SOAN 231 - (de)Constructing Disability in the U.S.

FDR: Social Sciences (SS4)
Credits: 3

This hybrid lecture/seminar style course will examine the socio-political, economic and cultural consequences of disability as a medical diagnosis and a social identity. We will analyze the various definitions of disability—including the medicalization and social construction perspectives—and their historical trajectories, while accounting for the range of barriers experienced by people with both visible and so-called “invisible” disabilities. Throughout the semester we will focus on various elements of one central question: What does it mean to say that disability is socially constructed? Towards this end we will consider the impact of public policy on the lives of disabled people at the intersections of race, class, gender identity, and sexual orientation; we will examine the effects of ableism and stigmatization; and we will look closely at representations of disability in art and popular culture to assess the degree to which these representations perpetuate and/or challenge stereotypes associated with disability as a lived experience.