| Disability Studies Quarterly Fall 2006, Volume 26, No. 4 <www.dsq-sds.org> Copyright 2006 by the Society for Disability Studies |
Editors' Preface |
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Editing DSQ has been a wonderfully rewarding experience. We are sharing that observation at this time because this issue is the final one of our three-year term. We have implemented a number of changes during our time as the co-editors: adding anonymously peer-reviewed research papers to its content; trying to improve its Web site accessibility for people who use screen readers; purchasing a distinct url, www.dsq-sds.org, to build awareness of the journal; adding its first international section and a section devoted to pedagogy; and at the request of the SDS Board, returning DSQ to being a journal that is a benefit of SDS membership or purchased by subscribers as a password-protected Web site. Also, with this issue we added a new page to the DSQ Web site that briefly chronicles the history of the journal. It would be erroneous to leave the impression that we alone can claim credit for DSQ's accomplishments over the past three years, in terms of content as well as production. Some of the people responsible for making it all come together do have their names on the DSQ home page, but we want to highlight them here. This is especially important because, as many readers may not realize, none of those who work on DSQ get any financial remuneration. A massive portion of thanks must go to Sue Baglieri, whose work as Assistant Editor has covered the gamut from basic administrative tasks to the highest levels of input on complex policy decisions. As co-editors, we expanded the types of reviews of materials with disability connections, with additions of reviews of TV shows and plays to accompany the numerous book, video, and film reviews. And we see in this issue particularly how this idea has taken off thanks primarily to our outstanding review editors, Katie LeBesco (Humanities) and Linda Long-Bellil (Social Science), who have shepherded the many reviews into the journal over the past three years. In this issue alone we offer you fully 22 reviews. We also thank Johnson Cheu who joined the team about midway to serve as Poetry/Fiction editor. Editorial assistant Maria Molnar joined us in the past year to accomplish special tasks that could not have happened otherwise. Thanks also to the large group listed on the home page who comprise the Editorial Board. Finally, one person behind-the-scenes deserves public thanks, in addition to traditional payment, for always going "above and beyond" in the interest of maximizing accessibility of the content for non-visual readers: Alec Haavik moves all of the content into its final Web-based format, enhancing the journal's appearance at the same time. Turning to a quick scan of this issue, we have a number of thought-provoking general papers: Jahan Chowdhrury and Dermot Foley present data rarely considered in the Western Disability Studies world, that of the economic consequences of disability in an impoverished region of Bangladesh; David Church turns our attention to the little-studied intersection of rock music and disability; William Ebenstein brings to the psychology of disability the unusual perspective of Greek myth; coincidentally, his focus on the Hephaestus myth is echoed in a Commentary piece by Petra Kuppers (see below); Mike Gill explores the disabled male gaze in the film "Rory O'Shea was here;" and finally, Sharon Lamp's paper moves the reader from a spotlight on male-gendered perspective to a critique of feminist rhetorics of disability. Her paper merited the special recognition of the 2005 Irving K. Zola award for Emerging Scholars in Disability Studies. In terms of commentaries, we include two "review essays": the first, a group effort by Kathy Jordan, Rachel Oppenheimer, Jean Wong and Carrie Snow, addressing the 2005 Encyclopedia of Disability, edited by Gary Albrecht et al.; the second, an essay by Allan Macurdy that was stimulated by the 2005 volume, Disability Rights, edited by Peter Blanck. Using the format of a "literary essay," Petra Kuppers provides a poetic response to Disability Culture poetry; finally, we have a provocative take on Disability Studies from Jerome Shapiro, someone new to the discipline who puts forth a warning that Disability Studies must not fall into a trap of marginalization in the U.S. academic world. This issue also presents Part 2 of the Theme begun in the Summer 2006 issue on Religion and Spirituality. Guest Editors Gerry Hendershot and Nancy Eiesland had received so many quality submissions that, as had happened with several prior themes, we needed to spread the material over two issues. Three articles and one Commentary comprise the contributions found in Part 2. In closing, we also use this preface to thank our numerous peer reviewers from 2006 who volunteered their time to make DSQ a rigorous, yet nurturing, scholarly journal. Our goal from the outset in instituting the peer review process was to create a type of mentoring relationship in which the peer reviewers' comments could guide authors to expand their thinking and thus improve their papers. The peer reviewers listed below have achieved excellence in developing this process, -- over and over authors tell us that the peer reviews helped them enhance their papers. Beth Haller 2006 Peer Reviewers Susan Baglieri, Long Island University - Brooklyn |
Disability Studies Quarterly (DSQ) is the journal of the Society for Disability Studies (SDS). It is a multidisciplinary and international journal of interest to social scientists, scholars in the humanities and arts, disability rights advocates, and others concerned with the issues of people with disabilities. It represents the full range of methods, epistemologies, perspectives, and content that the field of disability studies embraces. DSQ is committed to developing theoretical and practical knowledge about disability and to promoting the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in society. (ISSN: 1041-5718; eISSN: 2159-8371)
