Stephen Gilson

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Stephen Gilson is a theorist and policy analyst who is best known for his work in disability, diversity, and health policy through the lens of legitimacy theory [1], [2], [3], & [4]. Co-authored with Elizabeth DePoy, Gilson developed Explanatory Legitimacy Theory [5]. Through that lens, Gilson analyzes how population group membership is assigned, is based on political purpose, and is met with formal responses that serve both intentionally and unintentionally to perpetuate segregation, economic status quo, and inter-group tension.

Gilson has applied legitimacy theory to the analysis and enactment of health policy related to access to illness prevention information. Along with DePoy, Gilson has implemented his vision of socially just policy based on universal access principles through the creation of a web portal that renders existing illness prevention information accessible to individuals across diversity category boundaries [[6].

His work is substantive and has created an important theoretical advancement in disability and diversity studies through the contribution of explanatory legitimacy theory [7]. This frame of reference has served as the basis for his work and has been acknowledged as a new paradigm for disability studies by many scholars in the field (4).

After Dr Gilson completed his Ph.D. in medical sciences, he was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Drug Abuse in Baltimore Maryland, where he studied the neurophysiology of substance use and abuse. He now teaches in disability studies and social work at the University of Maine[[8]]. His research interests and publications have focused disability identity, experiences of domestic violence and women with disabilities, disability theory, disability as diversity, universal access, social justice, and health and disability policy and advocacy. Dr Gilson has authored and/or co-authored 5 books, has contributed many chapters to edited collections, and has over 40 articles published in peer reviewed journals. He is currently pursuing a collaborative research agenda to develop and test software that will provide universal access to web and electronic information. Dr Gilson presents his work locally, regionally, nationally and internationally and has collaborative relationships with international scholars. In the service arena, Dr Gilson is extremely active on university, local, national and international committees, organizations, and concerns. His commitment to universal ideology as a means to promote social justice and equal opportunity guides his service work [[9]].

Gilson has received invitations to keynote at national and international conferences on disability studies and distinguished lectures at University of Illinois at Chicago [10], University of Michigan at Ann Arbor [11], Smith College, NYU [12], University of North Carolina and others. His awards for his scholarship include:


  • Allan Meyers Award for Scholarship in Disability, American Public Health Association, September, 2005.
  • CSWE Commission on the Role and Status of Women “Feminist Scholarship Award for 2000.” E. P. Cramer, S. F. Gilson, and E. DePoy – “Experiences of Abuse and Service Needs of Abused Women with Disabilities.”
  • Visiting Researcher Appointment, National Institute on Drug Abuse. Addiction Research Center - Neuroimaging and Drug Action Section. Baltimore, MD. Summer. National Institutes of Health. Baltimore, MD, 1995.
  • Fellow. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Intramural Research Training Award. Addiction Research Center - Neuroimaging and Drug Action Section. Baltimore, MD. National Institutes of Health. Baltimore and Bethesda, MD., 1991-1993.
  • Guest Research Scientist. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Bethesda, MD., 1988-1991.


In Rethinking Disability (2004) Gilson with co-author DePoy, takes on the essentialist nature of current diversity categories with a particular focus on disability, laying bare the value foundation and political and economic purpose of “disability category” assignment and social, professional and community response. His subsequent works, co-authored with DePoy, include The Human Experience (2007) and selected essays and papers. This scholarship applies legitimacy theory to understanding theories of human description and explanation and their purposive, political use in diverse “helping professional” worlds.

Most recently, Gilson, with co-author DePoy, applies design theory and practice to the analysis of diversity categories, their membership and their maintenance. In his non-profit work, he has applied this theory to the development of inexpensive, aesthetically designed prototypes, strategies, and products that enhance the ability of all people to engage in healthy behaviors.

Gilson is currently professor and co-coordinator of Interdisciplinary Disability Studies at the University of Maine [13] and a principle in the Evaluation Practice Group,[14] a non-profit entity designed to systematically work towards social justice through local solutions.


Contents

[edit] Biographical information

  • Gilson was born in 1950 in Long beach, California, to a family of three--an older brother, Michael Gilson, and his mother and father, Janet and Arnold Gilson. Later, in 1955, a younger sister, Nancy, would join them. He spent years as an artist before earning a BA in 1973 and PhD in 1991 from the University of Nebraska. He has been teaching since then at various universities around the U.S and now lives on a farm in Maine with his wife, Liz, two horses, four goats, two house cats, dozens of barn cats, three dogs, nine chickens and a rooster. He enjoys skiing in the winter and sitting on the porch beside his house when the weather is warm.

[edit] Selected works

Selected Articles and Essays

  • Gilson, S. F., & DePoy, E. (2007). Da Vinci’s Ill Fated Design Legacy: Homogenization and Standardization. International Journal of the Humanities, 57.
  • Gilson, S. F., & DePoy, E. (2007). Geographic analysis for the social sciences. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 1.
  • Gilson, S.F. & DePoy, E., (2005/2006). Reinventing atypical bodies in art, literature and technology . International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society, 3, 7, http://www.Technology-Journal.com.

Recent Books

  • DePoy, E. & Gilson S. (2007) The human experience: Description, explanation, and judgment. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
  • DePoy, E. & Gilson S.F. (2004) Rethinking Disability: Principles for Professional and Social Change. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks-Cole.
  • DePoy, E. & Gilson S. (2003) Evaluation practice. New York, NY, Taylor and Francis.


[edit] References

1. Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Maine. DIS 650 Research Seminar in Disability Studies. Retrieved on 2007-11-19.

2 & 6. International Conference on Technology, Knowledge, and Society. Universal Web Access: An Intelligent Web Interface (2005-05-20). Retrieved on 2007-11-19.

3. Albrecht, Gary L. (2006). Encyclopedia of Disability. See Page 701. Sage Publications. Retrieved on 2007-11-19.

4, 5. & 7. Albrecht, Gary L. (2006). Encyclopedia of Disability. See Page 699. Sage Publications. Retrieved on 2007-11-19.


[edit] All publications and Vita

A full list of publications from Stephen Gilson, Ph.D. is located here Pubs and Vita.