Special Issue of the Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal

Parting the Waters: Disability and Deliverance in the Wake of Disaster
We are soliciting articles for a forum on disability and disasters, to be published as a special issue of the Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal (RDS). Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, and the lasting effects of 9/11, have created heightened awareness of the impact of disastrous events on people with disabilities. While much of the current interest within the field of Disability Studies in the impact of disasters upon the life circumstances of people with disabilities has been inspired by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, there are many reasons to regard this and other disasters as the critical nexus of a much larger conversation. The American hurricanes of 2005 followed months after a major Asian/East African tsunami and preceded a major earthquake in South Asia. Both claimed many more lives and incurred many more injuries and much more property damage even than occurred in the US. As always, such cataclysms always impact far more the largely overlapping categories of people with disabilities, the poor and other socially-disadvantaged groups.

Like the culturally-defined status of dis-ability, the designation of ecological events as dis-asters is a social construct, in that ecologies are both natural and human. The large losses incurred recently within and beyond the disability community have more than climatic causes. Human solutions and preventative measures for such “natural” disasters are distinct possibilities. It must also be recognized that those who endure most in such circumstances are often held responsible for their own plight. It is as if disability issues that place persons at greater risk are a personal choice or a consequence of personal moral failure. This, of course, reprises old, ubiquitous and pernicious theories about the root causes of impairment and other difficulties, attributions of personal and/or collective failings, guilt or "sin."

We propose a forum that contemplates the social constructions of dis-ability and dis-aster as widely as possible, with regard to both subject and methodology. In addition to papers from U.S. authors, papers by authors from outside of the U.S. or that discuss these issues on an international scale are strongly encouraged. Papers might address any of the following topics, but are by no means limited to those suggested:

1. Inequities in the distribution of disaster relief as they impact people with disabilities.
2. Disability as the consequence of disasters, along with measures to address disability issues in the wake of disasters.
3. Findings from research on progress/best practices in the area of disaster preparation and relief for people with disabilities.
4. Increased vulnerability to disasters as a consequence of failure to implement disability accommodations in institutions, facilities, public policy and planning for emergencies.
5. Disability and illness as causes for disaster; blaming the victims; the impaired and ill as sinful and culpable.
6. Disability as metaphor for disaster in expressive and ideological discourse including but certainly not limited to literature, film, visual arts, and religion/scripture.
7. Research related to the lived experience of persons with disabilities in disaster areas.
8. Critical discourse analysis on media reactions to disasters, including the interplay of disability, race, poverty, and social services/charity.

Send via email to Alex Lubet, lubet001@umn.edu, Lori Rowlett, rowletl@uwec.edu, and Christopher Johnstone, john4810@umn.edu a 250-word abstract by January 6, 2006. Authors will be notified of acceptance by January 20. For those selected, we will request completed articles of approximately 3000-5000 words. Questions should be directed to Guest Editors: Alex Lubet (School of Music/Center for Jewish Studies/Program in American Studies, University of Minnesota) lubet001@umn.edu, Lori Rowlett (Departments of Philosophy & Religion and Women’s Studies, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire), rowletl@uwec.edu, Christopher Johnstone (Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota) john4810@umn.edu.

For more information about the Review of Disability Studies, go to www.rds.hawaii.edu.