Submitted by Sharon Meredith, Institute of Health and Wellbeing

Speaker: Dr Katherine Runswick-Cole, Senior Research Fellow in Disability Studies & Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University

Date: Wednesday 13 April 2016, 1-2 pm

Venue: Sulgrave, S029, Park Campus, The University of Northampton

A sandwich lunch will be provided.

In this presentation, Dr Runswick-Cole will explore the relationship between disability, childhood and the human with the aim of revealing both the contemporary and historical markings of childhood disability as an object of curiosity and of fear. She will explore socio-cultural practices that render disabled children as monstrous which, in turn, leads to abuses, neglect and marginalisation. At the same time, however, she will argue that is possible to resist, re-shape, re-fashion and revise narrow and normative conceptions of ‘disability’ and ‘childhood’ that limit children’s lives. Disabled children have the potential to be key agents of change and to disrupt ‘common sense’ notions of ‘typicality’, ‘child’, ‘youth’ and, indeed, ‘adult’ and demand us to think again about who we value as human beings.

To reserve a place please visit our Eventbrite site.