Tig Slater

Dr. Tig Slater PhD

Reader in Queer Disability Studies and Education


Summary

My work draws on disability, queer, trans and gender studies to consider relationships disability, gender and the body. I am also interested in critical explorations of developmental discourse, issues of access/accessibility and institutional Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy (EDI).

About

My research has taken place through a number of distinct, but related research projects. My 2015 book, Youth and Disability: A Challenge to Mr Reasonable, explores youth and disability as social, cultural and political constructs, alongside gender, sexuality and the body. In this book, I use the fictional character of ‘Mr Reasonable’ to question markers of youth, adulthood, and indeed, disability and ability.

Between 2015 and 2018 I led the AHRC-funded Around the Toilet project (www.aroundthetoilet.com). Around the Toilet asked what makes a safe and accessible toilet space, exploring toilets as spaces of exclusion and belonging by centring the experiences of queer, trans and disabled people. The research was collaborative, public-facing and aimed to create outputs that could be used to influence toilet design at a grassroots and practitioner level. As such, as well as journal articles and book chapters, we produced three films (one of which toured international film festivals), a zine and design toolkits (all of which are available on our project blog). In 2016, Around the Toilet was awarded the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement’s (NCCPE) ‘Engage’ Award for public engagement within the arts, humanities and social sciences. Since 2020 Around the Toilet work has continued under the project title, ‘Beers, Burgers and Bleach: Hygiene, Toilets and Hospitality in the Context of Covid-19’. This ongoing research, funded by the Wellcome Centre, explores the cleaning, maintenance and monitoring work provided by hospitality workers in relation to toilets and toilet access, particular during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021 I was awarded funding from BA/Leverhulme to explore LGBT+ people's relationship to the symbol of the rainbow and, in particular, how these relationships relate to institutional uses through Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policies (EDI). At present, this research is taken place by specifically looking at a higher education context, though I hope to broaden this out beyond HE at a later date.

I am a founding member of the Queer Disability Studies Network (https://queerdisabilitystudies.wordpress.com).

I conceptualise ‘education’ broadly through my teaching, asking questions about the relationships between ‘education’, stratification (gender, race, class, sexuality, dis/ability and so on) and transnational capitalism. I am interested in critiquing dominant discourses of ‘development’ as they relate to education, particularly in relation to the individualisation of social inequalities.

Teaching

Sheffield Institute of Education

College of Social Sciences and Arts

I teach in areas broadly related to my research across and number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the Sheffield Institute of Education.

Research

My research focuses on issues of disability, gender and the body. I am also interested in critical explorations of developmental discourse and issues of access/accessibility. My PhD research used a critical disability studies perspectives to explore meanings that we attach to ‘youth’ and ‘adulthood’. More recently, I have led a series of AHRC-funded arts-based projects collectively known as, Around the Toilet. Around the Toilet explores the toilet as an embodied space of exclusion and belonging (https://aroundthetoilet.wordpress.com/). You can read more about my work on my academic blog at jenslater.wordpress.com

Featured Projects

  • Around the Toilet project: https://aroundthetoilet.com/
  • Whose Rainbow? project: https://whoserainbow.wordpress.com
  • Queer Disability Studies Network: https://queerdisabilitystudies.wordpress.com
  • Academic blog: https://jenslater.wordpress.com

Publications

Slater, J., & Jones, C. (2021). Toilet signs as border markers: Exploring disabled people’s access to space. International Journal of Disability and Social Justice, 1 (1), 50-72. http://doi.org/10.13169/intljofdissocjus.1.1.0050

Jones, C., & Slater, J. (2020). The toilet debate: stalling trans possibilities and defending ‘women's protected spaces’. The Sociological Review. http://doi.org/10.1177/0038026120934697

Slater, J., Jones, C., & Procter, L. (2019). Troubling School Toilets: Resisting Discourses of "Development’" through a Critical Disability Studies and Critical Psychology Lens. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 40 (3), 412-423.

