FACULTY OF EDUCATION

MA DISABILITY STUDIES

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Welcome from the Dean

I am delighted to introduce this booklet to you. Here you will find all you need to know about the MA Disability Studies within the Faculty of Education at Liverpool Hope University.

This Postgraduate qualification comes following a complete review of all our post-qualification provision in Educational Studies, the purpose of which is to strengthen and develop even further our already extensive offerings of Postgraduate opportunities.

I believe that my colleagues have developed a suite of provision that meets contemporary needs, has academic rigour and provides real opportunity for those engaged in this subject to develop further their own professional and academic standing.

The Revd Professor Kenneth NewportPro Vice-Chancellor & Dean of Education

Welcome

On behalf of myself and my colleagues I welcome you to Liverpool Hope University. At Hope we are very proud of our MA degree in Disability Studies which we believe is very much at the cutting edge of the discipline. The programme is designed to enable you to develop a comprehensive and critical understanding of the field - both theory and practice. As a student on this programme you will be joining a network of national and international scholars who

share a commitment to working towards social justice through education.

Dr David BoltAssociate Professor and Director of the Centre for Culture & Disability Studies

MA Disability Studies

Disability Studies is a relatively new but rapidly growing academic discipline, as illustrated by the international proliferation of courses, events, networks, journals, book series, monographs, edited collections, and other academic outlets and fora.

Though drawing on this progress substantially, the MA Disability Studies at Liverpool Hope University differs from similar programmes insofar as it places particular emphasis on cultural issues. We are not only interested in the policies, prejudices, and professions around disability, but also its representation in literature, media, film and art.

Liverpool Hope University is well suited as a host for this programme. The regional, national, and international profile of the programme is enhanced greatly by the ‘Centre for Culture & Disability Studies’, and by extension, the Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies (Liverpool University Press / Project MUSE), as well as the on-going seminar series, the International Network of Literary & Cultural Disability Scholars, the Literary Disability Studies book series (Palgrave Macmillan), and an enthusiastic team of widely-published, award-winning tutors at Liverpool Hope University.

Course ModulesThe course modules included in the MA Disability Studies are: Critical Disability Theory; Disability and Professional Practice; Modelling Disability; Disability and Disciplines; Research Methods; and a Dissertation.

Critical Disability Theory (30 Credits)Focusing on critical theory from the modern and postmodern eras, the module provides a basis for an interrogation of Disability Studies and Special Educational Needs. From Freud to Foucault, Goffman to Garland-Thomson, Derrida to Davis, McRuer to Murray, and so on, the module follows the progression of critical disability theory from the early twentieth century to the present day. Though explicitly theoretical, the content of the module is grounded in experiential knowledge. Concepts such as stigma, the normate, panopticism, normalcy, narrative prosthesis, dismodernism, crip theory, aesthetic nervousness, autistic presence, and the metanarrative of blindness are explored in relation to social, cultural, and individual attitudes toward impairment, disability and education.

Disability and Professional Practice (30 Credits)The relationship between disability and professional practice can be both problematic and productive. This relationship is explored in the module as an array

of perspectives and expertise is considered. Training, teaching, therapy, legislation, and so on, are all manifestly praiseworthy but nonetheless warrant critical engagement. How and by whom is disability voiced within the professions? What is the value of embodiment? What is the value of compassion? These are some of the many provocative questions that the module explores in relation to the professional context.

Modelling Disability (30 Credits)Disability has been conceptualised in many ways and for many purposes. In the past it tended to be non-disabled people who were responsible for the conceptualising and theorising of disability. In recent years, however, thanks largely to disability activism, disabled people have taken control of the ways in which disability is modelled. In order to gain a better idea of what is meant by disability, the module takes a critical journey through religious, charity, medical, social, affirmative, scientific, rhizomatic, cultural, and other models of disability.

