Guest blog post: Sharing Individual Stories to Preserve Disability History

Jihan Abbas is a researcher with both personal and professional experience in the area of disability and equality rights and the former Director of Policy and Research for Independent Living Canada. Her research interests include disability and the labour market, social policy, and the inclusion of persons with disabilities.

Here is an excerpt:

As a researcher, the appeal of initiatives like this are in their power to position persons with disabilities as the experts in their own experiences and needs. Additionally, individual stories are important as they help counter the existing history of disability – which is largely dominated by a medical model that erroneously frames disability as an individual tragedy and/or uniform experience. Documenting and sharing individual stories counters this problematic history through the preservation of narratives that celebrate the knowledge, skills, and individual and collective power within this diverse community.

For the entire post: http://communityresearcher.blogspot.com/2014/07/disability-visibility-project-sharing.html

Follow Jihan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JihanAbbas

Blog: http://communityresearcher.blogspot.com

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Email Alice: DisabilityVisibilityProject@gmail.com