Table of Contents
Page 1- Introduction

Page 2- Co Chair 
Spotlight

Page 3- Division 
Election Results

 Page 4- Student 
Paper Award Results

Page 5-9- Member 
Achievement 
Highlight



Greetings 
from the 
Disability 
Division 
Co-Chairs
Hello!
First, we would like to begin 
by saying we hope this 
newsletter finds you all safe 
and well. It has been over a 
year since the onset of the 
COVID-19 global pandemic, 
and we know that so many 
lives have been impacted in 
various ways. We hope that 
you've been able to find 
some moments of solace 
and support throughout 
these trying times.

In this editions newsletter, we 
will be highlighting the 
accomplishments of various 
division members. Various 
members of the disability 
division have produced 
publications ranging from 
journal articles to book 
chapters, and we want to 
highlight and celebrate these 
exciting achievements! There 
are references and or links to 
different articles and websites 
related to our division 
members content!



Co-Chair Spotlight!
Dr. Loren Wilbers is an Assistant Professor of
Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
She coordinates the Family, Health & Disability 
Studies minor program and the Disability Studies
program. She teaches a number of courses, including 
Sociology of Disability and Sociology of Health & 
Illness. Her research interests include chronic pain 
and family experiences with disability. She has 
published in Humanity & Society, Research in Social 
Science & Disability, the Journal of Social Service
Research, and Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics. She is 
co-author of the new 2020 edition of the "Introducing 
Disability Studies" textbook with Ronald J. Berger.
She resides in Madison, WI with her husband, Travis, 
and their dog, Weezy. She is excited to be serving 
the Disability Division of SSSP in the role of co-chair.








Disability Division Election 
Results
The winner of the 
Disability Division 
Election is:

Catherine M. 
Voulgarides!








Disability Division 
Student Paper Award
winner:
Melinda Maconi for her paper, "ÒWhen you 
get into this world, youÕre constantly 
connected to thingsÓ: Creating and 
reproducing cultural capital for people with 
disabilities participating in the arts."

She will be presenting this at the SSSP 
annual conference.


A red header titled Society for the Study of Social Problems in Pursuit of Social Justice.
Disability Division.

Member Publication Highlight:
Rebecca Blackwell

Background: Donileen Loseke (1947Ð) is an American 
sociologist who taught at the University of South Florida 
from 1990 until her retirement in 2019. Her primary areas 
of specialization include constructionism, symbolic 
interactionism, social psychology, research methods, 
social problems, and the sociology of emotions. Her 
research explores the narrative production of reality, 
addressing the relationships among narrative, emotion, 
and the symbolic representations of types of people in 
public policy, public service organizations, and political 
discourse. LosekeÕs work uncovers patterns in the way 
social actors use storytelling to make sense of their lived 
experiences at the cognitive, emotional, and moral levels. 
Reference: Blackwell, Rebecca and William Force. 2020. 
ÒDonileen Loseke,Ó in SAGE Research Methods 
Foundations, edited by P. Atkinson, S. Delamont, A. 
Cernat, J. Sakashaug, and R. Williams. 
doi:10.4135/9781526421036896556


A red header titled Society for the Study of Social Problems in Pursuit of Social Justice.
Disability Division.

