An Exhibition Spotlights Progressive Art Studios

What is disability culture? Is there one, are there many? Who calls culture into being?

(This response is definitely not completely fleshed out, and as someone who is not a member of the disability community, my perception of disability culture definitely lacks authority)

When I think about Kupper's questions ("What is disability culture? Is there one, are there many? Who calls culture into being?"), I think about the huge amount of diversity in the disabled population, and it seems impossible to truly define disability culture. I think a common theme is access and respect for others, but I think this manifests in many different ways. Culture for physically disabled versus intellectually disabled people is very different, and there are many differences within these two large categories. I also think it's hard to define disability culture when people with disabilities live worldwide and are influenced by the other types of culture as well.

Disability culture has a lot to offer, with both information about disability and the gap that is present between the neurodivergent and the neurotypical. Culture on its own is "the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc." (Dictionary.com). So how does that change when you add disability to the picture? When I think of disability culture I do not think of it as one set thing, the same way I do not think culture on its own is one thing. Disability cultures varies from person to person, from their neurodiversity, their ethnic background, their relationship with their disability, and the experiences that they have been through due to them being neurodivergent.

An Invitation to Dance had apt timing: I watched it hours after getting home from a dance party I attended with Aidan*, a young man with autism, who I work with to build life and social skills. The dancing scenes in the movie were strikingly similar to the party, with a mixed ability group twirling gracefully and twisting freely. Except for one thing: we did not feel this invitation to dance.

Here are a some quotes from the readings that helped define disabity culture for me 

"I do not think that disabily culture is something that comes 'naturally' to people identified or identifying as disabled. And I do not think that disability culutre is close to non-disabled allies" (Kuppers, 4) 

"Try to undo the history of exclusions that many of its members have experiences when they have heard or felt 'you shouldn't be like this'" (Kuppers, 5)

"wishes to shape a more accesible and respectiful world for all of us" (Kuppers, 6)

"more like a process than a state" (Kuppers, 11)

I've been looking for answers to some of your questions about A Fierce Kind of Love. There are some resources on the Temple website, including interviews with the actors. I found this interview with Lee Ann Etzold and Erin McNulty interesting. 

This was my second time reading Good Kings, Bad Kings and it was interesting going through it a second time around. I found that every story hit me even harder than it did the first time I read it. However, a theme that I noticed more this time around was the element of belittling. I found that the relationships between the inpatients and the staff at ILLC made it feel as if an adult-child relationship. At a casual glance without much context, I would believe that the patients were around 13 years old, but the actual age of these individuals are close to my own age, some even older. The tone of voice and treatment by most of the staff belittled the patients to the point where they were considered children.