unspeakable: disability history, identity, and rights

“Unspeakable” features lectures by invited scholarly experts who work on topics in disability studies that complement the subject matter of the Willard Suitcases Exhibit. Each presentation will be followed by ample time for audience discussion. Geoffrey Reaume of York University will talk about his research and activism around the history of mental institutions and patient labor in Canada. Philip Ferguson of the School of Educational Studies at Chapman University will discuss his research on historical examples of family-professional interactions in institutions for people with intellectual disabilities. Jeffrey Brune, a UW History graduate who now teaches at Gallaudet University, will speak about the significance of John Howard Griffin’s intersecting racial, sexual and disability identities in his book Black Like Me. Licia Carlson will speak about work she has done on philosophy, gender, and intellectual disability. Several of these scholars will also lead discussions after the Tuesday night film screenings.

All Events Are Free & Open to the Public

Please direct questions about the “Unspeakable” films and lectures to Joanne Woiak (UW Disability Studies Program) jwoiak@uw.edu, or Rosanna Sze (ASUW Student Disability Commission) rhosze@uw.edu.

Please direct questions about the Willard Suitcases Exhibit and Live Inclusive to Michael Goodwill mgood29@hotmail.com.

- Information courtesy of uwdisability.wordpress.com

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The Willard Suitcase Exhibit

When Willard Psychiatric Center in New York’s Finger Lakes closed in 1995, workers discovered hundreds of suitcases in the attic of an abandoned building.  Many of them appeared untouched since their owners packed them decades earlier before entering the institution.

The suitcases and their contents bear witness to the rich, complex lives their owners lived prior to being committed to Willard.  They speak about aspirations, accomplishments, community connections, but also about loss and isolation. From the clothing and personal objects left behind, we can gain some understanding of who these people were before they disappeared behind hospital walls.  We can picture their jobs and careers, see them driving cars, playing sports, studying, writing, and traveling the world.  We can imagine their families and friends.  But we can also see their lives coming apart due to unemployment, the death of a loved one, loneliness, poverty, or some other catastrophic event.

The suitcases and the life stories of the people who owned them raise questions that are difficult to confront.  Why were these people committed to this institution, and why did so many stay for so long?  How were they treated?  What was it like to spend years in a mental institution, shut away from a society that wanted to distance itself from people it considered insane?  Why did most of these suitcase owners live out their days at Willard?  What about their friends and families?  Are the circumstances today any better than they were for psychiatric patient during the first half of the 20th century?

Co-sponsors of the Willard Suitcase Exhibit and Thursday Presentations:

PROVAIL, Alpha Supported Living Services, Washington Initiative for Supported Employment (W.i.S.e), Washington State Developmental Disabilities Council, University of Washington Disability Studies Program

Eli Clare

Writer, speaker and activist Eli Clare will be visiting the University of Washington for two public presentations and a lunch discussion with students and faculty. All events are free and open to the public. Sponsored and organized by ASUW Student Disability Commission, Women’s Action Commission, and Gay Bisexual Lesbian Transgender Commission; Disability Advocacy Student Alliance; and UW Disability Studies Program.

Resisting Shame, Making Our Bodies Home

Thursday January 27, 2011
2:30-4:30p.m.
University of Washington
Parrington Hall 309 (map)

Shame is an altogether too familiar feeling in marginalized communities, and its impact is huge, ranging from low self-esteem to addiction, from ignoring our health care needs to suicide. Using critical analysis, storytelling, and poetry, writer and activist Eli Clare explores how we in our communities, particularly in LGBTQ and disability communities, resist shame and make our bodies home.

After Eli’s talk, everyone is invited to the Opening Reception for the Willard Suitcases Exhibit in Odegaard Library, Room 220, January 27, 6:00-8:00pm. Light refreshments will be served.

Yearning Towards Carrie Buck

Friday January 28, 2011
6:00-8:00p.m.
University of Washington
Odegaard Library 220

The infamous Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell, which declared involuntary sterilization laws constitutional in 1927, was built upon the body of Carrie Buck, a poor white woman from Virginia. Using history, poetry, images, and imagination, Eli Clare explores how disability, class, gender, and whiteness often collide and asks questions about the relationship between bodies on one hand and law, history, and metaphor on the other.

