The Doctors Are In with Dr. Christopher Lunsford & Dr. Marion Quirici

Topic: Disability Studies in Medical Settings

The field of disability studies once relied upon a strict division of "the social model of disability" from "the medical model" in its mission to make disabled people the authors of their own stories. The social model, locating disability in inaccessible environments and unaccepting attitudes rather than in the bodies of disabled people, was instrumental in establishing solidarity among people with different kinds of disabilities, and calling for civil rights for this large and heterogenous constituency. It revealed problems with relegating the study of disability to medicine alone, ranging from isolation, stigma, and the unnecessary pathologization of difference, to violent outcomes like wrongful confinements, mistreatment, dehumanization, and wrongful death. In this "Doctors Are In" conversation, Marion Quirici, a humanist disability studies scholar, and Christopher Lunsford, a pediatric physiatrist, discuss the value of collaborating across disciplinary divides. By cultivating difficult conversations about systemic injustices in the history of medicine, and the ableism within medical culture itself, we can begin to imagine a new model of care founded on principles of democracy and justice.

Drinks and Hors d'oeuvres will be provided.