Re-Presenting Disability: My Introduction!

Hello! My name is Allison Cosbey, and I am a first-year Museum Studies graduate student. I am excited about being part of the Re-Presenting Disability team. I really did agonize over which book to choose, as they all seemed to have something interesting to offer. I eventually landed on Re-Presenting Disability because I have been personally troubled by representations of the disabled not just in art, but in our lives. I have always thought that the diversity of people I see around me is not reflected in the images we see in art, in television or movies, or elsewhere in our daily lives. I thought the title was particularly interesting: I like the idea of RE-presenting disability, as images of the disabled have always been around us, but they have always either painted the disabled or different person as frail and pitiful or as a “freak.” I think this is a type of representation that needs to be changed, but it is not the only one. When we talk about inclusion and representation, the discussion often centers around people of different races and ethnicities. I am looking forward to reading about this topic in a different way.