Class Outline: Week 2

SPC ED 511: Social Construction of Disability

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January 27, 2009 (class #2)

Topic: Contrasting perspectives: etic, emic, and cultural differences

Class outline:

Announcements, quick questions and quandaries:

If you haven't started already, you must begin your observations for your language diary and documenting them on the wiki page set up for you by Amanda. (Note: you should have multiple entries for each of 7 consecutive days).

All of your entries must be posted by next Tuesday (Feb. 3).

You should also be logging on, at least once a week, to the course wiki and making contributions. This course include adding to or commenting to the course blog, adding to the list of films that have a character with a disability, and/or commenting on a colleague's language diary.

Small group activity #1:

Get into three groups of 3. Each group will start with a different one of the assigned readings. On the large paper provided, first summarize what you felt were the main points. Then, write down the questions the article raised for you.

After 15 minutes, we will rotate articles – adding to the summary and questions raised from the previous group.

After another 15 minutes, switch again.

Small group activity #2:

Get into your regular small groups.

Consider what you learned through previous activity.

Prepare to share with the whole group the most important ideas you took away from the readings.

Break & quick write:
"In what ways do you think it the emic and etic perspectives on disability might be different. Provide some concrete examples. What kinds of problems or conflicts might occur as a result of these differences?"

Interactive presentation on emit vs etic and cross-cultural differences in perceptions of disability:
This web page might be helpful in your understandings of the topic: http://faculty.ircc.edu/faculty/jlett/Article%20on%20Emics%20and%20Etics.htm

Minute paper

Overheads:

PowerPoint

Reading Questions:

Note: All of the readings, required and recommended, can be found on electronic reserves at Zimmerman library. Please contact the instructor for the course password.

Author: Sleeter (1986)

1.)	Sleeter (p. 48) states that special education "usually is presented as a school structure instituted solely to benefit students unable to profit from school because of handicapping conditions." While she questions this interpretation for students "whose handicaps are not obvious" (read learning disabilities), she finds this has merits for students with mental retardation and with physical impairments. To what extent do you agree/disagree with the statement and to what extent do you agree that it applies exclusively to students without mental retardation or physical impairments?
2.)	How does Sleeter argue that the category of "learning disabilities" came to be?
3.)	What is Sleeter's arguments about "advantaged social groups" and maintaining social advantage?
4.)	To what extent do you agree/disagree with her argument?
5.)	Now that you've read this article: ...what seem to be some important concepts in this reading? ...what are some new terms for you? ...what new questions do you have?

Author: Rao (2006)

1.) On the middle of page 160, Rao states that "Viewed from the sociological perspective, categories embedded within the traditional medical model of disability are not objective or real but are metaphors that indicate the ways in which these categories are socially or culturally constructed." What does this mean?

2.) Furthermore, on p. 161, the author states that "much of the analysis in the realm of culture and disability has focused on understanding disability as a status which is an outcome of the expectations and norms in a given social structure." What does that mean?

3.) What behaviors did the mothers in this study use to determine whether their children were "normal"?

4.) How does this differ from expectations in US schools for "normal" individuals?

5.) Now that you've read this article:

...what seem to be some important concepts in this reading?

...what are some new terms for you?

...what new questions do you have?

Authors: Malloy & Vasil (2002)

1.) These authors also refer to the medical model, in their statement at the top of page 661: "the medical model approrach to developmental disorders is largely conter-productive; the basis for this criticism being that once children are labelled they tend to vbe defined by their diagnosis thereby losing their individuality and limiting other people's expectations of them." What do you think about this statement?

2.) On page 662, the authors compare the medical model of disability and the social model of disability. What do you understand about the difference between these perspectives?

3.) at the top of page 663, the authors state that "impairments, such as the inability to hear, exist in thr world, but deafness, as a disability, is socially constructed." What might that mean?

4.) Later, the authors, using the exmaple of Asperger syndrome, question the notion of "impairment" that is inherent in the social model of disability. What do you understand about that argument?

5.) Now that you've read this article:

...what seem to be some important concepts in this reading?

...what are some new terms for you?

...what new questions do you have?

* To view PDF documents, such as the readings on reserve, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader. Click here to download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader

.

