Centering the Impaired Mind: Topics in Intellectual and Developmental Disability

Catalog description

Much disability scholarship has focused on physical and sensory disabilities, which better fit the “social model” that locates disability in a mismatch between individuals and their environments. But what about intellectual and developmental disabilities and the cognitive impairments that often, but not always, accompany them? This class will look at some of the more prevalent intellectual and developmental disabilities, including Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and autism, which has been called “the paradigmatic developmental disability…of the postmodern period.” We will consider how the meaning of these diagnoses – and sometimes the diagnoses themselves – have changed over time, as well as the roles diverse stakeholders, including affected individuals, their families, and physicians, have played and continue to play in these conversations. More broadly, intellectual and developmental disabilities provide a unique lens through which we will interrogate questions of representation, identity, personhood, citizenship, and care. Because this course fulfills the Capstone requirement for HSOC/STSC majors, developing the skills necessary to write an original research paper will be a primary focus – including articulating an argument and supporting it with compelling evidence drawn from both primary and secondary sources in history, sociology, and anthropology.