Dissenting Invalids: Disability and Political Change Before Perestroika

Visegrad Lecture Series

Dissenting Invalids: Disability and Political Change Before Perestroika

by Maria Galmarini, Associate Professor of History and Global Studies, 
William & Mary, (Williamsburg, VA, USA)

In this talk, Maria Cristina Galmarini presents some early findings from her research at the Blinken OSA Archivum for the project “Disability and Freedom from Perestroika to Bolotnaia.” The project is an analysis of official and alternative discourses surrounding disability in the former Soviet Union from the last decade of Soviet rule to Vladimir Putin’s consolidation of power in the 2010s. By bringing the aspirations of disabled citizens into conversation with those of able-bodied policy makers and journalists at a time of radical changes, the project aims to provide a multi-faceted approach to understanding both the development of disability discourses and shifting meanings of freedom, citizenship, social worth, health, and national identity. This talk will set the ground for the entire project by looking at the years immediately before perestroika through a disability lens.