Programme full

Wednesday 15 April 2015 11:00 - 12:30
PAPER SESSION 2
‘Mabel is Unstable’: A Feminist Disability Studies Perspective on Early-Twentieth-Century Representations of
‘Madwomen’ in Advertisements.
Houston, E.
(Lancaster University)
The representation of women with mental health issues in early-twentieth-century advertisements concords with the
stereotypical image of the 'madwoman' as 'unstable', 'unworthy' and inherently 'lacking'. This paper finds that women
with mental health issues are overwhelmingly placed as lone figures that are deserving of close scrutiny and
objectification by patriarchal society. A cultural model of disability is outlined as a key perspective that can be used to
provide a foundation for feminist disability studies inquiry that seeks to empower women, in some small way. The
medical 'gaze' dominates the representations of 'madwomen' through the persistent discourse of pharmaceutical
intervention and the omnipresent message that cognitive enhancement is a necessary and 'effective' way of securing
women in the home.The methodological approach of textual analysis, specifically critical discourse analysis and a
study of semiotics uncovers both the covert and overt ways that the cultural texts oppress disabled women.
‘Overcoming Disability’: The Construction of Incapacity for Work and the Social Model of Disability across
the Twentieth Century UK Benefits System
Gulland, J.
(University of Edinburgh)
'It is the duty of a person to do what is reasonably necessary to regain his position as a wage earner and so
overcome the effects of any physical disability which he may be under.'
This quotation comes from the National Health Insurance Committee in 1917, commenting on the recent introduction
of the UK's first national insurance sickness benefit. It illustrates a perspective on disability, work and benefits which
has depended on a socially constructed category of 'incapacity for work', which is firmly located within a medical
model of disability, with the emphasis on individual responsibility to 'overcome' any barriers to work.
In this paper I consider the development of UK disability benefits across the twentieth century from 1911 to the
present, using a social model of disability to consider the extent, if any, to which assessments for disability for benefits
purposes have recognised the social barriers which deny disabled people access to the labour market. The paper
uses legislative and archive materials on appeals against refusal of benefits to consider the question across the
twentieth century. While other writers have considered the political development of social security benefits, this paper
takes a socio-legal approach, looking instead at the social and legal construction of the concept. While there have
been significant changes to the legal definition of incapacity for work, the paper argues that there has been a
continuing thread of distrust of claimants and reliance on medical models of disability which continues today.
Re-constructions of Madness, Disability, and Prison Systems in 'Orange is the New Black'
Wilde, A.
(Leeds Beckett University)
Whilst depictions of race and ethnicity have dominated commentaries on Orange is the New Black in the media, it is
clear that the theme of mental health has a central role to play in this and other programmes in the 'women in prison'
genre. Whilst Suzanne Warren 'Crazy Eyes' is the most prominent woman cast in the role of 'mad woman', portrayals
of mental distress seem to be distributed evenly across ages, ethnicities and sexualities including Jimmy, Norma,
Lorna, and Pennsatucky; even, perhaps, Piper and a male prison officer, Mendez . Mental health stories are
ubiquitous, reflecting, perhaps, the prevalence of mental health problems within US prisons.
This paper will use a Critical Disability Studies/Mad Studies framework to investigate the ways in which the
programme deals with mental health issues and institutionalisation. Firstly, it will look at the ways that stereotypes are
distributed amongst the characters, paying close attention to class and race/ethnicity, and stereotypes of violence.
Secondly, this analysis will be used to inform consideration of whether the programme has moved beyond the
conventional limits of the 'women's prison genre' to present a more nuanced and critical perspective of the way that
the prison system disables women, making brief comparisons between depictions of mental distress and other
impairments. In so doing I will draw on critiques of mental health within prisons and compare with other women's
prison genre programmes, new (such as Wentworth prison) and old (such as Prisoner Cell Block H).
BSA Annual Conference 2015 92
Glasgow Caledonian University