Mad at School: Rhetorics of Mental Disability and Academic Life

294 Pages·2011·1.23 MB·English

by  Margaret Price

Illustrations: top, © iStockphoto.com/vm; bottom, photo by John Zhuang.
Mad at School

Mad at School
Rhetorics
of
and
Mental Disability Academic Life
margaret price
The University of Michigan Press (cid:2) Ann Arbor
(cid:2)
For my family
Copyright © by the University of Michigan 2011
All rights reserved
Published in the United States of America by
The University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
cPrinted on acid-free paper
2014 2013 2012 2011 4 3 2 1
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise,
without the written permission of the publisher.
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Price, Margaret, 1969–
Mad at school : rhetorics of mental disability and academic life /
Margaret Price.
p. ; cm. — (Corporealities)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-472-07138-8 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-472-
05138-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. College students—Mental health. 2. College teachers—Mental
health. 3. Mentally ill—Employment. 4. Mentally ill—Education
(Higher) I. Title. II. Series: Corporealities.
[DNLM: 1. Mentally Disabled Persons—psychology—Personal
Narratives. 2. Communication—Personal Narratives. 3. Faculty—
Personal Narratives. 4. Stereotyping—Personal Narratives. WM 302]
RC451.4.S7P735 2010
616.89'00835—dc22 2010033748
ISBN 978-0-472-02798-9 (e-book)
Illustrations: top, © iStockphoto.com/vm; bottom, photo by John Zhuang.
Acknowledgments
I am deeply grateful to the network of readers, thinkers, friends, and
family who have helped bring this book to completion. At the University
of Massachusetts–Amherst, Anne Herrington, Cathy Luna, and Donna
LeCourt directed my early work in disability studies with generosity and
rigor. Also at UMass, my community at Learning Disabilities Support
Services, especially Kathy Weilerstein, provided continual support and
challenge. At Wayne State University, Ellen Barton took the time to meet
and ask after the nervous new adjunct in the halls. At Spelman College,
I have been welcomed by an energetic community of teacher-scholars; I
am especially grateful for the mentorship of Donna Akiba Sullivan
Harper, Anne Bradford Warner, Pushpa Parekh, and Veta Goler, and for
the astute fellowship of my colleagues across all departments. My stu-
dents are a continual source of delight and pondering. I want to particu-
larly thank Timile Brown, who taught me a great deal about pedagogical
accessibility.
Spelman College has provided many forms of support, including a
Faculty Research Grant, a Junior Faculty Research Leave, and a project
grant from the Of‹ce of the Provost, all of which provided time and re-
sources needed to complete this project. The Comprehensive Writing
Program, Department of English, and Ethel Waddell Githii Honors Pro-
gram have also provided support for travel, materials, and conversations
with many distinguished visitors. The Community of Practice with Spel-
man’s Of‹ce of Disability Services, led by Merrine McDonald, provides
welcome opportunities for everyday activist efforts—and always a fan-
tastic lunch.
The Conference on College Composition and Communication
(CCCC) and the Society for Disability Studies Conference (SDS) have
brought warm friendship and stimulating ideas from many people, in-
vi Acknowledgments
cluding Elizabeth Brewer, Brenda Jo Brueggemann, Susan Burch, Mel
Chen, Jay Dolmage, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Alison Kafer,
Stephanie Kerschbaum, Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson, Kristin Lindgren,
Carol Moeller, Amy Vidali, Sophia Wong, Cynthia Wu, and Melanie
Yergeau. I’m especially grateful to the members of the Disability Studies
Special Interest Group and the Committee on Disability Issues within
CCCC, and the Queer Caucus within SDS. My visit to the Centre for Dis-
ability Studies at the University of Leeds opened a new world of accessi-
ble pedagogy and theory; I thank Colin Barnes, Alison Sheldon, Mark
Priestley, and all students and staff at the Centre for their generous wel-
come and uproarious seminar. The Future of Minority Studies Project
and Mellon Foundation provided a fellowship for a two-week institute
that introduced me to new ideas and permanently changed my thinking
on minority studies. I am also grateful to the National Coalition of Inde-
pendent Scholars and the Center for Independent Study: Barbara Currier
Bell and Katalin Kádár Lynn listened to my questions, sent me piles of
material on independent scholarship, and kindly encouraged my work.
At the University of Michigan Press, LeAnn Fields dedicated a tremen-
dous amount of time and energy to shaping this book into its current
form, offering feedback and encouragement every step of the way. She
and her editorial assistant, Scott Ham, are editors in the best sense: allies
and sharp readers.
Reading and feedback on various portions of this project have been
provided by Ellen Barton, Timile Brown, Susan Burch, Stephanie Ker-
schbaum, Petra Kuppers, Marian Lupo, Leah (Phinnia) Meredith, Cal
Montgomery, Ty Power, Tobin Siebers, Cindy Wu, and anonymous re-
viewers for University of Michigan Press. For their insightful comments
and for the gift of their time, I am deeply grateful. All errors and all
mushiness of theory or evidence are my responsibility. I am also grateful
for the friendship and support of Jeanette Beal, Jeff Brune, Eli Clare, Jen-
nifer DiGrazia, Nirmala Erevelles, Kim and Glenn Goldsmith, Michelle
Hite, Andy Inkster, Marisa Klages, Bradley Lewis, Sara Lewis, Katherine
Mancuso, Mary Martone, Matt Rice, Lauren Rosenberg, Amy Small,
Bethany Stevens, Cole Thaler, Russell Turknett, Sharon Wachsler, and Joe
Wear, as well as my thriving online communities on Facebook, LiveJour-
nal, MindFreedom, and Ravelry.
Kennan Ferguson has known me since I was nineteen years old, when
I used to stomp around and say things like “Theory is crap.” I cannot
thank him enough for his companionship and support over decades. JD
Acknowledgments vii
Dykes has provided love, chihuahuas, carrot soup, and the question
“What do you need?” I’m grateful to my mom, dad, and brothers—
Mary, Rick, Richard, and Dan Price—for their humanity, and for their
willingness to listen.
Portions of the introduction and chapter 1 appeared in “Mental Dis-
ability and Other Terms of Art,” part of a cluster of articles addressing the
theme of disability and language, in Profession 2010. Portions of the re-
search on “kairotic space” and conference accessibility appeared in “Ac-
cess Imagined: The Construction of Disability in Conference Policy Docu-
ments,” Disability Studies Quarterly (2009). Chapter 4 appeared in
slightly different form as “‘Her Pronouns Wax and Wane’: Psychosocial
Disability, Autobiography and Counter-Diagnosis,” Journal of Literary &
Cultural Disability Studies (2009). All are reprinted here with permission.

Contents
Foreword by Tobin Siebers xi
Introduction 1
1 Listening to the Subject of Mental Disability:
Intersections of Academic and Medical Discourses 25
2 Ways to Move: Presence, Participation, and
Resistance in Kairotic Space 58
3 The Essential Functions of the Position:
Collegiality and Productivity 103
4 Assaults on the Ivory Tower: Representations of
Madness in the Discourse of U.S. School Shootings 141
5 “Her Pronouns Wax and Wane”: Mental Disability,
Autobiography, and Counter-Diagnosis 176
6 In/ter/dependent Scholarship (with Leah (Phinnia)
Meredith, Cal Montgomery, and Tynan Power) 196
Conclusion 230
Appendix A 235
Appendix B 237
Notes 239
Works Cited 251
Index 273