Feminist Disability Justice
WS 297V at Pace University 👋🏾
Spring 2026 Wed 9:00AM - 12:00PM Sync Text and Voice Chat Discord
Dr. Vyshali Manivannan (Dr. Mani)
I’m an Eelam Tamil American chronically ill writer, scholar, artist, and designer. I’ve taught writing and rhetoric, media studies, disability studies, and cultural studies for ~20 years. I have a PhD in Communication, Information, and Media from Rutgers and an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia. I’m interested in digital multimodal composition, disability justice movements (mask up 😷 for your community!), and body mods. Also, I have a Siberian cat named Athena (obligatory cat tax).
I reserve 5 hrs/wk for by-appointment coffee chats on Discord. You can book a 🕐10, 🕐15, or 🕧20 min chat with me over voice-and-video or voice-only (ideal for commutes and work breaks) to talk about any aspect of class, college, life, etc. Book early and often! And if these times don’t work for your schedule, you can DM me to arrange an alternate time.
You must contact me at least 1 week in advance to schedule a chat outside of my standard coffee chat times. I’m almost never able to accommodate last-minute requests.
I respond to async messages — in #classroom, DMs, and email — within 48 hrs during the week. Anything I get over the weekend, I’ll respond to on Mon (I might reply sooner, but don’t count on it).
For a quicker response to questions or project help, ask in #classroom or #team on Discord. Please note that I deprioritize questions about course material/logistics that are explained in the course syllabus and/or this website, or have already been asked and answered on Discord and added to the FAQs on this site.
All slides are linked in the calendar next to their respective sync class sessions.
Week 1 - Settling In
🕵️ Review WS 297V Course Prospectus
🕵️ Review Discord Tutorial
📖 Read Sins Invalid, “10 Principles of Disability Justice”
📖 Read Leah Piepzna-Samarasinha, “Crip Emotional Intelligence”
- Jan 28
- Lecture Settling In
- slides
- Discussion Sins Invalid; Piepzna-Samarasinha
- cn: ableism; care work; intersectionality; racism; sexism
- Practice Tech setup and exploration
- Due Midnight Finish customizing Discord
Week 2 - Reframing Meaning
📖 Read Simi Linton, “Reassigning Meaning”
📖 Read Johanna Hedva, “Sick Woman Theory”
- Feb 4
- Post by 9am Choose one of: Annotation, I Hope This Email Finds You, Why
- Lecture Reframing Meaning
- slides
- Discussion Linton; Hedva
- cn: ableism; activism; bedlife; chronic illness; care work; meaning-making; normalcy; sexism
Week 3 - Curative Violence
📖 Read Eli Clare, “The Ideology of Cure”
- Feb 11
- Post by 9am Choose one of: Stumbling Blocks, Truth to Power, Just Curious
- Lecture Curative Violence
- slides
- Discussion Clare
- cn: ableism; curative logics; eugenics; media literacy
- In-Class Game Robin
- cn: medical gaslighting;
Week 4 - Feminist Disability Justice as Method
📖 Read Sara Ahmed, “A Killjoy Survival Kit”
📖 Read Tala Khanmalek & Heidi Andrea Restrepo Rhodes, “A Compendium Incomplete of Sick and Disabled Queer Brown Femme Bodies of Knowledge”
- Feb 18
- Post by 9am Choose one of: Feminist Disability Justice Poetics, Keyholes, Loved Lines
- Lecture Feminist Disability Justice as Method
- slides
- Discussion Ahmed; Khanmalek & Rhodes
- cn: ableism; feminism; chronic illness; intersectionality; killjoy; racism; sexism; queer politics
Week 5 - Representational Politics
📖 Read Jina Kim & Sami Schalk, “Reclaiming the Radical Politics of Self-Care”
- Feb 25
- Post by 9am Choose one of: Why, Stumbling Blocks, Truth to Power
- Lecture Representational Politics
- slides
- Discussion Kim & Schalk
- cn: ableism; capitalism; intersectionality; self-care
Week 6 - Managing Stigma
📖 Read Tobin Siebers, “Disability as Masquerade”
📖 Read Cindy LaCom, “The Politics of Shit in Disability Studies”
- Mar 4
- Post by 9am Choose one of: Just Curious, Annotation, I Hope This Email Finds You
- Lecture Managing Stigma
- slides
- Discussion Siebers; LaCom
- cn: ableism; bodily fluids; chronic illness; dynamic disability; excrement; passing; performativity; stigma management
Week 7 - Retrofits and Disability Dongles
📖 Read Jay Dolmage, “The Retrofit”
📖 Read Liz Jackson, Alex Haagard, & Rua Williams, “Disability Dongle”
- Mar 11
- Post by 9am Choose one of: Stumbling Blocks, Loved Lines, Feminist Disability Justice Poetics
- Lecture Retrofits and Disability Dongles
- slides
- Discussion Dolmage; Jackson et al.
