Cognitive Disability Aesthetics is a critique of the recurrent erroneous and inadequate representations of cognitive disability in literary and visual art. Disability has, as the author describes, ‘…long been clothed in the normative trappings of an able-bodied society and mobilized to suit a range of symbolic, metaphorical, and perhaps even purportedly transcendent artistic purposes’ (ix). These representations of disability are in themselves not balanced, as physical disabilities tend to be disproportionately projected above cognitive disabilities. By making the marginalisation and ‘(in)visibility’ of cognitive disabilities in humanities’ scholarship, and cultural and artistic products such as film, literature and visual art the central theme of the book, Fraser reminds scholars in disability studies of the need to pursue a more nuanced understanding and representation of disability experiences without the continuous skewed focus on physical disability and the ensuing ostracism of cognitive (intellectual, developmental and psychiatric) disabilities.
Cognitive Disability Aesthetics has an introduction, six chapters that are organised into two parts and a concluding chapter. In the Introduction, Fraser discusses what he believes is the need to move away from the extensive focus of disability studies on the ‘physical body and constructions of able-bodiedness’ (first-wave disability studies) to a more inclusive perspective that explores ‘cognition and constructions of ablemindedness’ (second-wave disability studies). He believes that the inclusion of cognitive disabilities has the potential of bringing other elements of diversity such as gender, sexuality and race in focus within political, institutional, scholarly and aesthetic discourses.
Part One of the book (Theorizing Visual Disability Representations) has three chapters (1–3). Fraser traces the invisibility of cognitive disability in disability scholarship to the invisibility of cognitive disability in visual art in the nineteenth century. This was when exceptional bodies were popularised and that affirmed the power of able-bodied gaze. The social invisibility of cognitive disabilities also stems from the historical practice of residential institutional care given to people with intellectual, developmental and psychiatric disabilities (Chapter One). In Chapter Two, he presents the connections that exist between the social characterisations of cognitive disabilities and the cultural/artistic representations of cognitive disabilities, the opportunities that greater social visibility can present to cognitive disabilities and the challenges that such greater visibility can engender. In the concluding chapter of Part One, Fraser addresses the inability of social constructivism to adequately account for cognitive disabilities in disability scholarship and cultural/artistic representations.
In Part Two (Cognition, Collaboration, Community) which also has three chapters (4–6), Fraser discusses three instances of cognitive disability representations – visual art in urban space (Chapter 4), graphic novels (Chapter 5) and documentary cinema (Chapter 6), all of which are situated within contemporary Spanish culture. These representations, to the author, represent the right of persons with cognitive disabilities to have political, economic and social claim to urban spaces and the activities that take place within them. Some of the cultural productions and literary representations discussed in the book are the creations of persons with cognitive disabilities and are realistic renderings of cognitive disabilities in literary and visual arts. They show the extent to which the integration of persons with cognitive disabilities can go in challenging ableist tendencies in communities and social relations.
Fraser’s call for attention to be given to cognitive disabilities is founded on what appears to be an invitation to the re-examination of the extent to which the social model of disability addresses the material needs and experiences of cognitive impairments. In Fraser’s estimation, the social model of disability leaves out a critical aspect of the material needs of cognitive impairment by overly focussing on removal of barriers and strong constructivism. His critique of social constructionism (and the social model of disability) as being limited in accounting for the material visibility of cognitive impairment is in many ways similar to the arguments made for the social relational model of disability, which also criticises the social model of disability, that it denies the impairment – the biology of disabled people (CitationThomas 2004). This position is manifest in a statement he makes in Chapter 6 when he indicates that his analysis ‘…is a call for scholars in the humanities to continue to think through how the social and medical paradigms of disability fit together’ (172).
While supporters of the social model of disability may find Fraser’s position contentious, especially with his embracement of aspects of the medical model of disability, it is definitely useful and important that scholarship in disability studies orients itself to covering a much broader spectrum of issues that relate to the personal lives and social experiences of disabled people within disability theorising. This way, no disability or individual will be left behind in the pursuance of an equal place in society for disabled people. Be that as it may, I welcome every intellectual effort that is primed at bringing disability to the discussion table, regardless of what form the disability may take, when the disability may be acquired or the social identities and personal characteristics of the individuals who may have acquired the disability.
The examples from cultural production and representations that Fraser explores in the book come from Hispanic Studies (Spanish Language and Literature), the field he has worked in for more than a decade. His knowledge of the Spanish visual and literary art context and appreciation of the Spanish cultural context, as analysed in the book are of relevance not just to the Spanish society but to other cultures as well, considering the fact that cultures invariably influence each other, especially in an increasingly globalised world.
Fraser’s detailed analysis of cognitive disability representations is an important contribution to the literature on historical and theoretical interrogation of cognitive disability and the visibility of intellectual, developmental and psychiatric disability in literal and visual art. It is thus a very good addition to the disability literature in general and cognitive disability in particular. A major strength of the book is that it is both a historical and contemporary analysis of cognitive disability representation and its related scholarship. The references to scholarly writings and to literal and visual arts anchor this book in both theoretical and empirical grounds. This is a well-written book with plain language and I recommend it for anyone who has an interest in cognitive disabilities and the representation of same in scholarship and literal and visual art.
Department of Social Sciences, Central University, Ghana
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http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3322-9840