Disability Studies: Enabling the Humanities by Sharon L. Snyder

Disability Studies: Enabling the Humanities Reviews

• 
  Melissa Stacy

  First published in 2002, "Disability Studies: Enabling the Humanities," edited by Sharon L. Snyder, Brenda Jo Brueggemann, and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, is a seminal work in the academic field of disability studies. This essay collection is an excellent introduction to the topic of disability and how to apply disability studies to other methods of inquiry.
  
  My favorite essay in the book was the first one: "Narrative Prosthesis and the Materiality of Metaphor," by David T. Mitchell. This essay was expanded into a book that I'd like to read.
  
  The co-editors of this collection all contributed strong essays as well.
  
  Reading a book like this is certainly rewarding -- it's tremendously educational and stimulating -- but it sure isn't fun. Grappling with ableism and the realities of disability is mental and emotional labor. And because so much of the physical human world still actively bars people with disabilities from participating in social events, and readily promotes works of art that spread the message that people with disabilities are better off dead, these essays are sad and draining to read. As much as I wish the world were better, the world is simply the world: ableist af.
  
  I'm incredibly grateful to the disability studies scholars who created this field of research, and to everyone who keeps expanding our minds with new insights. It's tremendously important work, and certainly needed.
  
  Five stars.
• 
  Victoria Phelps

  This book includes articles from some of the biggest names in disability studies in the humanities to create a fundamental text for disability criticism. Split into four sections (Enabling Theory, Autobiographical Subjects, Rehabilitating Representation, and Enabling Pedagogy), Disability Studies tracks a path to accomplish exactly what the title suggests: enable the humanities.