Choosing 'stereotypes': debating the efficacy of (British) disability-criticism

This paper considers how, by paying attention to the divergent use of 'stereotypes' as a methodological tool, we concomitantly pay attention to the capacities of contemporary disability-criticism. First, the search for negative stereotypes is described in terms of how it enables the repeated citation of common examples. However, as some areas of disability-criticism have begun to acknowledge that 'stereotypes' are not exclusively a negative form, the second part of the paper uses the US cartoon series South Park to explore what sort of interpretations such a troublesome recognition allows. While critical discourse on disability is discussed as a whole, the ultimate aim is to draw some conclusions about the past, present and future of British disability-criticism. The paper concludes by suggesting that recognising the contingency of where we are on how we choose to read representations of disability strengthens debates about how we want to go on.     

Longitudinal course of rapid naming in disabled and nondisabled readers

The Rapid Automatized Naming Test (Denckla and Rudel 1974) was studied cross-sectionally in an sample of kindergartners (n=342) at-risk for reading disability (Study 1), and longitudinally in an n=160 epidemiological normal sample of children tested in first, third, fifth, and eighth grades (Study 2). Study 1 showed faster absolute naming speeds for those with near perfect untimed alphabet recitation, but the stronger and more orderly relation (at r=.31, p<.0001) was between three levels of alphabet recitation accuracy and the relative number/letter naming speed advantage (ratio of mean number/letter naming speed minus mean color/object naming speed over mean color/object naming speed). In Study 2, the number/letter advantage was already strongly present by first grade, and did not increase significantly thereafter, but absolute naming times improved steadily across grades in an exponential decay function. In this sample, the relative number/letter advantage was not related to reading level. However, the absolute color/object naming speed was strongly related to reading level and vocabulary across grades. Norms for the Rapid Automatized Naming Test based on the epidemiological normal sample tested in Grades 1, 3, 5, and 8 are presented in the appendix.