Presentation Title
Disability as Metaphor
Major Field of Study
Humanities
Location
Dominican University of California (online)
Start Date
19-6-2021 1:30 PM
End Date
19-6-2021 2:50 PM
Abstract
“Twisted” is a 10-minute video monologue of a young woman with severe cerebral palsy, speaking clearly at last in her dreams of her first date with a sexual opportunist, and representing many young women’s self-perceived dysmorphia and awkwardness in coming of age. We will discuss the use of such devices throughout literature, such as Oedipus’s blindness (which is manifest even before he pokes out his eyes) and Hemingway’s physically unsexed Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises, and consider how such a lens might enhance our own perceptions and work.
Disability as Metaphor
Dominican University of California (online)
“Twisted” is a 10-minute video monologue of a young woman with severe cerebral palsy, speaking clearly at last in her dreams of her first date with a sexual opportunist, and representing many young women’s self-perceived dysmorphia and awkwardness in coming of age. We will discuss the use of such devices throughout literature, such as Oedipus’s blindness (which is manifest even before he pokes out his eyes) and Hemingway’s physically unsexed Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises, and consider how such a lens might enhance our own perceptions and work.
Presenter Biography
Robert F. Bradford is an adjunct professor of English and Humanities at Dominican University of California, and a musician and writer with many stories published and plays produced. He also held a day job for many years with Disabled Students Programs and Services at College of Marin, much of it hands-on in the gym with people of all ages and every type of disability, an empathetic experience which has informed much of his work.