Evolving trends in geographic research on disability and chronic illness

The changing relationship between disability research and medical/health geographies

The place of disability and chronic illness in human geography more broadly

The past few years have witnessed a resurgence of interest in Foucault's formation of biopower - the power to make live and foster life. This, in part, is a reflection of the ongoing publication of Foucault's lectures at the Collège de France, but has also arisen in the wake of unprecedented shifts in biotechnology and the biosciences through, for example, the Human Genome Project and, more recently, stem cell research. Yet, like the power to foster life, Foucault's original formation of biopower also entails the power to disallow it to the point of death. Foucault's own particular take on this 'puzzling' life and death game was to be located historically in the caesuras of twentieth century state racisms. Here killing or the imperative to kill "was acceptable if it results ... in the elimination of biological threats to and the improvement of the species or race" (Foucault 2003). If, however, the recent work of Agamben is to be taken seriously then thanatopolitics must not be restricted to twentieth century fascist and totalitarian states but is rooted in the very metaphysical structure of our politics - the 'inclusive exclusion' of bare or naked life. This session is inspired by different understandings of biopower and sovereign power in Foucault and Agamben and aims to draw on what Mitchell Dean (2001) has termed the 'dark side' of contemporary biopolitics: 'liminal lives' and 'liminal zones' in contemporary biopolitics of health care, disability, war, geopolitical borders, refugee camps, humanitarian aid and human rights.

Organizer: Louisa Cadman.

The Topology of the Biopolitical Decision: The Politics of Human Rights and Mental Health, Louisa Cadman

Assisted Death: Aspects of Dignity and Assistance in relation to Euthanasia, Annette V.B. Jensen

Biopower, Human Rights and State Censorship, Targol Mesbah

Domopolitics and disease: AIDS, migration and asylum in the UK, Alan Ingram

'Always look on the bright side of life?' Biotechnology, affect and the bio-politics of humour, Gail Davies

Organizer: Robert Wilton

Chair: Gill Valentine

The geographies of disability and a re-evaluation of the social relations of research production, Rob Imrie

Buses, Bodies and Bureaucracy: reconsidering accessible public transport, Ruth Butler

Young People with Socio-Emotional Differences: Theorising Disability and Destabilising Emotional Norms, Louise Holt

Mainstreaming of Deaf Education in Ireland: An International Comparative Study of Policy and Practice, Elizabeth Mathews

Normalizing Deviance? Exploring the Social Space of a Harm Reduction Environment, Josh Evans

Organizer: Michael Dorn

Chair: Michael Dorn

The role of technologies in the inclusion of the blind or visually impaired people in the information society, R Dan Jacobson

Finding Time: How Women Integrate Health ICTs into Their Daily Routines, Guigar Caroline

Disabled Women and Employment/Employment Assistance, Vera Chouinard, McMaster University

Creative options for rural accessible transportation and employment, Devva Kasnitz, University of California, Berkeley

Organizer: Louisa Jane Cadman

Chair(s): Louisa Jane Cadman

Biopolitics, Biosecurity and the modern way of death Nick Bingham, Open University

Conjoining Body and Population: Giorgio Agamben's Biopolitics David Bleeden - University of Illinois-Chicago

Torture: a 'liberal' disciplinary mechanism? Marc Zarrouati - University of Toulouse (France)

Rogue Elephants: The Legal Organization of Violent Bodies in International Conflict Richard Nisa - Rutgers University

Foucault, Agamben and Violence Christopher S Barkan, University of Illinois at Chicago

Organizer: Louisa Jane Cadman

Chair: Louisa Jane Cadman

Settler Colonialism, "Peopleless Spaces," and Geography as Biopolitics William E. Shanahan, III, Fort Hays State University

The Times and Spaces of the Exception: Law, Empire and Sovereignty Henry Sivak, UCLA

'Homo Sacer' Out of Left Field: Communist "Slime" as Bare Life in 1930s and WWII Sweden Michael Landzelius, Göteborg University

Homo Carded: Exception and ID Cards Btihaj Ajana - London School of Economics

On Imaginary Lines: Biopolitics, Disciplinary Apparati and Sovereign Violence at the Checkpoints Hagar Kotef and Merav Amir - Tel Aviv University

Contested illness refers to illness that is dismissed as illegitimate -- framed as "difficult," psychosomatic, or even non-existent -- by researchers, health practitioners and policy-makers operating within conventional paradigms. Contestation is also manifest in practices of critical engagement -- by researchers, by activitist communities, by those who have been diagnosed with illness or by those who experience themselves as ill -- with both established and emerging understandings of the aetiology, diagnosis, symptomatology and treatment of illness. This session focuses on a variety of contested illnesses as well as an array of practices of critical engagement from spatial perspectives.