Slater, J., Ágústsdóttir, E., & Haraldsdóttir, F. (2018). Becoming intelligible woman: Gender, disability and resistance at the border zone of youth. Feminism and Psychology, 28 (3), 409-426. http://doi.org/10.1177/0959353518769947

Slater, J., & Liddiard, K. (2018). Why Disability Studies Scholars Must Challenge Transmisogyny and Transphobia. Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 7 (2), 83-93. http://doi.org/10.15353/cjds.v7i2.424

Slater, J., & Liddiard, K. (2018). The Crip, The Fat and The Ugly in an Age of Austerity: Resistance, Reclamation and Affirmation. The Review of Disability Studies (RDS): An International Journal, 14 (2). https://www.rdsjournal.org/index.php/journal/article/view/835

Slater, J., & Liddiard, K. (2018). The Crip, The Fat and The Ugly in an Age of Austerity: Resistance, Reclamation and Affirmation. The Review of Disability Studies (RDS): An International Journal, 14 (2). https://www.rdsjournal.org/index.php/journal/article/view/835

Slater, J., & Liddiard, K. (2018). “Like, pissing yourself is not a particularly attractive quality, let’s be honest” : learning to contain through youth, adulthood, disability and sexuality. Sexualities, 21 (3), 319-333. http://doi.org/10.1177/1363460716688674

Slater, J. (2017). Becoming women: the embodied self in image culture. Disability & Society, 32 (8), 1286-1288. http://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2017.1362187

Slater, J., Jones, C., & Procter, L. (2017). Troubling school toilets : resisting discourses of 'development' through a critical disability studies and critical psychology lens. Discourse : Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 1-12. http://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2017.1316237

Slater, J., Jones, C., & Procter, L. (2016). School toilets : queer, disabled bodies and gendered lessons of embodiment. Gender and Education, 1-15. http://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2016.1270421

Slater, J. (2016). Book Review: Little vast rooms of undoing exploring identity and embodiment through public toilet spaces. Disability and Society, 31 (3), 439-442. http://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2016.1141579

Slater, J. (2015). Chronic youth disability, sexuality, and U.S. media cultures of rehabilitation. Disability & Society, 30 (9), 1452-1454. http://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2015.1062226

Slater, J. (2015). X. Stresses and contradictions of trying to ‘do feminisms’ within the (neo)liberal academy. Feminism & Psychology, 12 (1), 56-60. http://doi.org/10.1177/0959353514562808

Slater, J. (2014). Book review: Feminist Queer Crip by Alison Kafer. Disability and Society, 29 (5), 840-844. http://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2014.888850

Slater, J. (2012). Youth for sale: using critical disability perspectives to examine the embodiment of ‘Youth’. Societies, 2 (3), 195-209. http://doi.org/10.3390/soc2030195

Slater, J. (2012). Self-advocacy and socially just pedagogy. Disability Studies Quarterly, 32 (1). http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/3033

Slater, J. (2012). Stepping outside normative neoliberal discourse: youth and disability meet – the case of Jody McIntyre. Disability and Society, 27 (5), 723-727. http://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2012.686879

Slater, J. (2012). Comment from the Field. Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, 6 (2), 227-230. http://doi.org/10.3828/jlcds.2012.18

Book chapters

Jones, C., Slater, J., Cleasby, S., Kemp, G., Lisney, E., & Rennie, S. (2019). PISSED OFF! Disability activists fighting for toilet access in the UK. In Berghs, M., Chataika, T., & El-Lahib, Y. (Eds.) The Routledge handbook of disability activism. (pp. 219-231). Routledge: https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Disability-Activism/Berghs-Chataika-El-Lahib-Dube/p/book/9780815349303

Slater, J., & Chapman, E. (2017). Normalcy, Intersectionality and Ableism : teaching about and around ‘inclusion’ to future educators. In Runswick-Cole, K., Curran, T., & Liddiard, K. (Eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of Disabled Children’s Childhood Studies. (pp. 333-349). Palgrave Macmillan UK: https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9781137544452

Slater, J. (2016). The (Normal) Non-Normativity of Youth. In Mallett, R., Ogden, C., & Slater, J. (Eds.) Theorising Normalcy and the Mundane : Precarious Positions. (pp. 14-44). Chester: University of Chester Press: http://storefront.chester.ac.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12_14&products_id=626

Slater, J. (2016). The (Normal) Non-Normativity of Youth. In Mallett, R., Ogden, C., & Slater, J. (Eds.) Theorising Normalcy and the Mundane : Precarious Positions. (pp. 14-44). Chester: University of Chester Press: http://storefront.chester.ac.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12_14&products_id=626

Mallett, R., & Slater, J. (2014). Language. In Disability Studies: A Student's Guide. (pp. 92-94). SAGE Publications Ltd: http://doi.org/10.4135/9781473957701.n29

(2013). Disabled Children's Childhood Studies. Palgrave Macmillan UK: http://doi.org/10.1057/9781137008220

(2013). Youth: Responding to Lives. SensePublishers: http://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-431-4

