Disability and the Arts

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

In this dynamic, hands-on course, we will explore the rich relationship between disability and the arts. Using case studies drawn from the visual and performing arts, we will employ interdisciplinary approaches to studying these masterworks. Rather than viewing disability as something art overcomes or therapizes, we will examine how artists deploy disability as a lens, an identity, an aesthetic, and a form of discourse to interrogate notions of power, representation, art, and ability. Invisible disabilities, competing/contested defintions of disability, access, and self-advocacy will be central to our conversations. However, we will not be reducing the art we study to its sociological function; the sheer brilliance of these works--and the relationship between this artistic accomplishment and 'disability'--will be central to our study. This class is part of a cluster of disability-related courses, allowing us to access an enormous array of disability/art-related events, guest artists, and speakers. Project-based learning, community engagement, and art-making will be central to our work together. We will also consider our own assumptions about ability and art, and work to transform the classroom community and beyond. To that end, issues of access will be central. No previous knowledge of any particular art form or disability is necessary. In this class, the creative, practical, and scholarly will dance a troika.