“What then determines whether some form of human variation is a disability?”

This course will grapple with this question, posed by psychologist Harlan Lane, on two fronts. One, we will explore the activism and history of the disability rights movement to better understand how disability can be re-framed as an identity, not a medical pathology. Two, we will investigate how the activism and history of the Deaf community have also used an identity framing: being Deaf is a cultural identity, not a disorder to be ‘treated’, and part of this cultural identity is the role of sign language in the Deaf community. We will question how the civil rights movements of the Deaf community and individuals with disabilities converge and diverge and how each of these movements can inform our understanding of disability as a social phenomenon. The course will be interdisciplinary, drawing on sources ranging from policy to the arts, and incorporating to the greatest extent possible voices from within these communities.

Intended Audience:

This discussion-based course is open to any interested first-year students, regardless of background.

Class Format:

This is a discussion-based course with regular readings from both academic and non-academic texts as well as at-home and in-class movies and other media. Students will be expected to be engaged discussion participants, to complete regular informal assignments, and to prepare several larger projects and written works related to the course content.