Exceptional Case of Disability Call For Papers! Beyond Access: From Disability Rights to Disability Justice Society for Disability Studies 23rd Annual Conference San Josˇ California, Doubletree Hotel June 15-18, 2011 Deadline for submissions: December 15, 2010 http://www.disstudies.org This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and 2008 witnessed both the passage of the ADA Amendments Act and, on the international stage, the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD). In passing the ADA Amendments Act, the U.S. Congress sought to redress nearly twenty years of rulings that severely narrowed the scope of protections afforded in the original bill. The Convention formally marks a paradigm shift towards considering people with disabilities as subjects who must be able to exercise their own rights, rather than objects of medical inquiry or charitable intervention. These developments seem to suggest gains in the history of disability rights, and yet many disability activists contend that real gains can only be made if disability is conceptualized as part of an intersecting network of historic and contemporary power structures that must be addressed holistically and systemically. We invite conference participants to reconsider the issues of rights and access in light of local, national and global commitments and resistance to achieving disability justice. We welcome proposals in all areas of disability studies, as well as submissions premised on this year's theme. News of Note Please send any news of note to Alexis Bender, newsletter editor, at alexisbender@gmail.com or Val Leiter at Valerie.leiter@simmons.edu