LSJ/CHID 332 Disability and Society, Fall 2006
Guidelines for artifacts project
(Group poster presentation and individual essay, total value 20%)
The Artifacts assignment is worth 20% of your grade with 10% for the five individual essays (5
total essays) and 10% for your poster and the essay that analyzes the poster. To get full credit for
this assignment, you must address each of the requirements described below for all sections—
i.e., 5 essays, poster presentation, and final poster analysis essay. The five essays and the final
poster essay are individual grades; the poster presentation is a group grade—i.e., everyone gets
the same number of points.
Requirements:
Thur Oct 26 in class: Essays on 2 artifacts due. There are a total of 5 artifact write-ups (essays)
(approximately 1 page each) that you will do for this course; we are asking that you turn in 2 by
this date so that you can get feedback on your analysis before you complete the full assignment.
You must consider these questions when you prepare your individual essay analyzing your
artifacts:
Who produced the item and for what audience?
Where was it produced, where was it found?
What message about disability does it convey?
How does it fit into one (or more) of the models of disability?
Thursday Dec 7th In Class: Group poster presentations, to which each student has
contributed an artifact. The poster should integrate one artifact from each student's collection
into a common or unifying theme. You may have to work outside class time to complete this.
Monday Dec 11: 5-page essay submitted by each student, interpreting her/his 5 artifacts
according to the Disability Studies approach and including an analysis of how your artifacts fit
into the unifying theme of the poster that you participated in. This must be a proper essay with
thesis, citations, and bibliography. In the essay you must discuss a total of 5 artifacts that portray
disability. We’re looking for as complete a description and analysis as possible in such a short
paper. You must make use of at least 2 required course texts to support your interpretations.
You’ll be graded for your ability and creativity in interpreting your items with reference
to relevant major concepts of the course: the medical/moral/tragedy models, the social model,
impairment vs. disability, stereotyping, stigma, ableism, identity politics, disability rights
movement, disability culture, etc. Answer these questions again when you prepare your poster
and your essay:
1. who produced the item and for what audience?
2. where was it produced, where was it found?
3. what message(s) does it convey about disability in culture?
Your essay must make a coherent argument about the meaning(s) of your artifacts. In other
words, tie them all together to make one or two significant points about how disability gets
portrayed (just as your group poster does).
As you look for appropriate cultural artifacts and think about what they mean, consider
examples and points made in some of our readings about disability representations and the Vital
Signs video. Barnes and Mercer’s overview of disability culture refers to the “struggle by
disabled people to supplant oppressive representations with others that reflect their own
experiences and values,” and suggests that an “active audience” may construct differing
meanings for a given artifact. Be sure to utilize other course readings that relate to any specific
issues raised by your items, such as bioethics, gender and race, Deaf culture, arts, legislation,
social justice, etc.
Poster:
You have been researching throughout the quarter examples of artifacts in US culture that
represent disability in various ways. These “texts” should be items that convey messages about
our society’s attitudes, beliefs, and values regarding disabled people. It’s your task to interpret
these using what you’ve learned in the class. Each group will prepare a poster that exhibits a
selection of all the artifacts collected. Every student must contribute 1 or 2 artifacts to the poster.
The poster must present a significant and well-organized argument about the material you have
chosen. In other words, it must have a unifying theme – it must tell a story about the ways
disability gets represented, by whom, for what ends, and with what meanings. Think of this
project as similar to a museum exhibit, where you as the curator must make decisions about
which artifacts to display, how to organize them, and what messages you want your viewers to
come away with.
Materials on the poster should be very clear and visually interesting. The audience should
be able to grasp the main elements without extra explanation. Use titles, captions, graphics, and
bullet points to provide succinct interpretations of your items and their relationships. Select from
among all your group’s artifacts no more than 10 that work to form a coherent argument. Be sure
to include a variety of texts and mediums – video materials, news articles, books, personal
narratives, websites, images, objects, and/or artwork. You should also aim for originality in the
content of your poster. Try not to use too many popular media items, and for the sake of contrast
try to seek out some non-mainstream representations.
During the poster display session, you will be expected to be able to discuss your
artifacts, explain the overarching message of your poster, and answer any questions posed by the
instructors and other students in the class.