Program Information

Also see:

• Why Disabilty Studies
• Minor Requirement and Courses

The Disability Studies program emphasis is on studying the cultural construct of disability, social justice, and disability policy, and the intersections of disability, race, gender, sex, age, class and other markers of diversity and difference. Students have the opportunity to enhance this foundation by studying disability through the arts, humanities, the social sciences, and by the internship and/or independent research requirement.

Program Goals:

    1. Acquire an understanding of the major perspectives (Moral, Social and Medical models) of disability.

    2. Develop an appreciation of how disability is defined and represented via the arts, social sciences, and humanities.

    3. Demonstrate an understanding of the intersectionality of disability, race, class, gender, and sexuality.

    4. Demonstrate knowledge of the history of civil rights for disabled people and the influence of medical, social, and economic perspectives.

    5. Acquire a familiarity with federal and state laws against discrimination, the federal entitlement programs for disabled people and the relationship between laws and social policy.

    6. Acquire an understanding of the definition of human rights, civil rights and the complexities inherent in our western legal analysis of these concepts when applied to the rights of disabled people.

    7. Demonstrate an understanding of the principles of the major international human rights instruments including selected international models of disability rights laws and the American civil rights model concerning disabled people.

    8. Demonstrate knowledge of the elements of disability policy development and change at both micro (local) and macro (global) levels.