- cn: academic ableism; disability dongle; crip space; retrofit; technoscience
Week 8 - Crip Technoscience
📖 Read Aimi Hamraie & Kelly Fritsch, “Crip Technoscience Manifesto”
- Mar 18
- Post by 9am Choose one of: Keyholes, Stumbling Blocks, Truth to Power
- Lecture Crip Technoscience
- slides
- Discussion Hamraie & Fritsch
- cn: ableism; retrofit; technoscience
Week 9 - Claiming Unwellness
📖 Read Mimi Khuc, “Touring the Abyss”
📖 Read Shayda Kafai, “The Mad Border-Body”
- Mar 25
- Post by 9am Choose one of: Just Curious, Annotation, Loved Lines
- Lecture Claiming Unwellness
- slides
- Discussion Khuc
- cn: academic ableism; Asian-American unwellness; mad studies; sanism
- Workshop by Thu 11:59pm Workshop WIP Access Audit & Guide in #team, draft team-authored foreword
- Post by Sat 12pm Access Guide compilation with foreword to Classes\Assignments
Week 11 - Academic Ableism
📖 Read Margaret Price, “Navigating the Accommodations Loop”
- Apr 8
- Post by 9am Choose one of: Why, Loved Lines, Feminist Disability Justice Poetics
- Lecture Academic Ableism
- slides
- Discussion Price
- cn: academic ableism; accessibility; accommodations process; ADA; retrofit
Week 12 - Care Work & Crip Kinship
📖 Read Mia Mingus, “Access Intimacy, Interdependence, and Disability Justice”
📖 Read Carolyn Lazard, “How to Be a Person in the Age of Autoimmunity”
- Apr 15
- Post by 9am Choose one of: Feminist Disability Justice Poetics, Why, Just Curious
- Lecture Care Work & Crip Kinship
- slides
- Discussion Mingus; Lazard
- cn: access intimacy; activism; chronic illness; misdiagnosis; medical gaslighting
- Workshop by Thu 11:59pm Review your peers’ Creative Project & Rationale WIP in #team
- Post by Sat 12pm Submit revised Creative Project & Rationale WIP to Classes
Week 13 - Accessible Futures
📖 Read Alison Kafer, “Accessible Futures, Future Coalitions”
- Apr 22
- Post by 9am Choose one of: I Hope This Email Finds You, Annotation, Keyholes
- Lecture Accessible Futures
- slides
- Discussion Kafer
- cn: ableism; accessibility; activism; coalition building
- Post by Sat 12pm Complete Discord poll in #lounge asking which texts you’d like to revisit next week
Week 14 - Revisiting Texts
📖 Readings from Week 13 Discord poll results
- Apr 29
- Post by 9am Choose one of: Feminist Disability Justice Poetics, Truth to Power, Just Curious
- Lecture Revisiting Texts
- slides
Week 15 - Tying Things Together
📖 Read the drafts your teammmates submitted for workshop
- May 6
- Async Undergraduate Reading Day - Tying Things Together
- Text-only Workshop, revision, final Q&A
Week 16 - Departures
📖 Read the drafts your teammmates submitted for workshop
- May 13
- Async Finalizing Your Projects
- Text-only Drafting, revision, final Q&A
- Post by Fri 11:59PM Submit both final projects (Access Audit & Guide, Creative Project & Rationale) to Classes\Assignments