Category Archives: Reflections

Baseball and the Deaf Community Annotation

Written by Troy Guidone, with support from the DAC Team In the summer of 2023, I had the pleasure to meet Brenda Brueggemann and the opportunity to take her class Disability Narratives at Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English. An ongoing part of the class was an assignment Brenda was trying for the firstContinue reading “Baseball and the Deaf Community Annotation”

The Erasure of Racially-Diverse Identities in US Media: Exploring “White-Washing” in the Disability Community

Written by Hannah Dang, with support from the DAC Team What is an “identity?” As I’ve come to quickly understand, the world — and the people living in it — likes their labels. Our races, ethnicities, nationalities, sexualities, gender identities, and even our species, homo-sapiens, have a place in Earth’s family tree. But I haveContinue reading “The Erasure of Racially-Diverse Identities in US Media: Exploring “White-Washing” in the Disability Community”

MTS @ Frontiers in Undergraduate Research Exhibition

Written by Madison Bigelow and Ashten Vassar-Cain, with support of the DAC team. On October 18th, the Mansfield Training School-UConn Memorial Project team presented research at the University of Connecticut’s Frontiers in Undergraduate Research Exhibition. Led by Ally LeMaster and Lillian Stockford, and assisted by Ashten Carter and Madison Bigelow, members of the team sharedContinue reading “MTS @ Frontiers in Undergraduate Research Exhibition”

NEWSFLASH: Disabilities Don’t Grant Superpowers

Written by Hannah Dang, with support from the DAC Team What kid hasn’t dreamed of being a superhero? Yes, playing with Disney Princesses and Barbie Dolls was fun, but watching superheroes was perhaps one of my favorite parts of childhood. If I became tired of romance stories and pretending to be a world-class fashion designer,Continue reading “NEWSFLASH: Disabilities Don’t Grant Superpowers”

In response to Laurie Anderson’s “A Story about a Story”

Written by Madison Bigelow, with support from the DAC Team I happen to think a lot about writing. And storytelling.  This could very easily be the English student in me, but I’ve forever been fascinated by how people tell stories (and in particular, their own) – how inclusions, omissions, and perspectives not only articulate theContinue reading “In response to Laurie Anderson’s “A Story about a Story””

Generational Melancholia

Written by Paula Mock, with support from the DAC team Content Warnings: Suicide, institutional abuse/trauma, details of mental health diagnoses “Well, you know your great-grandmother had been in an institution in the fifties, right?” My uncle Erich, my mom, and I were sitting around in Erich’s living room, surrounded by fancy furniture and glass figurinesContinue reading “Generational Melancholia”

“Thinking about Disability All Along the Way:” A Reflection on Dr. Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s Visit to the University of Connecticut

Written by Madison Bigelow, with support from The DAC Team ***The link to the presentation slides from this event can be accessed here. The link to the captioned transcript can be accessed here. Dr. Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, a Professor of English and Bioethics at Emory University, recently visited the University of Connecticut and presented at theContinue reading ““Thinking about Disability All Along the Way:” A Reflection on Dr. Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s Visit to the University of Connecticut”

Why DAC?: A Personal Reflection

Written by Alyssa Carbutti, with support from the DAC team Recently I was asked by the members of my DAC team to participate in a group conversation about what DAC means to each of us. I gave a short answer, but I realize now that I really wrote about what I hope for DAC toContinue reading “Why DAC?: A Personal Reflection”