Disability Studies Quarterly

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The Society for Disability Studies (SDS) was founded in 1982 as the Section for the Study of Chronic Illness, Impairment, and Disability (SSCIID) within the Western Social Science Association. Representing the new interdisciplinary field of study, Disability studies, it became a national organization and was renamed the Society for Disability Studies in 1986. One of SDS' founders, Irving Zola (1935-1994), Professor of Sociology at Brandeis University, had earlier taken over a publication called the Disability Newsletter. This newsletter was started by sociologist Natalie Allon (1941-2001), who published the first issue (Vol. 1, No. 1) in July 1980, as part of the disability subsection of the Medical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association. After an accident left Allon unable to continue the newsletter, Zola published Vol. 2, No. 1 in July 1982 and renamed it the Disability and Chronic Disease Newsletter. In 1986, Zola changed the name to Disability Studies Quarterly (http://www.dsq-sds.org) and as the first president of the Society for Disability Studies, he established the connection between the publication and SDS.

The early DSQ issues were in a photocopied and stapled format. They contained reviews of disability-related materials from numerous disciplines, an extensive event calendar of disability-oriented meetings, and calls for papers. Early in the history of DSQ, Zola began assigning themes to three of each year's issues. (Winter issues were typically left as non-themed, general issues.) Themes ran the gamut, e.g. from public policy to media to the body to technology to aging, and each theme issue had a guest editor with expertise on the theme. Articles were generally short, more often "think pieces" than research reports, and were not peer reviewed beyond the guest editor's review, backed up by Zola's final editorial review.

The journal was published from Brandeis University until Zola's death in 1994. After his death, his widow, Judy Norsigian, and SDS established a Disability Studies Quarterly Steering Committee. It was composed of: Howie Baker (Heller School, Brandeis University), Gunnar Dybwad (Heller School, Brandeis University), Janet Boudreau (former DSQ Managing Editor), Elaine Makas (Lewiston Auburn College of the University of Southern Maine), Adrienne Asch (Wellesley College), and David Pfeiffer (Suffolk University). Norsigian struck an agreement with SDS at that time stating that DSQ would transfer to SDS as long as it continued to be published. If publication discontinued, the right to revive DSQ would revert to Norsigian.

Steering committee member David Pfeiffer (1934-2003), a political scientist and chair of the Department of Public Management at Suffolk University in Boston, took over as editor in summer 1995. The content continued to expand with much original research in the growing field of Disability Studies appearing within it. Pfeiffer appointed a book review editor, Elaine Makas of the University of Southern Maine, who held this appointment during Pfeiffer's time as editor. He also created an editorial board of Barbara Altman of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Harlan Hahn of the University of Southern California, Karen Hirsch of ParaQuad, Paul Longmore of San Francisco State University, Lynn Schlesinger of SUNY-Plattsburgh, and Richard Scotch of The University of Texas at Dallas.

In Fall 1996, Pfeiffer began having DSQ printed as a bound 6x9-inch journal. It was also offered by email or on computer disk. In Summer 1997 Pfeiffer joined the Hawai'i University Affiliated Program at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Richard Scotch, a professor of sociology and political economy at The University of Texas at Dallas, became the managing editor of DSQ with that issue as well. At that time, the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Suffolk University, and The University of Texas at Dallas shared the duties of producing DSQ.

With the advent of the Internet and the high cost of producing a paper journal, DSQ became an exclusively online journal in Fall 2000. At that time the content of DSQ was open to anyone with access to the Internet. In 2002 the SDS Board put out a call for editor applications for DSQ. In fall 2003, Beth Haller, associate professor of journalism at Towson University in Maryland, and Corinne Kirchner, Director of Policy Research and Program Evaluation at the American Foundation for the Blind in New York City were named the co-editors of DSQ for a three-year term. At that same time, the SDS Board codified a Statement of Principles for DSQ, written by Disability Studies scholars, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson and Paul Longmore, http://www.dsq-sds.org/principles.html.

Under Haller and Kirchner, DSQ continued theme sections, commentaries and reviews, but added anonymously peer review of research papers to its content. Working within the guidelines developed by the American Foundation for the Blind, DSQ built its Web site to fit with the highest standards of Web design that relate to accessibility for people who use screen readers; it also purchased a distinct url, www.dsq-sds.org to build awareness of the journal. In Spring 2006, DSQ published its first international section. This new section grew from the suggestion of SDS members, who connected with German Disability Studies scholars during a conference in Germany on eugenics in 2004. Also, an occasional section for "pedagogy" was added, and two editors were appointed to handle the many book, film, theater, and video reviews, as well as adding an editor for literary works. The other major change implemented by Haller and Kirchner, at the request of the SDS Board, was to return DSQ to being a journal that was a benefit of SDS membership or purchased by subscribers. In Winter 2005, DSQ became a password-protected Web site, meaning only members of SDS whose subscription was part of their membership or paid institutional or individual subscribers could access DSQ.

At the 2006 SDS meeting, the Board announced the new editors for the next three-year term at DSQ. They are: Brenda Brueggemann, associate professor of English and coordinator of the American Sign Language program, Scot Danforth, associate professor of integrated teaching and learning, and Stephen Kuusisto, assistant professor of English, all of Ohio State University.

Sources:

Disability Newsletter .(1980). Publication of the disability subsection of the Medical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association. Vol. 1, No. 1.

Garland-Thomson, R. & Longmore, P. (2003). DSQ Statement of Principles. http://www.dsq-sds.org/principles.html.

Haller, B. & Kirchner, C. (2006, Spring). Editor's preface. Disability Studies Quarterly, http://www.dsq-sds.org, Vol. 26, No. 2.

Haller, B. & Kirchner, C. (2005, Winter). Editor's preface. Disability Studies Quarterly, http://www.dsq-sds.org, Vol. 25, No. 1.

Lorber, J. (2002, January). Natalie Allon obituary. Footnotes. Publication of the American Sociological Association. http://www2.asanet.org/footnotes/jan02/departments.html.

Norsigian, J. (2006, Aug. 31). [Personal electronic mail message].

Pfeiffer, D. (1995, Summer). Editor's preface. Disability Studies Quarterly, Vol. 15, No. 3.

Pfeiffer, D. (1996, Fall). Editor's preface. Disability Studies Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 4.

Zola, I. K. (1990, Fall). The Editors' letter. Disability Studies Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 4.