Organizers: Karen Falconer Al-Hindi, Pamela Moss

Chair: Karen Falconer Al-Hindi

Fatigue as a symptom of contested illness Pamela Moss - University of Victoria

Spaces of Depression Deborah Thien - California State University, Long Beach

Concepts of Health, Disease and Illness and their Implications for Health Geographies Jody F. Decker, Wilfrid Laurier University

Disruptive Social Capital: Exploring (Un)Healthy Socio-Spatial Interactions among Filipino Men living with HIV/AIDS Lois M. Takahashi - UCLA

Discussant: Valorie Crooks - Simon Fraser University

While there are many protections for persons with disabilities within their academic and work life (such as EEO and ADA), real life experience is often very different from provisions on paper. Panelists (student and expert scholars) will discuss this issue based on studies/experience/observations, with the objective being to come up with constructive solutions/policies that will help persons with disabilities to be treated fairly and maximize their potential. The scope of this panel session extends to educational institutions as exclusionary/inclusionary environments for persons with disabilities/perceived disabilities as students or faculty.

Organizer: Vandana Wadhwa - University of Akron

Chair: Vandana Wadhwa

Introducer: Vandana Wadhwa

Panelists: Jeanne Kay Guelke - University of Waterloo; Maurizio Antoninetti - San Diego State University; G. Rebecca Dobbs - Emporia State University; Devva Kasnitz - UC Berkeley; Thomas Koch - University of British Columbia

Discussant: Vera Chouinard - McMaster University

The field of Disability Studies has influenced geographers' thinking about how to understand disability, especially in terms of ill-health, chronic disease and disabling conditions. Feminism offers a variety of approaches that have yet to be fully engaged in the study of disability and geography. Speakers are invited to explore chronic illness within a widely-framed notion of disability as it intersects with feminism and geography. Possibilities for exploration include: gender, sexual difference, caregiving, community space, production of experience, civil society, state consumption, social service access, public education, disciplining behavior, physical environments, household.

Organizers: Karen Falconer Al-Hindi - University of Nebraska; Pamela Moss - University of Victoria

Chair: Pamela Moss - University of Victoria

Panelists: Karen Falconer Al-Hindi - University of Nebraska; Pamela Moss - University of Victoria; Jeanne Kay Guelke - University of Waterloo; Kristin Barker - Oregon State University; Valorie Crooks - Simon Fraser University

Published in 1987, Michael Dear and Jennifer Wolch's "Landscapes of Despair" offered an important and influential assessment of deinstitutionalization in North America. The book examined the impacts of this process on the lives of the people involved as well as the social geography of the city more generally through the stirring of NIMBY sentiments, the intensification of service ghettoes, and the crisis of homelessness. Marking the twentieth anniversary of the book's publication, this panel provides an opportunity to reflect on the evolution of these 'landscapes of despair' in different geographic locations in light of two decades of political, economic and social change. At the same time, we hope the session will foster discussion about innovative and empowering responses to homelessness and mental health that offer signs of hope.

Organizers: Robert D. Wilton, Josh Evans

Chair: Robert D. Wilton

Panelists: Michael J. Dear, Robin A. Kearns, Lois M. Takahashi, Chris P. Philo, Jennifer R. Wolch

In 2003, Salomon et al maintained that the global rise of voluntarism could be equated to an associational revolution that 'could prove to be as significant a development of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries as the rise of the nation-state was at the end of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries' (p.2). Critics claim this is something of an overstatement, but at its root lies a growing dissatisfaction with the effectiveness of state and market responses to the increasing social and welfare crises within and across nation-states and a turn to alternative 'third' way strategies to address these issues. One consequence of this shift has been the emergence of new spaces of governance that operate in hybrid forms between the state and civil society. Yet voluntary activists have traditionally assumed the existence of a sharp distinction between the state and civil society. This raises questions about the extent to which they recognise, adapt to, or engage with these new hybrid political spaces where the state, market and civil society are creating new instrumentalities for the implementation of spatially-defined welfare policies.

