Narrative, Protest, and the Social Reconstruction of Disability

• In Event: American Political Development and Social Change

Abstract

The project explores the intentional use of narrative and protest to shape political outcomes, specifically in challenging social constructions of target populations. It focuses on the narratives constructed and conveyed by individuals with disabilities as part of the “504 sit-in protests” in San Francisco in 1977, through which Americans with disabilities sought to pressure the federal government into fully enacting important provisions of a federal civil rights law. Using archival records from the Center for Independent Living and the Disabled Students Program, the paper explores leadership, decision-making, strategy, and media use in an effort to influence federal policy implementation as well as challenge the dominant social construction of individuals with disabilities.

Author

• Scott F Abernathy, University of Minnesota