News & Events

The Power of Narrative: Interdisciplinary Conference Explores Themes of Disability

Two-day event begins Feb. 16

January 30, 2006

 

What is the role of personal narrative in advancing the cause of disability rights? This question is one that will be tackled by a wide range of experts during an interdisciplinary conference on February 16 and 17, 2006, at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

• Thursday's Archived Webcast - Readings
• Friday's Archived Webcast - Session I | Session II | Lunch | Session III | Session IV

Disability, Narrative, and the Law will bring together researchers from law and the humanities to explore how themes of autonomy and dependency, “normal” and “abnormal,” innocence and fault, sameness and difference all play out in legal discussions about disability and in the self-understanding of persons with disabilities.

The conference begins on Thursday evening with a series of disability narrative and creative nonfiction readings at the college's Barrister Club, 25 West 11th Avenue. It continues on Friday with panel discussions in Drinko Hall's Saxbe Auditorium, 55 West 12th Avenue. There is no charge to attend, however registration is required for lunch on February 17.

Participants will analyze how personal experience narratives that focus on disability bear on actual legal practice, how legal arguments are translated back into individuals' accounts of being disabled, the tension created by the highly individualized and personal experience of disability, and the necessity of generalized, broad legal definitions of disability.

Hon. Tony Coelho, Chairman of the Board, The Epilepsy Foundation, and former member, U.S. House of Representatives will present the keynote speech at Noon on Friday.

Other speakers will come from throughout North America, including Chloë G. K. Atkins, Assistant Professor of Communication and Culture, University of Calgary; Ellen Barton, Professor of English, Wayne State University; Paul Steven Miller, Professor of Law, University of Washington; and Ruth O'Brien, Professor of Government at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Executive Officer of the Political Science Ph.D. and M.A. Program, The Graduate Center, City University of New York.

The conference is a collaborative effort of the Center for Interdisciplinary Law and Policy Studies at the Moritz College of Law, the Department of English, the Collaborative Research and Public Humanities, and Office of the Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator, all at The Ohio State University.

Speeches will be captioned and signed and will also be broadcast on the World Wide Web. The webcast will be available at http://moritzlaw.osu.edu. Sessions will also be available for podcast.

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