A Response to David Mitchell

Patricia Noonan Walsh, Professor of Disability Studies, Centre for Disability Studies, National University of Ireland, Dublin

I am glad to have an opportunity to join what seems at first a heavily North American panel this afternoon to thank David Mitchell for his visit here and his thought-provoking address. His historical analysis informs the present and leads to the future – truly lifting our horizons at the end of a fast-paced day. I am especially pleased to have seen the powerful video, A World Without Bodies, and recommend this to you. David has revealed vast questions – too wide and too deep for quick responses. So I’d like to focus on just three points I’ve been reflecting on this afternoon: what methods may best serve us when trying to understand disability; how universities may advance this work; and where research takes us.

We’ve heard a good deal today about various research methods – indeed the label for the conference reads ‘emancipatory’ methodologies. Like all labels it has its uses – people registering for today’s conference this morning had some notion of what they were taking off the shelf. By now they’ve had a chance to try on the garment and take a twirl. Perhaps it’s the treasure they were seeking for months, or a bargain at the price, but maybe it doesn’t really fit, or the colour doesn’t suit. It seems to me that this is to be expected. One size never really fits all, and we must choose methods to fit the questions asked. Personally, I am unlikely to divest myself of numbers entirely – quantifying aspects of the world (‘Counting Disability’ is what David’s colleague at Chicago, Glenn Fujiura [1] calls this) also serves a purpose. What’s essential, I think, is to let the questions shape the enquiry.

Listening to David speak about how universities do or do not advance enquiry about disability made me think for just a moment how exciting it would be to have an opportunity to start a really first-class programme de novo. A few seconds later, I thought: well, yes we can, and why not? At UCD, there is now a Centre for Disability Studies engaged in the scholarly exploration of all aspects of disability. Other courses and departments around Ireland and the UK are similarly committed although diversity is apparent across settings in which disciplines are most eager and accomplished. The University of Illinois, Chicago, where David Mitchell is based, has developed rich interdisciplinary programmes, at PhD level, for example. If asked to list the hallmarks of desirable courses in disability studies, I think they are ideally interdisciplinary, rigorous, creative, transformative and inclusive – a tall order but not impossible to achieve. Finding companions who know the road and who are bound for the same destination makes for a good start.

Finally, what is research about and where does it lead? This label gets a good deal of press coverage, too. Research is sewn onto all sorts of products these days – reports on market share for consumer goods, small focus groups, huge data analyses, ivory-tower reflection, equations about the expanding university, qualitative studies, emancipatory or other participatory projects, some of which we’ve learned about today. It’s often used as the irreducible response to justify actions – “I’m doing research” or “our research found it so” are waved about as meaning: “I’m satisfied so there”, “now, that’s and end to it”. But I think this stance is in fact antithetical to scholarship. Research doesn’t lead to a comfort zone with all crowds pleased when the answers are aligned in order. In fact, in my experience, research is downright uncomfortable. That doesn’t mean it is not worthwhile: I believe it is at the core of scholarly pursuits to explore and understand and talk about the world in which we all live in a truthful way. Research has wide horizons too but to visit them you must accept a form of exile. As Joseph Brodsky [2] says in his essay about this daunting but human condition, exile can take us further overnight than it would otherwise take a lifetime to go.

I am thankful that David Mitchell has been with us today to help us envision and move towards these horizons.