Pictured above is England's notorious institution, Bedlam. Note the high wall around the institution and consider its social significance.

1. Both of the readings for this week touch on metaphors linked to illness or impairment conditions. Let's get started by reading from two classic pieces by Kleinman and Sontag:

Kleinman, excerpt from The Illness Narratives
Sontag, excerpt from AIDS and its Metaphors

2. Next, please review THIS discussion of by the psychiatrist Ravi Chandra of cultural metaphors associated with Covid-19. Dr. Chandra's short video touches on the many metaphors we use to make sense of illness and, in turn, the inadequacies of ordering our thinking about disability through cultural metaphors.

3. These considerations bring us back to our examination of shifting cultural views of disability, which we began last week. Please review THIS lecture on avoidance and sentimentality as common cultural responses. For your convenience, here are links to the examples referenced in the lecture:
Tiny Tim in Dickens' A Christmas Carol
Beth in Alcott's Little Women
Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller's 'Miracle Worker'

4. We'll explore the tropes we've discussed thus far in further detail in this week's group discussion - HERE!

5. If you would like to consider these topics in even more detail, please join Dr. Brown for an optional film screening and discussion on Wednesday from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. (We will work with THIS coding framework for the screening.)
K.C. will hold the additional class check-in at the usual time this Tuesday from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Here's the information you'll need to join either meeting:

Join from PC, Mac, Linux, or mobile device: https://uky.zoom.us/j/91562234234?pwd=ZGFoM0xDUi9mRlFBeEtFSUY2anVGQT09
Password: 233969

Or Skype for Business (Lync):
SIP:91562234234.233969@lync.zoom.us

That's it for this week. We hope you have a good week!