Coming out as ‘mad‘ in academia with Tessa Zirnsak

Edge Dwellers Café

In this episode I’m joined in conversation by Tessa Zirnsak, PhD researcher at La Trobe University, to discuss coming out as 'mad' in academia. We explore the Madness movement and the field of mad studies, the expertise of lived experience, university study for mad people, and the pitfalls of coming out as “mad” in the university. We also discuss what it’s like to go through a university restructure process from our perspectives as mad academics, as well as Tessa’s research into systemic violence in the disability sector.

00:00:00 Introduction.

00:03:27 Tessa's courageous invitation for research collaboration with a senior colleague (Ben).

00:09:24 Ben's enthusiasm to collaborate in Tessa's research project.

00:13:17 Ben's story coming out as 'mad'.

00:14:28 Mad Studies and the mad movement.

00:23:00 Madness and the expertise of lived experience.

00:24:07 Auto-ethnography and lived experience.

00:27:01 University study as a mad student.

00:37:46 Critiquing 'resilience' in mental health.

00:41:22 Going through an organisational restructure as a mad person.

00:46:12 Additional emotional labour of being 'out' as mad in the workplace.

00:47:34 Tessa's fears about coming out as 'mad' on campus.

00:53:45 Tessa's PhD research into social approaches to disability.

00:58:27 What might 'best practice' look like in the disability sector?

01:00:55 Queer-phobia in disability services.

01:04:05 What does it mean to be an edge-dweller?

Show links

• Zirnsak, T & Habib, B. (forthcoming), “Learning from Each Other: An Autoethnographic Dialogue on Being Mad in the Academy” in (ed.) C. McGunnigle. Disability and the Academic Job Market, Delaware: Vernon Press.
• Elizabeth Smith, Tessa-May Zirnsak, Jennifer Power, Anthony Lyons and Christine Bigby. (2021). ‘Social inclusion of LGBTQ and gender diverse adults with intellectual disability in disability services: A systematic review of the literature’. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 1– 14.
• Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.
• Living with a Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University.
• Scope.

About Tessa Zirnsak

Tessa Zirnsak is a researcher into social approaches to disability. She currently works at Melbourne University as a Research Fellow on the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, and as a Research Assistant at La Trobe University and Scope across multiple projects concerning psychosocial and intellectual disability. Tessa is also a PhD candidate working on a new philosophical approach to violence against people with intellectual disability.

Contact Tessa on Twitter: @TZirnsak

About Ben Habib, host of Edge Dwellers Cafe

Ben@Earth | LTU staff profile | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | ORCiD

Support Edge Dwellers Cafe

Send a one-off monetary contribution to help cover the costs of producing Edge Dwellers Cafe via Ko-Fi. Contributions of any amount are welcome and much appreciated.

Credits

• Logo design: Sarah Cook Design ([e-mail]).
• Intro music: “Lala Bass” by Adele_Newiron from Pixabay.
• Interlude music: “Relax (Drum and Bass)” by vjgalaxy from Pixabay.
• Interlude music: “Centyś - Energy 4” by abctoja from Pixabay.
• Interlude voice-over by Jess Love (https://www.jesslovefilmmaker.com/).

This podcast is broadcast from Naarm/Melbourne on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people. Edge Dwellers Cafe pays respect to their elders past, present and emerging.