Reading Group

These resources for our small EDIA “reading” group. We aim to consider topics we might not have explored before.

To foster accessibility of the group we provide multiple sources for each meeting (reading, listening and watching) to support different learning styles, we also ensure several of the sources are available for free. To keep things consistent we link the Waterstones page for suggested books, many times other retailers are cheaper and secondhand copies are available through many sites, also Manchester University library and Manchester Central Library have many of the suggested books.

We do our best to vet sources before suggesting them but some of them may have their own biases/issues which we can then discuss in the session.

Freedom House Ambulance Service

Brief Summary

“Freedom House Ambulance Service was the first emergency medical service in the United States to be staffed by paramedics with medical training beyond basic first aid. Founded in 1967 to serve the predominantly Black Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it was staffed entirely by African Americans. Freedom House Ambulance Service broke medical ground by training its personnel to previously unheard-of standards of emergency medical care for patients en route to hospitals. The paramedic training and ambulance design standards pioneered in the Freedom House Ambulance Service would set the standard for emergency care nationally and even internationally. Despite its successes, the ambulance service was closed eight years after it began operating.”  Freedom House Ambulance Service - Wikipedia

Sources

Racial Passing

Brief Summary

“Passing, in the context of race, occurs when one conceals their socially applied racial identity or ethnicity in order to be perceived as another race for acceptance and/or other benefits. Historically, the term has been used primarily in the United States to describe a person of mixed race who has assimilated into the white majority to escape the legal and social consequences of racial segregation and discrimination. In the Antebellum South, passing as White was sometimes a temporary disguise used as a means of escaping slavery, which had become a racial caste.” Passing (racial identity) - Wikipedia

Sources

504 Sit-In

Brief Summary

“The 504 Sit-in was a disability rights protest that began on April 5, 1977. People with disabilities and the disability community occupied federal buildings in the United States in order to push the issuance of long-delayed regulations regarding Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Prior to the 1990 enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act was the most important disability rights legislation in the United States.” 504 Sit-in - Wikipedia

Sources

EDAI - AI Bias

Brief Summary

“AI bias, also called machine learning bias or algorithm bias, refers to the occurrence of biased results due to human biases that skew the original training data or AI algorithm—leading to distorted outputs and potentially harmful outcomes.” What is AI Bias - IBM

Sources

Childhood Poverty and Instability

Brief Summary

“Despite the UK being one of the richest countries in the world, around 4.5 million children (1 in 3) live in poverty. Children in lone-parent families face an even higher risk, with 43% living in poverty. The impact of child poverty is severe, affecting children’s health, wellbeing, and future economic opportunities. Children in poverty are also more likely to experience deeper and more persistent hardship, with around 1 million children facing destitution, the most extreme form of poverty, in 2023.” Child Poverty - Joseph Roundtree Foundation

Sources

The Mersey Model

Brief Summary

The Mersey Model, pioneered in Liverpool, UK, in 1986, was a groundbreaking, government-funded needle exchange program and harm reduction strategy that served as a cornerstone for preventing the spread of HIV among people who inject drugs. The model is characterized by its approach of focusing on harm reduction over immediate cessation of drug use and by integrating needle exchange with other social and health services.

Sources

Milk and the Alt-Right

Brief Summary

“For members of the alt-right, dairy milk symbolises strength of body and society; drinking it reinforces notions of white superiority and idealised visions of masculinity. […] There’s a long history of association between dairy milk and white supremacy. […] The nutritionally “perfect” white drink was symbolically linked to the white-skinned bodies that were better able to digest it due to a genetic mutation known as lactase persistence. Early 20th century milk advertisements perpetuated this trope, often juxtaposing images of healthy-looking, light-skinned people with sickly-looking, darker-skinned ones.” How the alt‑right uses milk to promote white supremacy - The Conversation

Sources

Blood Quantum

Brief Summary

“Blood quantum laws or Indian blood laws are laws that define Native Americans in the United States status by fractions of Native American ancestry. These laws were enacted by the federal government and state governments as a way to establish legally defined racial population groups. By contrast, many tribes do not include blood quantum as part of their own enrollment criteria. Blood quantum laws were first imposed by white settlers in the 18th century. Blood quantum (BQ) continues to be a controversial topic.” Blood Quantum Laws - Wikipedia

Sources

The Lavender Scare

Brief Summary

“The Lavender Scare was a moral panic about homosexual people in the United States government which led to their mass dismissal from government service during the mid-20th century. It contributed to and paralleled the anti-communist campaign which is known as McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare. Gay men and lesbians were said to be national security risks and communist sympathizers, which led to the call to remove them from state employment.” Lavender Scare - Wikipedia

Sources

Deaf culture

Brief Summary

“Like many linguistic minorities, Deaf people enjoy a unique culture, as worthy of respect as any other. The Deaf way of life is quite fascinating. It is only in recent years that research has begun to explore different aspects of Deaf relationships, communication and society.”  What is Deaf culture? - British Deaf Association

Sources

  • Watch - Signs for change a BBC documentary hosted by Rose Ayling-Ellis
  • Read - Seeing Voices by Oliver Sacks
  • Experience - British Deaf History Museum located in the Manchester Deaf Centre within the University of Manchester Crawford House building. Open Mon-Wed 10-3. We could plan a group visit and I could try and arrange for someone from the MDC to be there and I can do my best to translate

Autistic Woman

Brief Summary

“In the past, it was assumed that autistic people were overwhelmingly men and boys, and only very rarely women and girls. This is wrong. There are many women, girls and non-binary people on the autism spectrum. Although we now know much more about the experiences of autistic women and girls, society’s understanding of autism has been limited by outdated stereotypes and incorrect assumptions. Although autism research and professional practice are slowly catching up to the realities of life for autistic women and girls, many barriers to diagnosis and support remain.” Autistic women and girls - National Autistic Society

Sources

The Sixties Scoop

Brief Summary

“The Sixties Scoop, also known as The Scoop, was a period in which a series of policies were enacted in Canada that enabled child welfare authorities to take, or “scoop up”, Indigenous children from their families and communities for placement in foster homes, from which they would be adopted by white families.” Sixties Scoop - Wikipedia

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