Disability and Disciplines (30 Credits)Disability studies, according to many definitions, originated in the social sciences. It is, however, also highly relevant to the humanities. Indeed, Disability Studies has great multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary potential (not to mention credentials). The representation of disability is important in culture as well as in society. In probing this fact, the module brings together interests in Disability Studies and for instance, art, literature, culture, literacy, film, media, and music.

The Centre for Culture & Disability Studies

Disability, in the field of education, is often conceptualised along the lines of accessibility and/or Special Educational Needs. While critical engagement with these issues is certainly encouraged and supported, the main focus of the Centre for Culture & Disability Studies is on challenging and changing all aspects of dehumanising practice, on fully acknowledging the ontology and epistemology of people who are disabled. This focus often pertains to the content of courses, the dire need for curricular reform.

Whether we work in schools, colleges, or universities, there can be no denying that disability is represented extensively in the cultural artefacts on which so many of our lessons and courses are based, yet the critical engagement with these representations is frequently absent from the curriculum. The result for disabled learners is inclusion without profundity: the result for learners in general is an inherently deficient knowledge base. This state of affairs reveals a multitude of practical and theoretical issues about not only learning and teaching, but also identity, culture, society, prejudice, embodiment, terminology, discourse, attitudes, representation, personhood, and so on. Disability, therefore, has interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary relevance even within the field of education.

For further information about the Centre for Culture & Disability Studies, please visit the website: ccds.hope.ac.uk

“The lecturers have always been willing to go the extra mile to help me get the most out of the modules. Studying Disability Studies has made me more determined to pursue a future in the field and subject area that I feel passionate about.”

Recently Published

Changing Social Attitudes Toward Disability: Perspectives from historical, cultural, and educational studies. David Bolt, ed. (Abingdon: Routledge, 2014).

Whilst legislation may have progressed internationally and nationally for disabled people, barriers continue to exist, of which one of the most pervasive and ingrained is attitudinal. Social attitudes are often rooted in a lack of knowledge and are perpetuated through

erroneous stereotypes, and ultimately these legal and policy changes are ineffectual without a corresponding attitudinal change.

The Metanarrative of Blindness: A Re-Reading of Twentieth-Century Anglophone Writing. David Bolt (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014).

Although the theme of blindness occurs frequently in literature, literary criticism rarely engages the experiential knowledge of people with visual impairments. The Metanarrative of Blindness counters this trend by bringing to readings of 20th-century works

in English a perspective appreciative of impairment and disability. The monograph examines representations of blindness in more than 40 literary works, including writing by Kipling, Joyce, Synge, Orwell, H. G. Wells, Susan Sontag, and Stephen King, shedding light on the deficiencies of these representations and sometimes revealing an uncomfortable resonance with the Anglo-American science of eugenics.

The Madwoman and the Blindman: Jane Eyre, Discourse, Disability. David Bolt, Julia Miele Rodas and Elizabeth J Donaldson, eds. (Columbus: Ohio State UP, 2012).

Though an indisputable classic and a landmark text for critical voices from feminism to Marxism to postcolonialism, until now, Jane Eyre has never yet been fully explored from a disability perspective.

Customarily, impairment in the novel has been read unproblematically as loss, an undesired deviance from a condition of regularity vital to stable closure of the marriage plot. In fact, the most visible aspects of disability in the novel have traditionally been understood in rather rudimentary symbolic terms—the blindness of Rochester and the “madness” of Bertha apparently standing in for other aspects of identity. The Madwoman and the Blindman: Jane Eyre, Discourse, Disability resists this traditional reading of disability in the novel.

A Clumsy Encounter: Dyspraxia and Drawing. Claire Penketh, (Rotterdam: Sense, 2011).

A Clumsy Encounter offers an interrogation of inclusive education by exploring the point at which dyspraxia and drawing from observation meet within formal learning environments. Drawing on stories of individual experience, this book seeks to promote the interrogation of implicit educational practices. Here the complexity

of observational drawing is examined not within a closed community of art education but within the social and cultural domain of other critical debates within education, specifically those related to inclusion. Pupils do not experience inclusion and exclusion in the abstract but through discipline-based and situated practices.

