Disability Culture

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course will take an anthropological approach to issues of culture and identity, with a particular emphasis on the field of “Disability Studies” – which encompasses varieties of difference in physical, mental, and other forms of ability. Examples will come from around the world and close to home. Guest speakers, fieldtrips, performances, and interesting class projects are being developed for the course. Topics to be addressed will include: Deaf Culture and the issue of Ableism in the majority hearing population; Autism, Spectrum Disorders, and Neurodiversity; Disability Rights, Disability Justice; Veterans with Disabilities; Caregiving, Services, Dependency; “Supercrips,” Exceptionalism, Individualism; Visible and Invisible Identities; Stigma; and Cultures around the world -- the U.S. “normal” is not the only “normal”.