Organizer: Christine Milligan - Lancaster University; Robin A. Kearns - University of Auckland

Chair: Christine Milligan - Lancaster University

Keeping heads above water: Provider perspectives on activism, partnership and collaboration in the New Zealand community/voluntary sector Robin A. Kearns - The University of Auckland; Denise Bijoux - The University of Auckland

Contradiction or conformity? Voluntary sector activism in the UK - a grassroots perspective Christine Milligan, Dr - Lancaster University;  Liz Bondi; Nicholas Fyfe; Wendy Larner; Richard Kyle

Grassroots participation in community regeneration and 'community-led' partnerships Paul O'Hare - University of Sheffield

Health and Social Care in Ageing Rural Communities: The Evolving Role of Voluntarism Mark Skinner - Trent University; Alun Joseph - University of Guelph

Producing Interventions for AIDS-Affected Young People in Lesotho's Schools: Scalar Politics, Sectoral Blurring and the Role of AIDS Activists Nicola Ansell - Brunel University

Discussant: Jennifer R. Wolch - University of Southern California

The Circus has a long history of transgressing boundaries: transforming fields and stadiums into otherworldly and 'exotic' spaces, and displaying bodies that refuse to conform to ideas of normal. It has been the home of the "freak show" and the spectacle, a space designed to evoke both wonder and fear, and it has provided the livelihood for a very diverse group of people. This session explores the geography of the Circus as both a research site and a metaphor. It examines the role of the circus in relation to contemporary political economic and social relations of late capitalism, neoliberalism, globalisation and transnationalism, providing new insight into pressing issues of risk, subjectivity, migration and resistance.

Organizer: Lindsay Stephens

Chair: Susan Ruddick - University of Toronto

Geographies of the Circus: Transgressive spaces and neoliberal subjects Lindsay Stephens - University of Toronto Abstract

Where the Extraordinary is Ordinary: A Phenomenology of Youth Circus Training Doyle Ott, Sonoma State University

Foolish Deconstruction: Justice as a Gaggle of Clowns Kristina Weaver, Glasgow University

Discussant: Deborah Dixon

Organizer: Lindsay Stephens

Chair: Lindsay Stephens

Imagine That: Performing an Artistic Sense of Place in Downtown Phoenix Melinda Alexander - Arizona State University

Spacial Patterns of Touring Circuses Within Europe Mike F Taylor - University of Brighton

Discussant: Maria Borovnik

The Circus of Globalization: Tracing transient livelihoods and transnational mobility in an era of late capitalism Teresa Vita Abbruzzese - York University

This session aims to introduce a framework for relating discussions about geovisualization and geographic information systems (GIS) to community wellness, education and enabled places. These papers result from a three year long ITEST Program called bITS: Building Information Technology Skills in which high school students are engaged in enrichment experiences that connect GIS with community concerns at the neighborhood scale. Program participants have demonstrated strong interest in relating their inquiry related to GIS with community concerns pertaining the health, wellness, food distribution, disability studies, and information privacy. We will share how our engagement with youth involved in the bITS Program has been an impetus for: (a) rethinking the relationship between geovisualization, GIS and community meanings; (b) the relationship between food distribution, food security and community wellness; (c) information privacy concerns of the community and (d) GIS applications for assessing health outcomes. Implicit within these works is a consideration of the concerns of vulnerable populations and to move towards a geography of wellness and enabling place.

Organizer(s): Michele Masucci - Temple University

Chair(s): Michele Masucci - Temple University

Intersections: Geovisualization, STEM education, and the medical sciences Patricia Meono-Picado - Clark University

A Deontological Ethical Evaluation of GIS Michael J Rovito, Temple University

Use of the spatial scan statistic to identify geographic variation in survival time of colorectal cancer patients in New Jersey (1996-2002) Kevin Henry - New Jersey Department of Health, Cancer Epidemiology

Neighborhood Food Systems: Urban Issues and Implications Catherine E Bartoli

Discussant: David J. Organ - Clark Atlanta University