Rod Michalko
Biographic Data
| ID | 301427 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rod Michalko |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rod |
| FAMILY NAME | Michalko |
| SIGNATURE | MICHALKO R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Toronto |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 33 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 9 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1983 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Hang On to Your Hat
It is a tremendous honour to be invited to contribute to this issue of Topia and to say something of MJ’s influence not only on me personally, but on my blindness as well. What follows is an excerpt from my unpublished novel Hang on to your Hat. I use this as a way to exemplify MJ’s influence
Blindness Simulation and the Culture of Sight
“What’s it like?” This question has stimulated the simulation of disability through such activities as sitting in a wheelchair, putting in ear plugs, or putting on a blindfold. Disability simulation is a curious phenomenon, stimulated as it is by a curiosity that springs from the certainty that ability and disability are essentially opposite experiences. The article theorizes simulation in relation to blindness as it appears in educational awaren…
The excessive appearance of disability
This paper engages the appearance of disability in contemporary Western culture. Rather than taking disability for granted as a biomedical condition, I interrogate how disability is made to appear in our culture, including its appearance as a biomedical condition. Fundamentally, disability appears to us as a trouble and, as such, cultural practices steeped in a medical paradigm are invoked as a way to rid ourselves of the trouble of disability. T…
Minds Between Us
This paper problematizes contemporary cultural understandings of autism. We make use of the developmental psychology concepts of ‘Theory of Mind’ and ‘mindblindness’ to uncover the meaning of autism as expressed in these concepts. Our concern is that autism is depicted as a puzzle and that this depiction governs not only the way Western culture treats autism but also the way in which it governs everyday interactions with autistic people. Moreover…
The Difference That Disability Makes
"Rod Michalko launches into this book asking why disabled people are still feared, still regarded as useless or unfit to live, not yet welcome in society? Michalko challenges us to come to grips with the social meanings attached to disability and the body that is not "normal." Michalko's analysis draws from his own understanding of blindness and narratives by other disabled people. Connecting lived experience with social theory, he shows the cons…
Blindness Enters the Classroom
This paper addresses blindness in a university classroom. I make use of my experience as a blind professor in order to depict the social significance in the intersection of blindness, sightedness and knowledge. The paper begins with a description of the initial classroom contact between a blind professor and students. It then depicts the presence of sightedness in the classroom in terms of the classroom's social organisation. The paper moves to a…
The Birth of Disability
Familial Conceptions of Good and Bad Births Parents typically anticipate and approach the birth of a child with a particular set of conceptions regarding birth and children. This set of conceptions generally focuses on parental and familial expecta tions of how the child will influence the life of the family and how, in turn, the life of the family will influence the child. These conceptions and expectations are derivatives of societal and cultur…
Making Sense of Reification
The Metaphor of Adolescence
Adolescence is certainly not a new topic or a new interest, particularly for the social sciences. In fact, many theorists, including lay as well as pro fessional, have made adolescence a topic for their theorizing and researches. Most theorists represent adolescence as a stage of life within the larger scheme of a life cycle and, more particularly, represent adoles cence as the final stage through which a young person passes on his way to adultho…
Blindness Enters the Classroom
This paper addresses blindness in a university classroom. I make use of my experience as a blind professor in order to depict the social significance in the intersection of blindness, sightedness and knowledge. The paper begins with a description of the initial classroom contact between a blind professor and students. It then depicts the presence of sightedness in the classroom in terms of the classroom's social organisation. The paper moves to a…
The excessive appearance of disability
This paper engages the appearance of disability in contemporary Western culture. Rather than taking disability for granted as a biomedical condition, I interrogate how disability is made to appear in our culture, including its appearance as a biomedical condition. Fundamentally, disability appears to us as a trouble and, as such, cultural practices steeped in a medical paradigm are invoked as a way to rid ourselves of the trouble of disability. T…
Minds Between Us
This paper problematizes contemporary cultural understandings of autism. We make use of the developmental psychology concepts of ‘Theory of Mind’ and ‘mindblindness’ to uncover the meaning of autism as expressed in these concepts. Our concern is that autism is depicted as a puzzle and that this depiction governs not only the way Western culture treats autism but also the way in which it governs everyday interactions with autistic people. Moreover…
Making Sense of Reification
The Metaphor of Adolescence
Adolescence is certainly not a new topic or a new interest, particularly for the social sciences. In fact, many theorists, including lay as well as pro fessional, have made adolescence a topic for their theorizing and researches. Most theorists represent adolescence as a stage of life within the larger scheme of a life cycle and, more particularly, represent adoles cence as the final stage through which a young person passes on his way to adultho…
Making Sense of Reification
The Birth of Disability
Familial Conceptions of Good and Bad Births Parents typically anticipate and approach the birth of a child with a particular set of conceptions regarding birth and children. This set of conceptions generally focuses on parental and familial expecta tions of how the child will influence the life of the family and how, in turn, the life of the family will influence the child. These conceptions and expectations are derivatives of societal and cultur…
Blindness Enters the Classroom
This paper addresses blindness in a university classroom. I make use of my experience as a blind professor in order to depict the social significance in the intersection of blindness, sightedness and knowledge. The paper begins with a description of the initial classroom contact between a blind professor and students. It then depicts the presence of sightedness in the classroom in terms of the classroom's social organisation. The paper moves to a…
The Difference That Disability Makes
"Rod Michalko launches into this book asking why disabled people are still feared, still regarded as useless or unfit to live, not yet welcome in society? Michalko challenges us to come to grips with the social meanings attached to disability and the body that is not "normal." Michalko's analysis draws from his own understanding of blindness and narratives by other disabled people. Connecting lived experience with social theory, he shows the cons…
The excessive appearance of disability
This paper engages the appearance of disability in contemporary Western culture. Rather than taking disability for granted as a biomedical condition, I interrogate how disability is made to appear in our culture, including its appearance as a biomedical condition. Fundamentally, disability appears to us as a trouble and, as such, cultural practices steeped in a medical paradigm are invoked as a way to rid ourselves of the trouble of disability. T…
Minds Between Us
This paper problematizes contemporary cultural understandings of autism. We make use of the developmental psychology concepts of ‘Theory of Mind’ and ‘mindblindness’ to uncover the meaning of autism as expressed in these concepts. Our concern is that autism is depicted as a puzzle and that this depiction governs not only the way Western culture treats autism but also the way in which it governs everyday interactions with autistic people. Moreover…
Blindness Simulation and the Culture of Sight
“What’s it like?” This question has stimulated the simulation of disability through such activities as sitting in a wheelchair, putting in ear plugs, or putting on a blindfold. Disability simulation is a curious phenomenon, stimulated as it is by a curiosity that springs from the certainty that ability and disability are essentially opposite experiences. The article theorizes simulation in relation to blindness as it appears in educational awaren…
Hang On to Your Hat
It is a tremendous honour to be invited to contribute to this issue of Topia and to say something of MJ’s influence not only on me personally, but on my blindness as well. What follows is an excerpt from my unpublished novel Hang on to your Hat. I use this as a way to exemplify MJ’s influence
Psychology (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Medicine (4 works) · Philosophy (4 works) · Blindness (3 works) · Developmental psychology (3 works) · Optometry (3 works) · Disability Rights and Representation (2 works)