Constructions, perceptions and expectations of being disabled and young A critical disability perspective Jenny Slater A thesis submitted for partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Manchester Metropolitan University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Psychology 2013 1 Contents List of figures and DVDs ..................................................................................................... 6 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. 7 Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 8 Introduction, Theoretical Perspectives Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 9 Covering letter: Dear Mr. Reasonable ..................................................................................... 10 Defining disability (or not) ........................................................................................................... 14 Queer(y)ing .................................................................................................................................. 19 Queer(y)ing ethnography ......................................................................................................... 20 Queer(y)ing writing ................................................................................................................. 23 Queer(y)ing myself .................................................................................................................. 24 Queer(y)ing ethics .................................................................................................................... 26 The structure of my thesis ............................................................................................................ 28 Section One: Theorising and Contextualising Youth and Disabliity Chapter One, Playing grownup: interdisiplinary thinking about youth and adulthood Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 34 Defining youth in the UK ............................................................................................................. 37 Hitting the benchmarks of adulthood ........................................................................................... 39 The positioning of youth in youth research .................................................................................. 41 Youth as Active, Youth for Sale, Youth as Passive ..................................................................... 42 Youth as Active ....................................................................................................................... 42 Youth for Sale .......................................................................................................................... 45 Youth as Passive ...................................................................................................................... 46 Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 49 Chapter Two, Disability and Youth as Passive in British Political Climates Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 51 Researching disabled youth and transition ................................................................................... 52 Young and disabled people under the coalition government ....................................................... 55 The representation of disability in current political climates ....................................................... 57 Theorising activity and passivity with consumerist discourse ..................................................... 62 2 The danger of disposability for disabled youth ............................................................................ 65 Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 66 Chapter Three, Youth for Sale and The Aesthetic Project of Youth Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 68 Feminist-disability theory ............................................................................................................. 69 Positioning the dis/abled female body within the popular media ................................................. 70 Youth, embodiment and time ....................................................................................................... 75 Youth means beauty means health ............................................................................................... 80 Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 81 Chapter Four, Is Youth Queer? Disability, Youth as Active and Productive Possibility Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 83 Identity politics, queer theory and CDS ....................................................................................... 84 ‘Kids are kids’: Postcolonial theory, disability and developmental discourse ............................. 88 Children’s literature and the colonisation of childhood ............................................................... 92 Youth and mimicry ....................................................................................................................... 95 Binary breakers: Hybridity, youth, disability and Deleuze .......................................................... 98 Discussion .................................................................................................................................. 100 Intermission… ..................................................................................................................102 Section Two: Analysis and Synthesis through the Lived-Experiences of Young Disabled People Chapter Five, Method/ology Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 105 Methodological influences: Futurology, CDS and the new sociology of childhood .................. 108 Justifying utopia as method ........................................................................................................ 111 A critically young methodology ................................................................................................. 115 Research contexts: Recruitment and methods ............................................................................ 117 Explore ................................................................................................................................... 117 Youth Forum (YF) ................................................................................................................. 122 Colin ....................................................................................................................................... 128 Iceland .................................................................................................................................... 131 Ethics .......................................................................................................................................... 137 Ethics and disability politics .................................................................................................. 137 3 Procedural ethics .................................................................................................................... 142 Ethics, ethnography and friendship ........................................................................................ 143 Ethically leaving the field ...................................................................................................... 148 Dealing with data ....................................................................................................................... 149 Approach to analysis .................................................................................................................. 153 Answering research questions through and with the lives of young disabled people ................ 157 Discussion .................................................................................................................................. 160 Chapter Six, Disabled Youth as Active; Questioning Youth Culture Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 161 Disabled youth’s access to space ............................................................................................... 162 Youth subcultural studies: Averse to disability? ........................................................................ 169 Feminist critiques of youth culture and disabled young people ‘doing youth’ .......................... 177 Cripping youth culture: Disabled youth (and their parents) challenging the youth/adult divide 184 Discussion .................................................................................................................................