Telethons: Spectacle, Disability and the Business of Charity

Abbreviations vii
Editor’s Note ix
Introduction xiii
1. Charity Professionals: Ambivalent Generosity
and the New Business of Philanthropy 1
2. Neither Public nor Private: Telethons in the US Health and
Welfare System 16
3. The Hidden Politics of Telethons: Where Volunteerism,
Government, and Business Meet 32
4. “They’ve Got a Good Thing with Us and We’ve Got
a Good Thing with Them”: Telethons and Cause-Related Marketing 43
5. Givers and Takers: Conspicuous Contribution and a Distinctly
American Moral Community 59
6. Dignity Thieves: Greed, Generosity, and Objects of Charity 71
7. Suffering as Spectacle: Pity, Pathos, and Ideology 84
8. “Look at Us We’re Walking”: Cure-Seekers, Invalids,
and Overcomers 102
9. American and Un-American Bodies: Searching
for Fitness through Technology and Sport 121
10. Smashing Icons: Gender, Sexuality, and Disability 137
11. “Heaven’s Special Child”: The Making of Poster Children 154
12. Family Burdens: Parents, Children, and Disability 172
13. Jerry’s Kids Grow Up: Disability Rights Activists and Telethons 187
Conclusion: The End of Telethons and Challenges
for Disability Rights