Disability and the Body

Catalog description

What does it mean to be “disabled”? What does it mean to be “healthy”? Who gets to label bodies healthy, able, or “sick”? How do these labels affect how we think about people with disabilities and how people with disabilities see themselves? This course focuses on how our definitions and understandings of disability are shaped by society and our social world. Using sociological frameworks, we will explore how our ideas of disability are informed by social institutions like government and law, medicine, sports, and the media that we consume. The focus of the course will be on Western ideas of disability, but global perspectives will also be highlighted.