Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:04:31.247Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From superabilità to transabilità: towards an Italian disability studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2016

Kate Noson
Kate Noson*
Affiliation:
University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, USA
*
∗Email: knoson@berkeley.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article discusses recent academic and theoretical approaches to disability in Italy, situating them in relation to Anglo-American disability studies as well as within the Italian academic context, and sketches out the contours of an emergent Italian disability studies. The discussion centres on three terms that have emerged recently in Italy: superabilità (implying both ‘ability to overcome’ and ‘exceptional ability’); diversabilità (being ‘differently abled’); and transabilità (the desire for, or identification with, a disabled body by a non-disabled subject). The article considers the role of narrative in each of these categories, as well as the way that each deals with the question of limits. While discourses in each category construct or confirm a strong disabled identity, the article argues that transabilità might also be understood as the transcendence of identity on the basis of ability. This alternative understanding puts pressure on the question of identity itself and challenges the very need for narrative (re)construction.

Keywords

disability studiesmedical modelsocial modelsuperabilitàdiversabilitàtransabilità
Type
Articles
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 19 , Issue 2: Disability rights and wrongs in Italy , May 2014 , pp. 135 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arfini, E. A. G. 2009. Sexing Disability: Prospettive di genere, embodiment sessuale e progetto sul corpo nelle disabilità fisiche. Ph.D. diss., Università degli Studi di Ferrara.Google Scholar
Arfini, E. A. G. 2010. “Istruzioni per diventare disabile: Un'analisi narrativa del progetto sul corpo transabile.” Studi culturali 3:343–364.Google Scholar
Arfini, E. A. G. 2011. “Corpi che non contano? Processi di de-sessualizazione dei disabili e narrazioni personali.” In Sessualità narrate. Esperienze di intimità a confronto, edited by Inghilleri, M., and Ruspini, E., 103–124. Milan: Franco Angeli.Google Scholar
Berger, J. 2004. “Trauma Without Disability, Disability Without Trauma: A Disciplinary Divide.” JAC: A Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, and Politics 24(3, part 2):563–582.Google Scholar
Brown, B., et al. 1996. “Interaction, Language and the ‘Narrative Turn’ in Psychotherapy and Psychiatry.” Social Science and Medicine 43(11):1569–1578.Google Scholar
Canevaro, A., and Ianes, D. 2003. Diversabilità: Storie e dialoghi nell'anno europeo delle persone disabili. Trent: Erickson.Google Scholar
Cavarero, A. 1987. “Sulla mostruosità del soggetto.” In Diotima. Il pensiero della differenza sessuale, 41–79. Milan: La tartaruga.Google Scholar
Cavarero, A. 1999. “Il pensiero femminista. Un approccio teoretico.” In Le filosofie femministe, edited by Cavarero, A. and Restaino, F., 111–164. Turin: Paravia.Google Scholar
Davidson, M. 2008. Concerto for the Left Hand: Disability and the Defamiliar Body. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Davis, J. L. 2012. “Narrative Construction of a Ruptured Self: Stories of Transability on Transabled.org.” Sociological Perspectives 5(2):319–340.Google Scholar
Davis, L. 1995. Enforcing Normalcy: Disability, Deafness, and the Body. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Demetrio, D. 1996a. Raccontarsi. L'autobiografia come cura di sé. Milan: Cortina.Google Scholar
Demetrio, D. 1996b. “Un'adulta ritualità. L'autoformazione attraverso la memoria di sé.” Adultità 4(October):7–12.Google Scholar
Erevelles, N., Kanga, A., and Middleton, R. 2006. “How Does it Feel to be a Problem? Race, Disability, and Exclusion in Educational Policy.” In Who Benefits From Special Education? Remediating [Fixing] Other People's Children, edited by Brantlinger, E. A., 77–99. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Ferrucci, F. 2004. La disabilità come relazione sociale: Gli approcci sociologici tra natura e cultura. Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino.Google Scholar
Finkelstein, V. 1980. Attitudes and Disabled People. Issues for Discussion. New York: World Rehabilitation Fund. Accessed May 16, 2012. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/archiveuk/finkelstein/attitudes.pdf.Google Scholar
Finkelstein, V. 1998. “Emancipating Disability Studies.” In The Disability Reader: Social Sciences Perspectives, edited by Shakespeare, T., 28–49. London: Cassell.Google Scholar
First, M. B., and Fisher, C. E. 2012. “Body Integrity Identity Disorder: The Persistent Desire to Acquire a Physical Disability.” Psychopathology 45:3–14.Google Scholar
Garosi, E. 2012. “The Politics of Gender Transitioning in Italy.” Modern Italy 17(4):465–478.Google Scholar
Giusti, M. 1999. Il desiderio di esistere: Pedagogia della narrazione e disabilità. Florence: La Nuova Italia.Google Scholar
