Disability Studies: Theory and Culture

Undergraduate

This course explores the multiple meanings of disability and emphasizes the lived experience and knowledge generated by people with disabilities. It critically examines how Western economic, medical, moral, and social norms produce social exclusion and marginalization. It introduces students to key Disability Studies theorists, theories, and social justice models that resist ableism by addressing issues of access, accommodation, cultural representation, and identity. This course uses an intersectional framework to consider how variances in race, ethnicity, gender-identity, sexuality, class, citizenship, and culture impact both individual and collective experiences of disability. It considers how Disability Studies differs from other disciplinary approaches to disability, understands disability as a social construct, and positions disability as difference rather than deficit. (Prerequisite: IACS-1000.)