Key issues in Special Educational Needs and Inclusion. Alan Hodkinson and Philip Vickerman. (London: SAGE, 2009).

Complex and diverse, special educational needs and inclusion can be a difficult area of study to approach for undergraduate students. Understanding the current context of SEN and inclusion means getting to grips with an often perplexing mix of social, political, ideological, educational and personal perspectives. This book

explores and critically examines the field, providing a detailed introduction to the topic for students - helping them to develop understanding, without assuming any prior knowledge.

Toward an Aesthetics of Blindness: An Interdisciplinary Response to Synge, Yeats, and Friel.David Feeney (Peter Lang: New York, 2007).

Blindness has always fascinated those who can see. Although modern imaginative portrayals of the sightless experience are increasingly positive, the affirmative elements of these renderings are inevitably tempered and problematized by the

visual predilections of the artists undertaking them. This book explores a variety of the (dis)continuities between depictions of the sightless experience of beauty by sighted artists and the lived aesthetic experiences of blind people. It does so by pressing a radical interdisciplinary reinterpretation of celebrated dramatic portrayals of blindness into service as a tool with which to probe the boundaries of the capacities of the sighted imagination while exploring the sensory detriment of our visually fixated notions of beauty.

 

What our Students say about the MA Disability Studies

Ella Houston: “The Disability Studies MA has been a profound, personal, and dynamic learning experience that I am deeply passionate about. Every class session has been incredibly interesting - we have discussed disability in relation to professional practice, the various models of disability, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary aspects of Disability Studies, and many provocative and interesting conversations surrounding critical disability theory have been shared.

On a personal level, this education has enhanced my ability to develop confidence in my own ideas and understanding. Additionally, my Disability Studies education at Hope has sparked a deep engagement with learning and critical reflection that I will forever be grateful for. Developing this point, my peers and I frequently acknowledge that we are indebted to our tutor on this course, Dr David Bolt, for providing us with richly informative sessions in which we experience empowering and deeply meaningful learning.”

Florence Nekesa: “The Disability Studies MA modules provided me with a comprehensive insight into the changing and challenging nature of disability; they gave me the knowledge and skills to meet those challenges and the opportunity to explore a wide range of disability-related issues; but most importantly, they gave me a reminder that what I was studying is relevant to everyday life. The lecturers have always been willing to go the extra mile to help me get the most out of the modules. Studying Disability Studies has made me more determined to pursue a future in the field and subject area that I feel passionate about.”

Nicholas McGowan: “I studied for my Masters of Education under the discipline of Special Educational Needs. My studies were underpinned by key Disability Studies theory, and I could not have asked for a more rewarding or enriching experience than those encountered within my learning on the ‘Critical Disability Theory’ Disability Studies MA module. Engrossing, engaging and accessible, my mind was opened to a world of theory that I thought would be beyond my grasp; but with outstanding teaching, excellent support, and learning opportunities which allowed me to access knowledge in my own ‘fashion’, I could not recommend studying on the Disability Studies MA more highly.

Whether you are a student who has studied Social Science, Disability Studies, Philosophy and Theory, Religion, Sciences or SEN, the Disability Studies MA at Liverpool Hope would, in my opinion, offer a very rewarding experience for all.”

Stephen Newport: “One of the key strengths of the Disability Studies MA at Hope is the calibre and passion of the lecturers involved. Receiving lectures from academics who are active and respected within the field greatly enhances the sessions. Furthermore, having the Centre for Culture and Disability Studies (CCDS) here at Hope means that there are frequent seminars with distinguished academics from around the world, which is a great asset as it allows students to attend sessions by important academics who they may otherwise never have the opportunity to hear first-hand.”