Imprudente, C. 2002. Il Principe del lago: Una favola sulla paura del diverso e sul coraggio della solidarietà. Trent: Erickson.Google Scholar
Imprudente, C. 2003. Una vita imprudente: Percorsi di un diversabile in un contesto di fiducia. Trent: Erickson.Google Scholar
Imprudente, C. 2006. Re 33 e i suoi 33 bottoni d'oro. Molfetta: La Meridiana.Google Scholar
Imprudente, C. 2009. Lettere imprudenti sulla diversità. Conversazioni con i lettori del Messaggero di Sant'Antonio. Cantalupa: Effatà.Google Scholar
Imprudente, C., and Corradetti, F. 2006. C'è ancora inchiostro nel Calamaio! Lettere e messaggi per educarsi alle abilità diverse. Trent: Erickson.Google Scholar
Imprudente, C., Giommi, L., and Parmeggiani, R. 2009. Omino Macchino e la sfida della tavoletta. La comunicazione e la logica della lentezza. Trent: Erickson.Google Scholar
Linton, S. 1998. Claiming Disability: Knowledge and Identity. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
McRuer, R. 2006. Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
McRuer, R., and Wilkerson, A. 2003. “Introduction.” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 9(1–2):1–23.Google Scholar
Millefiorini, F. 2010. ‘E, quasi incredula, mi aprivo alla speranza’: Percorsi di letteratura della disabilità. Milan: EDUCatt.Google Scholar
Mitchell, D., and Snyder, S. 2000. Narrative Prosthesis: Disability and the Dependencies of Discourse. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Monceri, F. 2009. “Sadomasochism: Deconstructing Sexual Identity through Power.” In Persons and Sexuality: Interdisciplinary Reflections, edited by Moore, A. and Zuccarini, C., 127–136. Oxford: Inter-disciplinary Press.Google Scholar
Monceri, F. 2010. Oltre l'identità sessuale: Teorie queer e corpi transgender. Pisa: ETS.Google Scholar
Monceri, F. 2012a. “Beyond the Rules: Transgressive Bodies and Political Power.” Teoria 32(1):27–45.Google Scholar
Monceri, F. 2012b. “Citizenship on Trial: ‘Disability’ and the Borders of Gender.” AG: International Gender Studies 1(2):51–72.Google Scholar
Monceri, F. 2012c. Ribelli o condannati? ‘Disabilità’ e sessualità nel cinema. Pisa: ETS.Google Scholar
Muraro, L. 1991. L'ordine simbolico della madre. Rome: Editori Riuniti.Google Scholar
Müller, S. 2009. “Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) – Is the Amputation of Healthy Limbs Ethically Justified?” American Journal of Bioethics 9(1):36–43.Google Scholar
Nochi, M. 1998. ‘“Loss of Self’ in the Narratives of People with Traumatic Brain Injuries: A Qualitative Analysis.” Social Science and Medicine 46(7):869–878.Google Scholar
Nochi, M. 2000. “Reconstructing Self-narrative in Coping with Traumatic Brain Injury.” Social Science and Medicine 51(12):1795–1804.Google Scholar
Oliver, M. 1990. The Politics of Disablement. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Oliver, M. 1992. “Changing the Social Relations of Research Production.” Disability, Handicap and Society 7(2):101–114.Google Scholar
Pontiggia, G. 2000. Nati due volte. Milan: Mondadori.Google Scholar
Quayson, A. 2007. Aesthetic Nervousness: Disability and the Crisis of Representation. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Salamon, G. 2012. “The Phenomenology of Rheumatology: Disability, Merleau-Ponty, and the Fallacy of Maximal Grip.” Hypatia 27(2):243–260.Google Scholar
Schianchi, M. 2009. La terza nazione del mondo. I disabili tra pregiudizio e realtà. Milan: Feltrinelli.Google Scholar
Schianchi, M. 2012. Storia della disabilità. Dal castigo degli dèi alla crisi del welfare. Rome: Carocci.Google Scholar
Shakespeare, T. 1996. “Disability, Identity and Difference.” In Exploring the Divide, edited by Barnes, C. and Mercer, G., 94–113. Leeds: Disability Press.Google Scholar
Shakespeare, T. 2006. Disability Rights and Wrongs, edited by Shakespeare, T. London–New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Shakespeare, T., and Watson, N. 2001. “The Social Model of Disability: An Outdated Ideology?” Research in Social Science and Disability 2:9–28.Google Scholar
Siebers, T. 2001. “Disability in Theory: From Social Constructionism to the New Realism of the Body.” American Literary History 13(4):737–754.Google Scholar
Siebers, T. 2008. Disability Theory. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Siebers, T. 2010. Disability Aesthetics. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Sobchack, V. 2004. Carnal Thoughts: Embodiment and Moving Image Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Thomson, R. G. 1997. Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Vaccari, G. 2012. Ci riguarda. Storie letterarie di disabilità in scrittori italiani del Novecento. Tesi di laurea, Università di Bologna.Google Scholar
Wendell, S. 1996. The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical Reflections on Disability. New York–London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Wilkerson, A. 2011. “Disability, Sex Radicalism, and Political Agency.” In Feminist Disability Studies, edited by Hall, K. Q., 193–217. Bloomington–Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar