Alison Kafer will talk about,"Queerness, Disability, and the Foundation for a Better Life" at the University of Illinois at Chicago on September 26.

Summary of the talk:

In the years since 9/11, the philanthropic organization the Foundation for a Better Life has funded a public service campaign touting "community values" and "character development," arguing that these values will result in a "better life" and future for the United States. Representations of disability and illness play a large role in this campaign, with a majority of billboards praising individuals with disabilities for having the strength of character to "overcome" their impairments. Using insights from feminist and queer theory, Alison Kafer offers a crip reading of these billboards, tracing their adherence to a neoliberal politics of sentimentality and their potential subversion by disability activists.

Alison Kafer is an assistant professor of feminist studies at Southwestern University where she teaches courses on feminist and queer theory, activism, and disability studies. She is currently co-editing an anthology with Susan Burch on the intersections between Deaf Studies and Disability Studies for Gallaudet University Press

PLACE

• DHSP Building, 1640 West Roosevelt Road, 1st Floor Auditorium
• Wednesday, September 26th from 2:00 to 3:30 PM
• Refreshments will be provided! The lecture is free and open to the public.

ACCESS:

• Sign Language Interpreters and Real Time Captioning will be provided.
• To request other access accommodations, please notify Sarah Rothberger at:
• 312-996-1508 (v)
• 312-996-1233 (TTY)
• fax 312-996-0885
• e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it