Uncovering the history of Australian disability literature

Abstract

This thesis argues for the recognition of disability as a critical category in Australian literature, in the same way that indigenous and women' s' literature are. It demonstrates that writers with disability bring a perspective to writing that is invaluable, especially on, but by no means limited to, the topic of disability. It takes as its starting point the foundational disability studies concept that disability is a sociocultural construction. This perspective labels medical conditions as impairments, and believes that people with impairments are disabled by the barriers resulting in exclusion that society constructs. It also believes that both impairment and disability are cultural constructions, and that it benefits both people with and without disability when ideas around normalcy and embodiment are critically examined. This thesis asks: Who are Australia 's published writers with disability? What were and are they writing? And, How has impairment and disability influenced their writing? It answers these questions through close analysis of two of Australian disability literature's most well-known fiction writers - Henry Lawson (who was deaf), and Gillian Mears (who had multiple sclerosis), and explores how impairment and disability have influenced both the style and the content of their writing.

Date of Award	2016
Original language	English