Disability Studies is a nascent field of interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and making meaning of disability. Though the field itself does not declare any class of disability more or less deserving of academic scholarship, it has been noted that an over attention to physical disabilities has haunted the field. Intellectual and mental disabilities are gaining more interest, however, but this presents some difficulties. Ideally, the scholars in the field of studying disabilities would be disabled themselves. This is the general attitude towards ethnic studies as well, like American Indian studies, where those physically foreign to the subject matter, i.e. Caucasians, aren't given the same validity as would a Native scholar. In Disability Studies, the disabled are encouraged to become involved as their life experiences are unique to the human experience and lend a kind of authenticity to the work.
The movement towards inclusion of the non-physically disabled, or mentally disabled, presents natural barriers as the production of knowledge becomes hindered by the disability. Intellectual disabilities, developmental disabilities, like Autism, and Schizophrenia, hereafter "mental disabilities", present seemingly insurmountable barriers to higher education and the knowledge economy. Seen below, this logo does not make clear whether mental disabilities are included in their initiative.
I tread lightly here. Disability is still stigmatized in our society and while physical disabilities get a lot of visual attention and are an obvious target of affirmative action, the collection of disabilities that originate, and remain, in cognitive functioning are more difficult to integrate into the ADA movement due to their seemingly elusive and low-profile characteristics, i.e. it is easier to acknowledge someone's physical handicap than an abnormal frontal lobe. Any efforts towards integration and accommodation risk discrimination and exclusion for any disability but this is never truer when it comes to mental disabilities. Another major factor in this problem is the spectrum aspect of these afflictions. Research has shown that many mental and intellectual disabilities are "spectrum disorders"or spectrum conditions (I don't want to define here what is a disorder and what is a condition as these labels deserve an entirely independent analysis). So, the levels of disability in these fluctuate, which renders problematic the disabled label. This produces a sense of unease among those with mental disabilities in the Disabilities Studies field. Many simply don't reach that level of contribution to the community because their disabilities inherently disrupt or limit cognitive functioning, something that just doesn't fly in academia. While there are exceptions, a favorite of mine being Elyn Saks, who has Schizophrenia and happens to be a tenured professor at USC, they don't represent the critical mass of the mentally disabled who remain not just outside of the academic community but at times outside of their own local community as well.
I saw Dr. Saks speak at a conference last spring in Santa Monica. She had a relatively flat affect,or lack of facial expression, which is a symptom of Schizophrenia, among other mental illnesses. It was a physical sign of her disability but the tip of the iceberg of what Schizophrenia entails. Also of note, Temple Grandin, an Autistic scholar of animal sciences at Colorado State, has been very outspoken regarding her disability and credits her unique view on life to her deep understanding of animals.
In sum, I appreciate the difficulty our society has in dealing with and understanding those with mental disabilities. A malfunctioning or malformed brain is hard to group with physical handicaps such as deafness or loss of a limb. They take intensive treatment and therapy and can never be completely overcome, much like many physical disabilities. Contributions to Disability Studies can still occur from the mentally disabled, as a disabled mind can still have flickers of brilliance and insight and these perspectives are sorely missing from academic literature.