Slater, J. (2013). Research with Dis/abled Youth: Taking a Critical Disability, ‘Critically Young’ Positionality. In Disabled Children's Childhood Studies. (pp. 180-195). Palgrave Macmillan UK: http://doi.org/10.1057/9781137008220_14

Slater, J. (2013). Playing Grown-Up. In Youth: Responding to Lives. (pp. 75-91). SensePublishers: http://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-431-4_6

Slater, J. (2013). Research with Dis/abled Youth. In Disabled Children's Childhood Studies. Palgrave Macmillan: http://doi.org/10.1057/9781137008220_14

Books

Mallett, R., Ogden, C., & Slater, J. (Eds.). (2016). Theorising Normalcy and the Mundane : Precarious Positions. Chester: University of Chester Press. http://storefront.chester.ac.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12_14&products_id=626

Slater, J. (2015). Youth and disability: a challenge to Mr Reasonable. Burlington: Ashgate. http://doi.org/10.4324/9781315546001

Reports

Jones, C., White, L., Slater, J., & Pluquailec, J. (2022). Beers, burgers + bleach : hygiene, toilets and hospitality in the time of Covid-19 : final project report 2022. Exeter University. https://aroundthetoilet.files.wordpress.com/2022/04/beers-burgers-bleach-report-web-1.pdf

Slater, J., & Jones, C. (2018). Around the Toilet: a research project report about what makes a safe and accessible toilet space. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Hallam University. http://doi.org/10.7190/9781843874195

Theses / Dissertations

Terrell, K.E. (2023). Exploring (dis)abled children's embodied experiences in primary school space. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Slater, J. http://doi.org/10.7190/shu-thesis-00514

Terrell, K.E. (2023). Exploring (dis)abled children's embodied experiences in primary school space. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Slater, J. http://doi.org/10.7190/shu-thesis-00514

Tobias-Green, K. (2020). Stories from an artinstitution: The writinglives of students withdyslexia. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Slater, J. http://doi.org/10.7190/shu-thesis-00310

Tobias-Green, K. (2020). Stories from an artinstitution: The writinglives of students withdyslexia. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Slater, J. http://doi.org/10.7190/shu-thesis-00310

Internet Publications

Anderson, J. (2021). People just want ‘clean, free toilets with locks’ and ‘don’t mind what gender they are’, experts say. https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/gender-neutral-toilets-public-free-clean-locks-government-ministry-of-housing-1004395

Corby, G. (2020). Why schools need to flush out rotten toilets. https://www.tes.com/magazine/archived/why-schools-need-flush-out-rotten-toilets

Needham, J. (2019). The corporate poo patrol is coming after your precious toilet time. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/battle-toilet-workplace

Parry, C. (2019). Core functions: good practice for museum toilets. [Print Only]. https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/in-practice/2019/11/15112019-core-functions-good-practice-museum-toilets/#:~:text=The%20basics%20At%20the%20very,or%20a%20working%20hand%20dryer

Jones, C., & Slater, J. (2018). Toilet talk: why public loos just aren’t good enough.

Slater, J. (2016). SEND Focus: School toilets teach disabled students that they are "different". https://www.tes.com/news/send-focus-school-toilets-teach-disabled-students-they-are-different

Mills, C., & Slater, J. (2016). Why the A-Level psychology exam is already out of date. https://theconversation.com/why-the-a-level-psychology-exam-is-already-out-of-date-48853

Other publications

Liddiard, K., & Slater, J. (2018). The Crip, The Fat and The Ugly in Times of Austerity. Review of Disability Studies: https://www.rdsjournal.org/index.php/journal/issue/view/Vol%2014%2C%20No%202

Liddiard, K., & Slater, J. (2018). The Crip, The Fat and The Ugly in Times of Austerity. Review of Disability Studies: https://www.rdsjournal.org/index.php/journal/issue/view/Vol%2014%2C%20No%202

Other activities

I currently supervise the following PhD students: Stephanie Hannam-Swain: Disabled peoples’ conceptualisation and experiences of self-harm Katherine Terrell: Bodies in space, signs in space: Deaf and disabled children’s embodied experiences of education Cathy Soreny: Stories beyond words: Reframing representation of non-normative voices through co-created filmmaking Previous students: Karen Tobias-Green: Narratives of an art institution: the writing experiences of students with dyslexia.

Postgraduate supervision

I also supervise PhD students in my areas and welcome contact from those interested in researching around disability, gender, queer and trans studies from broadly qualitative and sociological perspectives.

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