Presented in conjunction with the screening of the documentary film The Lynchburg Story: Eugenic Sterilization in America, Tuesday January 25, 5:30-7:30p.m. in Odegaard 220. Refreshments provided.

Events Schedule

Mon Jan 17

Arrival of Willard Suitcase Exhibit at University of Washington, Odegaard Library, 2nd Floor

Tues Jan 25, 5:30-7:30p.m, Odegaard 220

Film: The Lynchburg Story: Eugenic Sterilization in America, with refreshments

Thurs Jan 27,2:30-4:30p.m., Parrington 309

Eli Clare, Resisting Shame, Making Our Bodies Home

Thurs Jan 27, 6:00-8:00p.m., Odegaard 220

Opening Reception for the Willard Suitcases Exhibit, light refreshments and brief remarks by the sponsors, including Judith Howard, UW Divisional Dean of Social Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences

Fri Jan 28, 6:00-8:00p.m., Odegaard 220

Eli Clare, Yearning Towards Carrie Buck

Tues Feb 1, 5:30-7:30p.m., Odegaard 220

Film: If I Can’t Do It

Thurs Feb 3, 6:00-8:00p.m., Odegaard 220

Darby Penney, The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic

Tues Feb 8, 5:30-7:30p.m., Odegaard 220

Film: Hurry Tomorrow, discussant Geoff Reaume

Tues Feb 8, 3:30-4:20p.m., Meany Hall, Studio 267

Collaborative Performance Response to the Willard Exhibit, by Jurg Koch and Dance 366 students

Thurs Feb 10, 6:00-8:00p.m., Odegaard 220

Geoffrey Reaume, Memorializing Mad People’s History: Preserving our Past through Archives and Activism

Mon Feb 14, 4:30-6:30p.m., Odegaard 220

Philip Ferguson, The Doubting Dance: Contributions to a History of Parent/Professional Interactions in Early 20^th Century America

Tues Feb 15, 5:30-7:30p.m., Odegaard 220

Film: In Our Care, with discussant Phil Ferguson

Wed Feb 16, 5:30-7:00p.m., Odegaard 220

Jennifer Stuber, Transforming the American Conversation about Mental Health(registration required, go to http://socialwork.uw.edu)

Thurs Feb 17, 6:00-8:00p.m., Odegaard 220

What’s So Today Panel and Discussion

Tues Feb 22, 5:30-7:30p.m., Odegaard 220

Film: Unforgotten: 25 Years After Willowbrook

Thurs Feb 24, 6:00-8:00p.m., Odegaard 220

What’s So Today for Individuals, Personal Stories Presentation and Discussion

Tues Mar 1, 6:00-7:30p.m., Odegaard 220

Jeffrey Brune, Blind Like Me: John Howard Griffin, Disability, and the Fluidity of Identity in Modern America

Thurs Mar 3, 6:00-8:00p.m., Odegaard 220

What’s So Today in Community, Personal Stories Presentation and Discussion

Mon Mar 7, 6:00-7:30p.m., Odegaard 220

Licia Carlson, Gender, Disability, and the Dynamics of Institutionalization

Mar 7-18, Odegaard Library

Global Perspectives on Institutionalization, poster presentations by LSJ/CHID/DIS ST 434 Civil and Human Rights for Disabled People students

Thurs Mar 10, 6:00-8:00p.m., Odegaard 220

Turning the Corner to the Future, Panel Presentation

Mon Mar 15, 6:00-7:30p.m., Odegaard 220

Joanne Woiak, Voices from the Washington Archives: Eugenics and Forced Sterilization in State Institutions

Wed Mar 17, 6:00-8:00p.m, Odegaard 220

What’s The Future Hold – World Café

UW Sponsors include: Disability Studies Program; Norris & Dorothy Haring Center for Applied Research & Training in Education; Program on Values in Society; Department of History; Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity; Law, Societies & Justice Program; Department of Political Science; Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies; Canadian Studies Center of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies; Comparative History of Ideas Program; Bothell INterdisciplinary Arts & Sciences; Women Studies Department; University Libraries; Department of Communication; School of Social Work; Do-It; Disability Advocacy Student Alliance

ASUW Sponsors include: Student Disability Commission; GLBT Commission; Women Action Commission

Information Courtesy of uwdisability.wordpress.com