A (Head) Case for a Mad Humanities: Sula's Shadrack and Black Madness

This article calls for literary studies and the humanities to critically engage with the emerging subfield of Mad Studies. Developing alongside anti-psychiatry activism and Disability Studies, Mad Studies critiques how mentally and emotionally disabled individuals evidence the breadth of state violence and discrimination. After tracing a genealogy of Mad Studies, the article offers a model of a Mad literary studies approach by analyzing Shadrack from Toni Morrison's Sula (1973) as a complex figure which resists flattened readings of Black madness. The novel's scholarly history, while rich in Disability Studies readings, makes evident persistent societal neglect of distressed characters—especially distressed characters of color—as peripheral or symbolic. This article pulls from critical race theory, Disability Studies, and trauma studies to form an intersectional inquiry into the material and lived conditions of mad individuals of color. In so doing, the article demonstrates the significant possibilities of this developing interdisciplinary methodology.

Gendered Differences: Postmodern Feminist Perspectives and Young Women Identified as “Emotionally Disabled”

Little consideration has been given to adolescent girls identified as having emotional disabilities in either the research or clinical literature. Social workers continue to use developmental theories that are based on males, and thus contribute to the persistent silence about the needs of this population. Feminist and postmodern perspectives can serve to highlight how dominant discourses around “gender,” “emotional disabilities,” and “psychological development” influence social work theory and practice with this population. This paper uses feminist and postmodern re-visions of developmental theories to deconstruct the current research and clinical practices with female adolescents and shows how these re-visions can inform our thinking about adolescent girls identified as having emotional or behavioral disabilities.

Written Language Instruction for Students with Mild Handicaps: Is There Enough Quantity to Ensure Quality?

Full-day classroom observations of learning disabled, emotionally disabled, educable mentally retarded, and nonhandicapped students ( N = 122) were conducted. A 10-second interval recording system was used to document tasks and student responding during written language instruction in regular and special education settings. Regardless of categorical designation, extreme variability was found in the amount of time individual students spent in writing activities or in receiving written language instruction. Implications for improving written language instruction for students with mild handicaps include increasing allocated time, teaching written language as an integrated process, and coordinating written language activities with different content areas. Collaborative problem solving between regular and special educators is needed to accomplish these changes.