| In disability narratives in which a parent describes the experience of having a differently-abled child, the parent functions simultaneously as biographer and autobiographer in the text. As autobiographer, the parent processes his memories, experiences and emotions while narrating a biography of his child. Further, the parent's confrontation with the disability is socially, culturally and historically situated, which influences not only his perceptions, but ultimately the outcome of his relationship with the child.;Therefore, the trajectory of disability theory can be traced through representative autobiography texts spanning the last sixty years: The Child Who Never Grew by Pearl S. Buck (1950), Angel Unaware: A Touching Story of Love and Loss by Dale Evans Rogers (1953), The Broken Cord by Michael Dorris (1989) and The Exceptional Life of Jay Turnbull: Disability and Dignity in America 1967--2009 by Rud Turnbull.;The Child Who Never Grew, published before disability activists and scholars redefined the landscape with models of inclusiveness and a consciousness that do not automatically cast disability as negative, exemplifies the tragedy or medical model of disability because it is laced with despair. In Angel Unaware, the disabled child is literally deified, which is also characteristic of the maudlin sentimentality that the medical model evokes. Buck, Rogers and Michael Dorris were also influenced by the rehabilitation model, a corollary to the medical or tragedy model of disability, which posits that disability is an inferior or defective state that demands a cure. In The Broken Cord, Dorris investigates and explores solutions for the conditions that produced his son's fetal alcohol syndrome condition.;In contrast, in The Exceptional Life of Jay Turnbull: Disability and Dignity in America 1967--2009, Rud Turnbull, a disability activist, embraces aspects of the social model of disability, which posits that the condition of being differently abled is not synonymous with misfortune or tragedy. Turnbull's son Jay spends the majority of his life at home instead of an institution, is employed, and participates in his community. Turnbull, while acknowledging his son's limitations, celebrates his unique gifts and contributions as well. |