“The Disability Studies MA has been a profound, personal, and dynamic learning experience that I am deeply passionate about”

Academic Staff ProfilesDr Owen Barden, LecturerDr Barden is a core member of Hope’s Centre for Culture & Disability Studies and currently Year Lead for Level H of Hope’s Undergraduate SEN & Disability programme. He joined Hope in 2012 after three years at Manchester Metropolitan University, and twelve years as a teacher and teacher-educator in sixth-form, further and higher education.

Dr Barden’s research focuses on the relationships between dyslexia, identity and literacy practices. He is particularly interested in exploring emerging digitally-mediated literacy practices, and the impact of new literacies on how we conceptualise dyslexia. Dr Barden is also interested in the way digital technologies offer new research tools and new ways of thinking about research methods and methodologies.

Dr David Bolt, Associate ProfessorDr Bolt has a first class degree, an award for excellence, and an AHRC-funded doctorate from the University of Staffordshire. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, winner of a Student Led Teaching Award for Innovative Teaching, and has been working at Liverpool Hope University since 2009. He is Director of the Centre for Culture & Disability Studies in the Faculty of Education,

where he also teaches Disability Studies and Special Educational Needs.

Dr Bolt is founding Editor in Chief of the Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies (Liverpool University Press), editor, with New York colleagues Elizabeth Donaldson and Julia Miele Rodas, of the book series Literary Disability Studies (Palgrave Macmillan), and has places on the editorial boards of both Disability & Society and the Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness. He has organised and co-organised events at Hope, University of Lancaster, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the University of Staffordshire. He is founder of the International Network of Literary & Cultural Disability Scholars and was the first Honorary Research Fellow in the Centre for Disability Research at the University of Lancaster.

Dr Marie Caslin, LecturerDr Caslin joined Liverpool Hope University in 2012, having recently completed her PhD. The last three years have been dedicated to critically exploring the educational journeys experienced by young people who have received the Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties (BESD) label. The study aimed to develop innovative and exploratory research strategies for harnessing the pupil voice

amongst young people who have been designated as having BESD.

Dr Jessica Chong, LecturerDr Chong joined Liverpool Hope University in November 2013 as a lecturer in the Department of Special Educational Needs and Disability. Her doctoral research, which was completed in the University of Edinburgh and Macquarie University, focused on the influence of neo-liberal and inclusive discourses in education policy making and the design of student support structures in four

contexts including New South Wales (Australia), Scotland, Finland and Malaysia. She aims to further examine the implementation gap existing between Scottish policy discourses and practices as well as the process of GIRFEC (Getting it Right for Every Child) implementation in Scottish schools. She is currently a member of the Centre for Culture & Disability Studies at Liverpool Hope. Her main interests lie in international comparison, education policymaking, discourse analysis and inclusive pedagogy.

Dr David Feeney, LecturerDr Feeney joined Hope in 2014 from the University of Edinburgh, where he had been for seven years, managing Visual Impairment Scotland, a research organisation based within the University of Edinburgh’s Scottish Sensory Centre, and, latterly, teaching in Moray House School of Education. He completed his doctorate on literary representations of visual impairment in the English

Department of Trinity College Dublin, and subsequently completed an MA in Museum and Gallery Access at Winchester School of Art. He has also spent a year as a Visiting Research Fellow at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. His research interests include the aesthetic experiences of individuals with visual impairment, the representation of disability in various media, educational and cultural inclusion, and the interface between ethnography and auto-ethnography within a disability context. His work spans the domains of cultural disability, education and health and wellbeing.

Dr Alan Hodkinson, Co-ordinator of Post Graduate Research StudentsDr Hodkinson joined Liverpool Hope University in 2010 as an Associate Professor within the Centre for Cultural & Disability Studies. After completing his doctoral studies he shared his expertise with trainee teachers at Edge Hill University. As a tutor on the BEd and Key Stage 2/3 routes, he was involved in a variety

of initial teacher education programmes relating to primary history and special educational needs.

