Exploring the Legacy of Steve Taylor: Editor and "Soft Anarchist"

• In Event: Tracing the Bold Lines Drawn by Steven J. Taylor

Abstract

iversity professors worldwide have conformed to three tasks: teaching, scientific research and delivering (academic) service to society. Only a few academics can find a fruitful balance for themselves across those three tasks. Steven J. Taylor succeeded in teaching as the Director of the Syracuse University’s Disability Studies program, through scientific research he conducted and supervised as the Director of the Center on Human Policy and in several aspects of professional service, his editorship of the journal Mental Retardation/Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities was among his most far-reaching accomplishments.
Faithful to his basic ideas Steve served as the Editor of Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities from 1993 to 2011. Under his guidance, what he called “…a somewhat unique journal…” Taylor stressed the need for greater interdisciplinarity. Prior to Steve’s leadership, the journal was well respected in a field that had been studying for years ‘people with intellectual disabilities from a clearly clinical point of interest. Steven Taylor tried to encourage submissions from colleagues who studied intellectual disabilities as a social and cultural phenomenon. In time, the journal underwent a facelift to offer a unique perspective on disability for its time.
Taylor invented a new style –something like an ‘applied journal’ that moved away from the singular focus on practical research typically translated for the practice to instead consider the value of a bottom up strategy that provided space within the journal to consider ‘…relevant issues of today…’ He introduced ‘Perspectives,’ a new section in the journal in which Taylor sought “…thoughtful commentary from thoughtful people….” And in keeping with the Steven Taylor many of us respected, poised with the flag of a ‘soft anarchist’ he opened up the journal for authors and topics that matter. In his own words, Steve explained “…my question always is when I read an article or when something comes in: who cares about this, who is going to read this?...”.
We will analyze 10 articles (1995- 2006) from the period of Taylor’s editorship in the hopes of trying to understand the question Taylor brought to the table. Selected samples include:
Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(3), 5-13.
1. Llewellyn, G. (1995). Relationships and Social Support: Views of Parents with Mental Retardation/Intellectual Disability’. Mental Retardation, 33(6), 349-363.
2. Weiss, M.,Wagner, S.,Bauman, M. (1996). A validated Case Study Facilitated Communication. Mental Retardation, 34(4), 220-230.
3. Rambo Ronai, C. (1997). On loving and hating my mentally retarded mother. Mental Retardation, 35(6), 417-432.
4. Smith, P. (2001) Inquiry Cantos: A poetics of Developmental Disability. Mental Retardation, 39(5), 379-390.
5. Rosenau, N., (2004). The feeling of Power and the Power of Feelings: Theorizing in Everyday Life, Mental Retardation, 42 (4), 263-271.
6. Danforth, S. (2004). The Postmodern Heresy in Special education: Sociological Analysis, Mental Retardation, 42(6), 445-458.
7. Smukler, D. (2005). Unauthorized Minds: How ‘Theory of Mind theory’ Misrepresents Autism, Mental Retardation, 43(1), 11-24.
8. Parkes, G., Hall, I.(2006). Gender Dysphoria and Cross-Dressing in People with Intellectual Disability: A literature Review, Mental Retardation, 44(4), 260-271.

Author

• Geert Van Hove, Ghent University