SO-301: Social Study of Disability

Disability Studies offers a lens for thinking about the body, mind, society, and culture. The goal of this interdisciplinary field is not to offer adefinition of “disability;” rather, its purpose is to create a critical framework that questions and connects our understandings of “disability” andimpairment across established disciplines. This course will provide a sampling of disciplinary perspectives on “disability” so that you become informed consumers of academic scholarship and public information on issues related to “disability.” With this in mind, the readings were selected based on a central tension in Disability Studies—between impairments as lived subjective experience and “disability” as stigmatized socially constructed category in “objective,” medical, and legal discourses.