In 2003, Dr Hodkinson moved to the University of Chester where, amongst other duties, he was subject leader for undergraduate Education Studies, taught on the MEd special needs programme and led the development of the Disability Studies

undergraduate degree. In 2005, he became an executive committee member of the British Educational Studies Association (BESA). In 2007 he was invited to become a member of the review team that was set up by the Quality and Assurance Agency (QAA) to revise and update the Education Studies benchmark statements. He is a Fellow of the Historical Association and member of their Primary Committee. At Hope he is involved in teaching undergraduate and Master programmes within the area of disability and special educational needs. He also has responsibility for coordinated PhD students and is a member of the cross university team that delivers the doctoral training programme.

Dr Claire Penketh, Principal LecturerDr Penketh completed her PhD ‘A Clumsy Encounter: the dyspraxic ideal meets drawing from observation as a dominant and discriminatory discourse’ at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2010. She also has an MA (Artist Teacher) and a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Language.

Her research explores inclusive and exclusive pedagogies in a range of contexts including art and design education and academic literacy practices. This work is aligned to the Centre for Culture & Disability Studies (CCDS). She is currently Joint Co-editor of the International Journal of Art and Design Education and a member of the Publications Board for the National Society for Education in Art and Design. Dr Penketh is Pathway Coordinator for Education Studies (SEN) and leads two pathways at Masters’ level (Special Educational Needs and Disability) with her colleague Dr David Bolt. She also contributes to the Education Studies undergraduate programme and is currently supervising postgraduate students on PhD and EdD routes. Dr Penketh is currently exploring the nature of the art room as an inclusive/exclusive learning space and the intersection between disability, special education and art and design education.

Ms Laura Waite, LecturerLaura Waite joined the Faculty of Education at Liverpool Hope University in 2004, bringing with her a long and varied career within education, health, social services and the voluntary sector. Her research interests lie within the field of Disability Studies in Education, with a particular focus on teacher education. Dr Waite’s research is affiliated with the Faculty’s Research Centre

for Culture & Disability Studies. She has a number of teaching responsibilities including leading year one for the SEN pathway on the BA Education (SEN).

Tuition Fees 2014/15

Full-time Fees Part-time Fees

Home and EU Postgraduate Tuition Fees

£4,600*

*The full time price is the total price of the course and is paid in full during the first year.

£4,600*

*Part-time students pay fees over years 1 and 2. The part-time price is half the full time price. The fee payable in year 2 will rise approximately in line with inflation.

International Students(Standard Postgraduate Fee)

£8,400* (Group 1)

*Students receive £1,000 discount if they pay their tuition fees before stated dates:- For September 2014 intake discount applies if payment is made before 1st September.- For January 2015 intake discount applies if payment is made before 1st December.- For International students who completed their Undergraduate Degree at Hope, the cost would be £4,600 (no early payment discount would apply in this scenario). For those students who completed their UG degree at Hope and achieved a First Class or 2:1 degree classification, those students would be entitled to £1,000 Excellence Bursary.

For further information about Tuition Fees, please contact our Student Finance Office as follows or please visit the website for the most up-to-date information: www.hope.ac.uk/postgraduate/feesandfunding

Fees and Collections Student Funds

T: +44 (0) 151 291 3339 T: +44 (0) 151 291 3435E: financequeries@hope.ac.uk E: studentfunds@hope.ac.uk

Contact Us

For further information about the MA Disability Studies, please contact:

Dr David BoltAssociate Professor and Director of the Centre for Culture & Disability StudiesFaculty of EducationT: 0151 291 3346E: boltd@hope.ac.uk

Like the Disability Studies MA on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DisabilityStudiesMA

Faculty of EducationLiverpool Hope UniversityHope ParkLiverpoolL16 9JDT: 0151 291 3410E: ask-education@hope.ac.uk

www.hope.ac.uk/education

www.hope.ac.uk/education

Faculty of EducationLiverpool Hope UniversityHope ParkLiverpoolL16 9JDT: 0151 291 3410E: ask-education@hope.ac.uk

www.hope.ac.uk/education

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