Disability Studies in Literature and Culture

Catalog description

This course explores the interdisciplinary field of Disability Studies through the dual methods of literary study and civic engagement. The disabled body was once considered to bear the mark of moral deficiency, and for most of the twentieth-century, disability was treated as a physical problem in need of a medical “cure.” Since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, however, the movement for disability rights has gone on to produce a radical vision for human freedom and self-determination based on the insight that, given the nature of modern existence, anyone could become disabled at any time. Through the study literature, film, and performance, we will be exploring issues of subjectivity, perception, creativity, and self-expression within disability culture. These works are by and about people with disabilities, and their inclusion on our syllabus strives to honor the famous challenge issued by disability rights activists since the 1980s: “Nothing about us, without us.” In that very spirit, this course is designed to fulfill the Civic Engagement core requirement by giving students a semester-long service learning experience at a community-based organization that supports people with disabilities or an opportunity to engage in on-campus activism around issues of disability access.