Member Publication Highlight:
Stephanie J. Lau
Abstract: This paper focuses on interviews conducted with women veterans 
with disabilities in Virginia and how they feel their needs would best be met as 
they transition to civilian college life. The interview questions were designed to 
capture the basic experiences of women veterans with disabilities who were 
enrolled in higher education. Those interviewed responded to 13 questions, 
which focused on background information, how their disability affected their 
education, what resources they used, and how schools can best meet their 
needs as women veterans with disabilities. Two members of the project staff 
conducted independent thematic content analyses, then discussed and agreed 
on common themes identified. Those themes were: cultural differences, military 
identity, bureaucracy, experiences, and disability influence. These women 
veterans revealed that they have difficulty transitioning from the highly 
structured military world to the less-structured civilian world; their disabilities 
have an impact on their education options: they seek out quiet spaces, they 
need more communication and direction on resources and accommodations, 
and they would like women-specific support groups. Project staff concluded that 
women veteran students should be treated as a cultural group with specific 
needs, such as quiet spaces, transition training and mentoring by women peers, 
and increased communication about veteran-eligible services.
Reference: Lau, S. J., McKelvey, S., Groah, C. H., & Getzel, E. E. (2020). 
Unique Needs and Challenges of Women Veteran Students with 
Disabilities: Conceptualizing Identity in Higher Education. Journal of 
Veterans Studies, 6(3), 101. https://doi.org/10.21061/jvs.v6i3.212


A red header titled Society for the Study of Social Problems in Pursuit of Social Justice.
Disability Division.

Member Publication & Achievement Highlight:
Laura Maldin
Dr. Laura Maldin, Ph.D is an associate professor at 
the University of Connecticut in the Department of 
Women, Gender, and Sexuality studies, and the 
Department of Human Development and Family 
Sciences.

Dr. Mauldin was awarded an "SSRC Rapid Response 
to COVID-19" for her book project on Spousal 
Caregivers. She then published an essay from the 
book project in Real Life Magazine. Dr. Mauldin 
published a two-part essay on conducting fieldwork 
during a pandemic on the Sociology blog 
"Scattterplot". And finally, Dr. Laura Mauldin 
published a short wrtie up of some of her study 
results with the national organization "Caring Across 
Generations".



Member Publication & Achievement Highlight:
New Narratives of Disability: Constructions, Clashes, 
and Controversies.
In 2020, series editors, Sara Green and Donileen Loseke produced an 
edited volume of "New Narratives of Disability: Constructions, Clashes and 
Controversies.".

This research volume contains chapters that were contributed to by multiple 
members of the disability division. Below is a description provided by Sara 
Green about this new work.

New Narratives of Disability explores questions about narrative frameworks in disability 
research. Narrative is an omnipresent meaning-producing communication form in social life 
that is both cultural and personal. Public understandings of disability tend to follow a medical 
storyline in which disability is a tragedy to be fixed. This narrative has been heavily critiqued 
by a social narrative of disability that draws attention to ways in which people with bodies 
and minds that do not conform to notions of normality are oppressed by negative attitudes 
and social barriers. A growing chorus has been raising concerns that this social frame of 
disability may neglect the telling of disability stories that include pain, suffering and episodic 
disability. Such critiques call for new and more complex narratives that include voices and 
experiences missing from the social narrative of disability.This volume answers that call by 
exploring how narrative inquiry leads to richer understandings of disability that can serve as 
a platform for dismantling prejudices and discrimination in order to promote positive social 
change.
Reference: New Narratives of Disability: Constructions, Clashes, and Controversies. Vol. 11, 
Research in Social Science and Disability. Sara E. Green and Donileen R. Loseke, editors. UK: 
Emerald Publishing (2020)





Call for Publication Highlight:
Research in Social Science and Disability (RSSD)

Volume 13 of RSSD will be titled Disability in the Time of Pandemic- 
The editors, Allison Carey, Sara Green, and Laura Mauldin, are 
seeking abstracts for possible chapters. The volume is under contract 
with Emerald Publishing, and we anticipate it will be published in 2022. 
Chapter abstracts are due June 15th, 2021 and can be sent to Allison 
Carey at accare@ship.edu.

The full call and timeline is attached and can also be found here. 
Additional information about the RSSD book series can be found at 
the following link:

https://books.emeraldinsight.com/page/series-detail/Research-in- 
Social-Science-and-Disability/

We welcome submissions from a variety of disciplines and 
epistemological perspectives in the social sciences from contributors 
around the world. Please disseminate the Call to your colleagues as 
well.