At the Limits of Pleasure

An online conference on disabilities, arts, and sexualities
Dublin City University | EROSS | March 11 - March 13, 2021

Professor Robert McRuer, George Washington University, United States of America
Chair: Dr Kit Fryatt, Dublin City University, Ireland

Professor Therí A. Pickens, Bates College, United States of America
Chair: Dr Briege Casey, Dublin City University, Ireland

Panel 1: Erotics & Transformations: Queer/ Crip Epistemologies

Schizo* is Sexy: The Eroticism and Exoticism of the "Mysterious Madness"

Perverting Liberation

‘Shade[s] of Queer’: Autism and the Inventiveness of Sexuality

Chair: Mr Jean-Philippe Imbert, Dublin City University, Ireland

Ren Koloni, George Washington University, USA


Dr Johnathan Smilges, Texas Woman's University, USA
Abby Stannard Ashley, University of Bristol, University of Exeter, UK

Panel 2: Disabled Be-Cummings: Porn and Fanfiction

Fucking, not Fetishising: Agency, Devotees and Representation of Disabled People in Porn

Blind Fingering, Hurt/Comfort, and other Tropes: How Disability is Used in Explicit Fanfiction

On Queer Disability and Sex

Chair: Mr David Carroll (IRC), Dublin City University, Ireland

Dr Caroline West, Independent Scholar, Ireland


Lindsay Mixer, Widener University, USA


Andrew Gurza, Disability Awareness Consultant and Cripple Content Creator, Canada

Panel 3: Reclaiming & Imag(in)ing Subjectivities

Disabilities, Subjectivities and Sexualities (Reclaiming and Celebrating)

A Room with a Lesbian, Autistic View: A Queer, Transdisciplinary Perspective of Great Art

Reclaiming the Viral Body: Eroticism, HIV, and Danez Smith’s Poetry

Chair: Dr Michael Hinds, Dublin City University, Ireland
Denise Beckwith, Western Sydney University, Australia

Dr Suzanne van Rossenberg, Independent Researcher, UK

Alex Torres, University of Bristol, UK

Panel 4: Visual & Queer Deconstructions of Compulsory Able-bodiedness

Challenging Devaluation! – Cinematic Portrayals of Disability and Queerness

Disabled Sexualities and Neoliberal Values in Orange is the New Black

Disability and Sexuality in the movie Sanctuary

Chair: Dr Alicia Castillo Villanueva, Dublin City University, Ireland

Dr Petra Anders, University of Bamberg, Germany


Irena Jurković, University of Zadar, Croatia


Dr Paul McNamara, Mary Immaculate College, Ireland

Panel 5: Interrogating Stigma & Marginalisation: Practicalities and Realities

Tactile Art-Based Teaching and Sexual Behaviours in Young Adults with Dual Sensory Impairment: Perspectives of Professionals Working with Them

“They Were Shaving My Head and It Was Even More Upsetting than the SCI Itself”: Liminality and De/sexualization of the Disabled Body

Chair: Dr Briege Casey, Dublin City University, Ireland


Supriya Das & Dr Atul Jaiswal Perkins India, India & Université de Montréal, Canada


Laura Sanmiquel-Molinero & Dr Andrea García-Santesmases Fernández Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain & Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain

Panel 6: Subverting the Heroine through Visual Modalities

Crippin’ the Disabled Heroine: Queer and Enabling Futures in Shonali Bose’s Margarita with a Straw (2014)

Visual Art as Visual Literacy: Interdicting the Delusion with Reference to ‘Sexualities, Desires, and Emotions’ of Disabled Humans

Chair: Anindita Bhattacharya, Dublin City University, Ireland

Shabnam Rathee, Murdoch University, Western Australia


Dr Amodini Sreedharan, Independent Researcher, India

Panel 7: At the Limits of Pleasure: (Un)desirability & Representation

Disabling Desire and Reading Barthes’ The Pleasure of the Text

The Sexual Model of Disability

Chair: Dr Sarah Meehan O’Callaghan, Dublin City University, Ireland

Dr Geraldine Cuddihy, Independent Researcher, Ireland

Dr Anna Mollow, Independent Scholar, United States of America

With Dr Sarah Meehan O’Callaghan, Dublin City University, Ireland