Course Description

This course focuses on (1) disability as a category of diversity and identity in comparison with other categories of diversity and identity, such as race, class, gender and ethnicity, as well as on (2) diversity within disability, insofar as people with disabilities are diverse and different from one another. It also (3) critically examines different strategies that may be used to increase the freedom or liberty of people with disabilities, in light of questions posed in (1) and (2). Students who complete the course will be knowledgeable about: different definitions or models of disability and disability identity, as well as critiques of those definitions or models, such as the medical model, the bio-psycho-social model, the minority group (socio-political) model, and the postmodern account of disability identity; debates about the role of impairment/biology in defining disability; the concept of disability as a distinctive culture (or ethnicity); the concept of disability identity as a political construction; the character or nature of ableism (sometimes called handicappism), or the exclusion/disadvantage faced by individuals with disabilities, including statistics on educational attainment, employment, and access to health care; the idea of disability, race, class, gender, and ethnicity as intersecting systems or structures of exclusion and disadvantage; different possible strategies of liberation that have been or could be used to increase the liberty and freedom of people with disabilities including Marxist-inspired strategies, the civil rights model, and strategies that involve building the identities of people with disabilities.

Assignments and Program Goals

This paper demonstrates my mastery of program goal # 3 Knowledge of Disability Experience, Individual and Social - add link here

This paper demonstrates my mastery of program goal # 4 Familiarity with disability and the arts and/or creativity in disability culture - add link here

Reflections

Here are some suggestions to think about and reflect on here. You can use the questions below or substitute other thoughts that you think are relevant to your learning in this course.

• What did you think this class was about when you enrolled?

• What was the most valuable thing you learned in this class? Was there a topic or learning module that didn’t resonate with you?  Why?

• What was the most challenging thing about this course?

• How did this course connect to the other courses in your Disability Studies program?