If you are a researcher or a student seeking to obtain a book that makes you examine others’ interpretations about the convergence of disability and cultural studies, this may be the perfect read for you.
On the other hand, if you are a researcher or a student that is seeking exploratory research on theory, which provides information that is highly applicable to disability studies, and that lends itself to aiding in the solidification of research, this book probably will not meet your needs.
The book’s title would lead the potential reader to believe that Culture–Theory–Disability would clearly articulate the intermingling of disability and cultural studies. A belief reaffirmed in the first article by the book’s editor, and contributing author, Anne Waldschmidt, who discusses how the social model of disability has neglected cultural imagery (21). A claim that she believes was validated when one of the model’s originators, Michael Oliver, confirmed that ‘he does not consider “cultural values” to be crucial, at least as long as so many persons with disabilities are still suffering from poverty and material deprivation’.
In her assessment, this ‘underestimates the role and the relevance of cultural practices in and for society and their influence on our understanding of disability’ (22). This is a view that potential readers may agree with. It may even cause them to look forward to the expansion of these ideas and to the garnering of more knowledge on the intricacies of how this happens and the resulting impacts it has upon disabled people's lives.
However, this is not what the book delivers. Instead of a solidified and synergistic theme, resulting in the emergence of a body of research that convinces readers of the value of combining disability and cultural studies, the book contains chapters that seem tied to the topic, at times, by the smallest of threads. Many of the chapters utilize esoteric examples of artistic expression that are then individually interpreted by the chapter’s author in an attempt to demonstrate the value of the convergence of these bodies of study. The issue is that these evaluations are both arbitrary and microscopic, leaving the reader doubting its real-world applicability and the validity of the interpretations themselves.
Many of the chapters also contain what could only be deemed as futuristic utopian expectations for disability acceptance and social inclusion. An ideal that seems implausible due to, society's current heavy prevalence of social isolationism and dedication to exclusionary practices. This is not to say that there are not some chapters within this book that are jewels to read. Some of them are. Some give the reader time to think, ponder and imagine. Some of them lead the reader to rethink previously held beliefs and interpretations. Others provide readers with insights and perceptions of artistic expression they may never have previously considered, but they do not present a consistent basis that clearly articulates the value of combining these theories.
In summation, if you are looking to stimulate your brain, or to utilize a book for discussions about interpretations of disability and culture, then this may be the book for you. Maybe even more so since the entire book is available via open access (https://www.oapen.org/download/type=document&docid=627653). However, If you are a pragmatist, if you are looking for real-world applications, or citations that reaffirm your research on the important role and impact that culture has on disability and disability studies, then you may wish to seek out other materials.
School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences, Ulster University, Belfast, UK
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