Extra Resources:
Website Links:

See these links for different definitions of "culture":

See this link for a discussion of emic vs. etic perspectives: http://faculty.ircc.edu/faculty/jlett/Article%20on%20Emics%20and%20Etics.htm

Recommended Related Books
Ingstad, B., & Whyte, S. R. (Eds.) (1995). Disability and culture. Berkely, CA: University of Califorinia Press.

Readings from the recommended readings:
Braathen, S. H., & Ingstad, B. (2006). Albinism in Malawi: Knowledge and beliefs from an african setting. Disability and Society, 21(6), 599-611.
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Brownlow, C., & O’Dell, L. (2006). Constructing an autistic identity: AS voices online. Mental Retardation, 44(5), 315-321.
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Frankland, H. C., Turnbull, A. P., Wehmeyer, M. L., & Blackmountain, L. (2004). An exploration of the self-determination construct and disability as it relates to the diné (Navajo) culture. Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities, 39(3), 191-205.
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Trueba, H., Jacobs, L., & Kirton, E. (1990). Cultural conflict and adaptation: The case of Hmong children in American society. New York: The Falmer Press.
.

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Return to top Julia Scherba de Valenzuela, Ph.D.
Last updated: January 26, 2009

	Announcements, quick questions and quandaries: If you haven't started already, you must begin your observations for your language diary and documenting them on the wiki page set up for you by Amanda. (Note: you should have multiple entries for each of 7 consecutive days). All of your entries must be posted by next Tuesday (Feb. 3). You should also be logging on, at least once a week, to the course wiki and making contributions. This course include adding to or commenting to the course blog, adding to the list of films that have a character with a disability, and/or commenting on a colleague's language diary.
	Small group activity #1: Get into three groups of 3. Each group will start with a different one of the assigned readings. On the large paper provided, first summarize what you felt were the main points. Then, write down the questions the article raised for you. After 15 minutes, we will rotate articles – adding to the summary and questions raised from the previous group. After another 15 minutes, switch again.
	Small group activity #2: Get into your regular small groups. Consider what you learned through previous activity. Prepare to share with the whole group the most important ideas you took away from the readings.
	Break & quick write: "In what ways do you think it the emic and etic perspectives on disability might be different. Provide some concrete examples. What kinds of problems or conflicts might occur as a result of these differences?"
	Interactive presentation on emit vs etic and cross-cultural differences in perceptions of disability: This web page might be helpful in your understandings of the topic: http://faculty.ircc.edu/faculty/jlett/Article%20on%20Emics%20and%20Etics.htm
	Minute paper

1.)	On the middle of page 160, Rao states that "Viewed from the sociological perspective, categories embedded within the traditional medical model of disability are not objective or real but are metaphors that indicate the ways in which these categories are socially or culturally constructed." What does this mean?
2.)	Furthermore, on p. 161, the author states that "much of the analysis in the realm of culture and disability has focused on understanding disability as a status which is an outcome of the expectations and norms in a given social structure." What does that mean?
3.)	What behaviors did the mothers in this study use to determine whether their children were "normal"?
4.)	How does this differ from expectations in US schools for "normal" individuals?
5.)	Now that you've read this article: ...what seem to be some important concepts in this reading? ...what are some new terms for you? ...what new questions do you have?

1.)	These authors also refer to the medical model, in their statement at the top of page 661: "the medical model approrach to developmental disorders is largely conter-productive; the basis for this criticism being that once children are labelled they tend to vbe defined by their diagnosis thereby losing their individuality and limiting other people's expectations of them." What do you think about this statement?
2.)	On page 662, the authors compare the medical model of disability and the social model of disability. What do you understand about the difference between these perspectives?
3.)	at the top of page 663, the authors state that "impairments, such as the inability to hear, exist in thr world, but deafness, as a disability, is socially constructed." What might that mean?
4.)	Later, the authors, using the exmaple of Asperger syndrome, question the notion of "impairment" that is inherent in the social model of disability. What do you understand about that argument?
5.)	Now that you've read this article: ...what seem to be some important concepts in this reading? ...what are some new terms for you? ...what new questions do you have?