Susan and Devva decided to create a forum/site/blog to continue discussion of the Stubblefield trial and the topics it has raised around communication and sexual access and other complex issues that fit firmly in critical disability studies and thoughtful disability activism. We are challenged by this case, more than ever, to rethink guardianship, sexual expression and violence, to come to a different understanding of what it means to be competent, to question what intelligence is and what real self-determination means, and to understand when and how the judicial system supports or restrains disabled voices. In all of this cultural variation, gender, race, class, and education are powerful forces that need exploration, particularly as they intersect with disability.

We are compiling into one online resource all of the discussion and background materials we can find related to the issues that the case raises. We will include both new items and those already available. While not our only mission, we will try to fact check and report on the movement of this case through the judicial process. We will try to create some sort of balance. While we two have strong opinions on parts of this case, they are not simple, all the same, or immutable. We welcome the well-chosen words of dissent.

We want to promote discussion of the issues not discussion about discussion as has stymied some Listservs. We are creating a steering group of people with whom we want to engage and who can provide topical expertise. Most of all, we welcome your thoughts, pictures, analysis, poems, and connection.

Devva Kasnitz and Susan Fitzmaurice

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INSTRUCTIONS:

• To continue to read, go back to the topical headings and choose one. You can comment on any of these pages.
• To see further instructions go back to the “Mission” heading and open the subheading “How to Use this Site and Guidelines for Posting.”