Introduction: This Disability Studies Archive is a collection of student projects and interviews combining disability studies and digital humanities from FR088: Ailing Bodies: Narratives in Health and Illness, taught by Dr. Kaliane Ung. This Disability Studies Archive was formed from the awarding of a Chancellor's Undergraduate Teaching Fellowship, where I, Vidya Surti, served as a TA to provide accompanying educational modules for Digital Humanities tools and Critical Disability Studies within the French and Francophone context. We would like to thank and acknowledge support from the following individuals: Brett Say (Frederick Honors College), Dr. Tracy Rutler, Dr. Tyrica Terry Kapral, and Dr. Clare Ann Withers.
Student Projects
Body Language: Narrative Medicine vs. Foucault's Clinic
By: Anna Farmakis, Ericka Fiorenza, & Lynn Priestley
Lynn, Ericka, and Anna created a zine which combines studies of Foucault's Birth of the Clinic and Narrative Medicine Practices.
Comparative Analysis of American vs. French/Francophone Children's Literature that Discuss Disabilities
By: Makayla Blough, Lauren Grill, Stella Ross, and Annie Sun
This group examined examples of American and French children's literature that involve disability, and presented their findings in an infographic and poster.
A Glance at the Future of the Deaf Community through a Francophone Lens
By: Evan Walker
Evan provided an analysis of deaf cultures and communities in the French and Francophone context, with emphasis on the effects of the "cure" to deafness on these communities. Evan presented his findings in a digital poster.
The Narrative of Disability in the Workplace: A Comparison of the American and Francophone Context
By: Taylor Mathis
Taylor examined disability in the French and American workplaces through a paper. She also provided an infographic to summarize disability identity in the workplace.
Living with Labels Hysteria and Personhood in "City of Incurable Women"
By: Sydney Gregg and Jacob Voelker
Sydney and Jacob used ArcGIS to examine how diagnosis affects personhood in terms of historical notions of hysteria.
Digital Humanities Project: Comparative Analysis of CODA and La Famille Belier through Cultural Implications on Portrayal of Deafness
By: Lun Cing, Sue-Ling Gannon, Maya Roman, Wenli Zhang
This group created a podcast where they compared the French movie La Famille Belier to its English counterpart CODA to analyze deafness in these two settings.
(In)Visibility: Representations of Disability in Media
By: Sydney Yao and Kaitlyn Fanrak
Sydney and Kaitlyn created a website and poster examining French and American disability representations in media.
The Repercussions of COVID-19 on the Deaf Community in France vs. the United States
By: By: Akshitha Viswanadhula, Ashley Bang, Harika Nallamala
This group created an ArcGIS StoryMaps to analyze data regarding the prevalence of hearing loss and hearing aid use prior to COVID-19.
EDUCATIONAL CHALLENGES STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES FACE: A Comparative Study of French and United States Disability Services in Primary Education
By: Jason Meyers, Kayla Bago, April Rigot
This group created a website outlining their main findings.
Evolution of Mental Health Perceptions in the Wake of COVID-19 In France
By: Julia Thomas, Alexa Louvis, Anya Benedict
This group created an infographic and a digital timeline documenting research on mental health before, during, and after COVID-19.
Differences in Perceptions and Treatments of Major Depressive Disorder in the United States Relative to France
by: Chloe Troiano, Marina Dorizas, Sofia Bacci
This group examined perceptions of MDD through examining stigma, treatment methods, and geographic location.
Language Analysis of French and American Disability Law
By: Harlee Hayden and Stephen Arndt
Stephen and Harlee examined the language surrounding disability in French and American legal documents. They used computational tools to find out the frequency of words of interest surrounding disability.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Representation in France
By: Maliha Tayeb, Ava Weiss, Samantha Epstein
This group created a set of Instagram posts with infographics providing information on ASD representation, perceptions, and advocacy in France.
A Comparative Analysis Gender-Focused Disability Efforts: US V.S. France
By: Eniola Ayo-Gbenjo, Sarah Siddiqui
Eniola and Sarah created an accessible podcast that outlined intersectionality, double discrimination, and employment advocacy in the U.S. vs. France.
Disability Laws in France: The Impact on Schools and Workplaces
By: Mora Ghattes, Suzana Mrozowski
This group used a digital platform, Scalar, to display the history of disability laws.
Looking Through Wendy's Eyes: Representations of Disability in Children's Literature
By: Corinne Migliazza, Mridula Kanakavelan
This group created a children's book called Looking Through Wendy's Eyes which uses critical disability studies to portray disability positively.
Perception of Self Through Social Role
By: Gabrielle Torres-Williamson
Gabrielle used ArcGIS ESRI StoryMaps to examine whether societal stigmatization of persons born physically disabled vs those who acquired a physical disability affect perception of self.
Struggles of Eating Disorders in France and The United States
By: Emily McElhany
Emily compared perceptions and struggles of individuals with Eating Disorders in France and the United States.
Comparative Analysis of the Educational Systems in Francophone Countries and the United States in Regards to Learning Disabilities
By: Kylie Kowalski-Grindall
Kylie compared education systems in France and the United States and their approach towards students with learning disabilities through flowcharts and graphs.
Exploring the Contexts and Connotations of Mental Illness
By: Ambar Gautam
Ambar examined depictions of mental illness through Foucault's History of Madness and through Marvel's Moon Knight.
Process for Obtaining Student Accomodations
By: Katherine Rohanna
Katherine produced a video detailing the process regarding obtaining student accommodations.
PTSD from Sexual Assault: Spoken and Unspoken
By: Tina Zhang, Christina Yi
Tina and Christina examined French and American literary sources regarding PTSD and provided comparisons.
Comparative and Representational Analysis of Les Intouchables and The Upside
By: Daniel Boyle
Daniel examined the films: Les Intouchables and the Upside.
Mirrored: Tales of Invisibly Disabled Women Across Seas
By: Nada Abdulaziz and Nertil Ballanca
Nada and Nertil analyzed women's disorders and illnesses in France and the MENA region using Scalar. They also provided a podcast discussion.
France and Serbia: Disability and Art
By: Kaja Cutlip
Kaja provided a comparative analysis of French and Serbian Art, Disability, and Culture, providing implications for improved representation and and social change for individuals with disabilities within these countries.
Autism in the US vs France
By: Madison Bidetti
Madison analyzed the differences between French and American views and policy regarding autism, while also providing personal stories of those who are on the autism spectrum.
Interview with a Scholar: Dr. Tracy Rutler
Dr. Tracy Rutler is a scholar in gender studies, critical disability studies, and materialist theory within French and Francophone studies, particularly in the context of the 18th century. Through our interview, we talked about her key texts regarding disability studies: Prosthetic Matters: On Blindness, Machines, and Knowledge in Diderot's Letter on the Blind and Happiness and Disability: Emilie Du Châtelet's Adaptive Worldbuilding. In Prosthetic Matters, we touched on concepts such as the sensational hierarchy, which in the case of disability studies, combines the impairment of some sense with the heightened ability of another, making up for that sensory avenue. Furthermore, we touched on organology and materialism in formulating the prosthetic, broadening the definition of the prosthetic based on both inorganic and organic material. This redefined prosthetic usually involves these two materials working concurrently, such as sewing with a needle. We also expanded this discussion into redefining or continually changing the definition of the cyborg based on capitalistic constructions of technologies. Finally, we furthered this discussion into invisible disabilities such as chronic pain and decided this model didn't quite fit as nicely with this disability type. With Happiness and Disability, we talked about the role of utopia and worldbuilding in defining and accepting disability. Within a utopia, disability does not exist. Everyone in this ideal world considers disability and ability as the norm, with everyone accommodated in some way. We talked about the application to the real world and realized utopian conditions sheared against a capitalist one.
Interview with a Scholar: Dr. Travis Chi Wing Lau
In the Spring 2023 semester, FR 0088 Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Kaitlyn Fanrak interviewed Dr. Travis Chi Wing Lau, author of the The Crip Poetics of Pain and Pithy, examples of crip poetics. See An Interview of Travis Chi Wing Lau using the link below:
https://sites.google.com/view/interviewwithtravislau/home/about-the-project