Guscoth Health and Disability Consultancy has set up a new Disability Studies Journal called the Considering Disabilit
Guscoth Health and Disability Consultancy has set up a new Disability Studies Journal called the Considering Disability Journal, which has recently been made accessible to students and graduates. The aim of the journal is to bring students and academics together to ‘give academia a face lift,’ through contemporary disability thinking.
Challenging perceptions of disability and supporting grass-roots projects that already provide support to those with impairments.
Background
Hannah-Rebecca Joy Guscoth set up the journal after becoming involved with the disability movement at university. Having already been involved in the third sector since the age of 16, she had already demonstrated her interest in social change. She sat on executive committees for city-wide organisations and became a corporate relations officer for a national youth organisation before the age of 21.
On top of this, she has worked with numerous charities, been featured in a book on leadership, spoken alongside David Blunkett MP, participated in government roundtables and in October 2011, stood in 10 Downing St and spoke to the most influential people working with disability causes in the UK.
Hannah-Rebecca Joy Guscoth
After speaking to Miss Guscoth about the project, she explained how the project had initially come to be born:
“The project is borne out of a distinct need – many student campaigners are incredibly informed about disability issues and do strong work that can make a real difference, but there is no avenue for them to formalise their work.”
Miss Guscoth herself knows first-hand the struggles faced by those with impairments (she herself suffering with Hereditary Multiple Exostoses, or Diaphyseal Aclasis), and the struggles faced as a result of those impairments.
Yet she accepted her disability and set forth to create a positive change. She therefore took it upon herself to set up a journal which primarily exists to challenge social norms through the spreading of disability knowledge towards the aim of a more inclusive society.
“According to the social model of disability, a disability is not the condition as everyone thinks but is actually the societal barriers faced by people with impairments. An impairment is the physical condition…, and disability is the struggle faced as a result of the impairment. If people knew this definition they would realise that it is possible to eliminate disability and create an inclusive society.”
Global Reach
After a soft opening of the journal to peer reviewers, many academics have already signed up to review works. In fact, the project is already international with peer reviewers based all over the globe, including members in Mexico, Texas, Brazil, South Australia, Toronto, Limerick (Ireland) and Scotland.
On top of this the Founder of Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies (JLCDS) has joined the journal as both a peer reviewer and general advisor.
Get Involved
Having only opened up to students and graduates in June, the project is looking for those with strong backgrounds in campaigning and activism (the direction of the journal) to register their interest in either submitting works, peer reviews, or to help co-ordinate the project.
If you want to make a difference and help contribute to academic disability thinking, then you can find out more, or register your interest by sending an email to this address, or visit the site itself here. This is a voluntary project and therefore you would be registering to make a voluntary contribution.
What do you think? Have your say in the comments section below.
Editor’s note: Hannah-Rebecca Joy Guscoth also serves as a contributor to Kettle.
Image: Louise Dawson
