ARCHIVES, ACCESS, AND DISABILITY

ASL/LSQ

OPEN for general public 

Chair: Véronique Leduc (UQAM)

Speakers: Gracen Brilmyer (McGill), Mouloud Boukala (UQAM), Sarah Heussaff (UQAM), Mélanie Millette (UQAM) and Michael Marlatt (York University)

This plenary panel examines the relationship between archives and disability from three perspectives: representation and absence in archives; disabled, sick, and Deaf people working in archives; and existing archives on disability.

In 1999, Simi Linton, disabled US writer, filmmaker, arts consultant, and Doctor of psychology, wrote in the introduction to the Bancroft Library's oral histories of the Berkeley disability rights movement:

For all my early learning, and my ongoing study of disability, it is in reading these histories that I have begun to understand how profound and original the ideas are that drove the early activists. The voices that are heard here demonstrate the purposefulness of the activists and their comprehensive vision of an equitable society. [...] The Regional Oral History Office staff are to be commended for their vision. They have brought us a vital piece of history, one that would be lost and forgotten if it were not for them. They have captured in these individual histories, a history. And a legacy ( s.p, 1999).

The author testifies here to the importance of archiving the struggles of disabled people in order to claim a common legacy.

In the article Towards Sickness: Developing a Critical Disability Archival Methodology, Gracen Brilmyer (2020), reports on two major types of disability/sickness embodiments within archival collections. One is manifested by absence, the second by a palpable partiality. In both cases, disabled and/or chronically sick presences are denied, and their personalities and agencies omitted. In addition to these acts of erasure, in order for one version of history to prevail, we witness the phenomenon of eclipsing alternative narratives. This is exactly what Sami Schalk identifies when she discusses the involvement of members of the Black Panther Party in the 504 sit-in (1977), a major event in the American disability rights movement. Barely mentioned, this collaboration is relegated to mere anecdotal participation, indicating a tangible disappearance or a minimization of the contribution of Black disabled communities -or other minorities-  in the way disabled narratives are archived (2022, p. 28,).

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ARCHIVES, ACCÈS ET HANDICAP : RÉVÉLER LES TRACES DE L’ABSENCE

Cette table ronde plénière se penchera sur le lien entre archives et handicap dans une triple perspective : la représentation et l’absence dans les archives, les personnes en situation de handicap, malades et sourdes travaillant dans les archives et les archives existantes portant sur le handicap. 

En 1999, Simi Linton autrice américaine handicapée, cinéaste, consultante en arts et docteure en psychologie, écrivait dans l’introduction aux histoires orales de la Bancroft Library sur le mouvement de défense des droits des personnes handicapées de Berkeley :

For all my early learning, and my ongoing study of disability, it is in reading these histories that I have begun to understand how profound and original the ideas are that drove the early activists. The voices that are heard here demonstrate the purposefulness of the activists and their comprehensive vision of an equitable society. [...] The Regional Oral History Office staff are to be commended for their vision. They have brought us a vital piece of history, one that would be lost and forgotten if it were not for them. They have captured in these individual histories, a history. And a legacy. (s.p, 1999)

L’autrice témoigne ici de l’importance d’archiver ces luttes handicapées pour pouvoir réclamer un héritage commun. 

Dans l’article Towards Sickness: Developing a Critical Disability Archival Methodology, Gracen Brilmyer (2020) fait part de deux types majeurs d’incarnations handicapées/malades au sein des fonds d’archives. L’une se manifeste par l’absence, la seconde par une partialité manifeste. Dans ces deux cas de figures, les présences handicapées et/ou malades sont déniées et leurs personnalités et agentivités omises. À ces effacements s’additionne aussi un phénomène d’éclipse d’une histoire qui prévaudrait sur une autre. C’est ce que recense notamment Sami Schalk lorsqu’elle discute de l’implication des membres du Black Panther Party dans le 504 sit-in (1977), évènement majeur du mouvement états-unien de défense pour les droits des personnes handicapées. À peine mentionnée, cette collaboration n’est reléguée qu’à une simple participation anecdotique témoignant ainsi d’une disparition ou d’une minimisation tangible de l’apport des communautés noires handicapées - ou encore d’autres minorités- dans la manière de faire l’archive des récits handicapées (2022, p. 28,).