PORTRAITS OF DISABILITY AND DIFFERENCE

Writing Seminar 118, Fall 2024                                              Prof. Kristin Lindgren

Tuesday/Thursday 2:30-4 PM                                                klindgre@haverford.edu

Union 114                                                                                           office hours by appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION                      

Seed

Hi everyone! I am doing a make-up post for a class I missed near the end of April for my dad’s birthday. And I wanted to share some thoughts (some deep, some more trivial) about the place we had dinner to celebrate my dad’s birthday. 

The talk by Dr Grubbs was about Abby Folsom, a radical19th century feminist and abolitionist. On top of her focus on women’s rights and abolition, she also was known to advocate for disabled bodies and prisoners and never pit the communities she was standing for against one another. I think this really speaks to her non-hierarchical advocacy and underlying perspective of the world. In her obituary by Wendell Phillips, he states that she lived for others. At the core of her existence and her work, I think embodies the spirit of offering care to any and all.

Hi All! I am doing a critical disability studies zine for my mid-term project. There a still a handful of other ideas I want to incoprorate and am thinking about how to thoughtfully show through my zine. For now, here is a first draft of some of the pages of my zine -- I am super excited to be sharing this and really looking forward to hearing any and all feedback. So far, I have a few pieces of writing including an open invitation for readers and an ode to space. The other ones are pieces of art I have tried to curate that expresses my thoughts towards using space as a tool of understanding, engaging with ideas, and learning. 

Hi all, I’m posting some thoughts I had from the Jan 29th to Feb 2nd  week of readings(a while ago) as a make-up post from when I was out sick with the flu. But I recently went to the Makers Space CCW session and it brought me back to that week’s reading about the Creative Growth Art Center. It made me recall that the Creative Growth Art Center was built on the belief that art is a fundamental pillar of human expression and that as such, everyone should have the right to access these modes of expression. In being in the space today with the CCW artists, Jose, Paige, and Jenna, it was clear that each one had their own unique taste and style with their artwork – something that spoke directly to an aspect of their life or preferences.

In my life, access intimacy is something that has been hard won, organic or at times even felt magical.  It has taken me by surprise, showing up with people that I never would have expected to have that kind of “access connection” with.  It has been exciting and relieving, like a long slow exhale.  I don’t know where it comes from or how it happens.  It has felt like an unspoken, instinctual language between different people, like an entirely unique way of being able to communicate and connect.  Similar to meeting someone you just “click with,” access intimacy has felt like a distinct form of attraction, desire and energy on to itself. -- passage from access intimacy'

After our discussion on Tuesday, I was definitely feeling the weight and darkness of the history of disability in the US. From the discussion about Haverford’s own Gotter’s eugenics movement contribution to the varying levels of surveillance at Ellis Island, there were many points in the history of disability that are not being discussed nearly enough in the classroom setting. However, a thought I was contemplating while having this discussion was how does one even begin to talk about something so traumatic and heavy. It is difficult to envision the “correct” way of broaching this topic.