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Literacy without Limits
The essays gathered here were written between 1994-98 for a series of graduate seminars in rhetoric and composition. They document the evolution of my own thinking about literacy as a blind reader and writer. Mine is a multi-textured literacy that could be characterized by what anthropologist Shirley Brice Heath called ever-shifting, protean shapes and modes. It is motivated by an ongoing struggle for a literacy without limits, a literacy unbounded by social, political, and economic constraints.

Multiple Perspectives on Access, Inclusion & Disability
OSU's annual conference on "Multiple Perspectives on Access, Inclusion & Disability" will be held on April 20-21 in Columbus. Sponsors Include the Great Lakes ADA and IT Center, ADA-OHIO, OSU Disability Studies Program and OSU ADA Coordinator's Office.

Disability Studies and the University
The first national conference in the humanities on disability studies. Sponsored by the Modern Language Association and Emory University, the event will be held March 5 -7, 2004, at the Emory University Conference Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The Conference is scheduled to begin immediately after an interdisciplinary workshop on law and disability presented by the Feminism and Legal Theory Project at the Emory Law School, March 3 to 4.

Making End of Life Decisions: Not Dead Yet
Given the cursory nature of broadcast news reporting (yes, even on NPR), Joseph Shapiro presents a thoughtful overview of the disability rights perspective on end-of-life decisions (Morning Edition 121603). Without saying so directly, Shapiro conveys how disability rights activists can feel conflicted about sharing a political position with right-to-lifers on the religious right. From the disability rights perspective, concern about pulling the plug has less to do with the "sanctity of life" and more to do with "money and prejudice."

Shapiro interviews Diane Coleman, founder of Not Dead Yet: "We are like the canaries in the coal mine," she says. "We are on the front lines of the health care system every day. We have direct experience with how hard it is these days to get the health care we need."

Shapiro's news-hook is the case of Terry Schiavo, whose life-or-death decision has become a political football in Florida. There is a sound bite here of Schiavo's vocal response as her mother spoke to her in her hospital room. Listen - this is what "persistent vegetative state" can sound like. As a blind caregiver, I yearned for such a response, a response I could hear, in similar end-of-life experiences with my parents.

Listen to the Story | NPR Extended Coverage on End-of-Life Decisions |
National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems



Last updated 010604 (MW).