Disability
Studies and the Legacies of Eugenics
Director:
Sharon Snyder, University of Illinois, Chicago
Co-director:
David Mitchell, University of Illinois, Chicago
DAAD Faculty:
1. Adrienne Asch, Bio-ethics
and Women’s Studies, Professor, Wellesley College, Massachusetts
2. Brenda Breuggemann, Rhetoric and Composition and Deaf Studies, Associate
Professor, Ohio State U
3. Sally Chivers, Assistant Professor, Canadian Studies and Disability
Studies, Assistant Professor, Trent U, Toronto
4. Sumi Colligan, Cultural Anthropology, Massachusetts College of the
Liberal Arts
5. Nancy Hansen, Disability Studies, Assistant Professor, U of Manitoba
6. Rosemarie Garland Thomson, English and Women’s Studies, Associate
Professor, Emory U, Atlanta
7. Kanta Kochlar-Lindgren, Performance Studies, Assistant Professor, University
of Washington, Bothell
8. Nicole Markotic, Film Studies, Women’s Studies, Creative Writing,
Associate Professor, U of Calgary
9. Debjani Mukherjee, Center for the Study of Disability Ethics, Assistant
Professor, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Northwestern U.
10. Gerald O’Brien, Social Work, Associate Professor, Southern Illinois
University
11. Sandy O’Neill, History, Research Associate, World Institute
on Disability
12. Walton Schalick, M.D., Pediatrics and History, Washington University,
St. Louis
13. Mark Sherry, Disability Studies, Chair and Assistant Professor, U
of Toledo
14. Ingrid Hoffmann, Psychology
& Child Development, University of Minnesota
Graduate Research Associates:
15. Sara Vogt, Disability Studies,
University of Illinois, Chicago
16. Pamela Wheelock, Disability Studies, University of Illinois, Chicago
The DAAD Summer Seminar offered
English-speaking academics of different rank and scholarly experience
the opportunity to explore the 20th century history of disabled people
as a backdrop for the population’s situation today. Opportunities
to apply were advertised in a mailing by the Society for Disability Studies,
in posts to online list-serves, and on the DAAD website. (Appendix 1).
Participants in the 2004 DAAD
Summer Seminar, a program opportunity originated by Sander Gilman, all
pursued independent research proposals while working in consultation with
colleagues’ projects and responses. All are experts in disability
issues, past and present, and many also negotiate barriers and possibilities
related to their own disabilities.
DAAD sponsored 13 faculty participants
who represented disciplinary fields ranging from medical practice to women’s
studies. One individual had written her dissertation on disability genocide
under the Third Reich. Three faculty participants were from Canadian universities.
Two, in addition to the directors, teach in departments of disability
studies. Nearly all participants teach and research in the new field of
disability studies and disability history at their home institutions –
all are engaged in attempting to establish disability studies courses,
concentrations, and programs in their departments and fields of study.
The Bioethics and Disability Institute at the Rehabilitation Institute
of Chicago provided funding for two advanced graduate students, both with
university teaching experience and German language facility, to participate
in the seminar. Their contribution was highly valued, as well as their
willingness to earn support by working as personal assistants, translators,
and access coordinators. A third participant, from the University of Minnesota,
speaks or signs more than 20 languages fluently. From her childhood in
the diplomatic corps she offered a tremendous background in German culture
and specifically on the locations and history of post-war psychiatric
institutions.
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