Global Disability Futures

Catalog description

This course explores Disability Studies in global context, centering perspectives of disabled people, scholars, designers, and activists worldwide. Taking a decolonial approach, we examine how disability is constructed differently across global settings, situating disability politics, identity, and design alongside critical perspectives on ableism. Integrating social scientific and humanistic approaches, we consider disability as a relational experience across diverse locations, including Russia, Japan, Australia, Turkey, Uganda, China, and the United States. Through futures thinking, we critique ableist assumptions embedded in technoscience, envision inclusive alternatives, and engage with crip temporalities to challenge normative ideas of progress. Drawing on ethnography, creative writing, critical theory, historical materials, films, and other media, we develop ethical frameworks for reimagining care and accessibility beyond the pathologizing practices of medical care and global public health.