Introduction to Disability Studies

DSAB

301

Introduction to Disability Studies

This course introduces students to the emerging multidisciplinary field of Disability Studies. Disability Studies articulates a new paradigm of disability that is informing academic scholarship, the delivery of services and supports to people with disabilities, public policies related to people with disabilities, and disability research. It is fostering a new understanding of disability in contemporary culture, not just for people with disabilities but for society as a whole. Subjects covered include: The experience and perspectives of people with disabilities and their families; The definition of disability as a social construct, as distinct from a medical model of disability; The history of discrimination, stigma and segregation and its effects on the lives of many people with disabilities. Links between disability studies and the humanities including representations of disability in art, literature and the media; The role of disability studies in the formulation of social welfare and other public policies and in the delivery of services and supports to people with disabilities; and The value of disability studies in helping to understand disability

Fall, Spring

Undergraduate

Yes