Introduction to Disability Studies

HSS F248
CLASS 1, 2024
Larger objectives of the course

• To develop a better understanding of the world and human

interaction.
• To think critically about how standard-setting or establishing norms
results in different forms of human exclusion.
• To consider the potential of human diversity in enabling a world that is
inclusive in letter and spirit.
• To develop ways to prevent exclusion and discrimination.
Disability and disability studies
“… is a cultural interpretation of human variation
rather than an inherent inferiority, a pathology to cure,
or an undesirable trait to eliminate.”
Disability Studies identifies “disability’s significance
in interactions between bodies and their social and
material environments by probing the cultural
meanings attributed to bodies that societies deem
disabled”.
Rosemarie Garland-Thomson
Disability is a human condition that affects everyone at one point or other in their lives. A person
may be born with genetic anomalies related to thyroid, the heart, kidney or their vital senses and
possible also their cognition. Aging is another factor that causes impairments, take for instance,
sight and hearing.
Further, disabilities may be acquired through accidents or disasters. Accidents could occur while
playing a sport, in vehicular traffic or during some everyday life activity.
Pandemics and epidemics may also result in different kinds of disablement.
In addition, interpersonal violence such as domestic abuse or intimate partner violence could
result in impairments.
Natural disasters like floods, earthquakes or landslides are known to affect people physically as
well as result in deep-seated trauma due to loss of livelihood or displacement that is debilitating.
Industrial disasters such as Chernobyl and Bhopal not only impact people living in these areas but
also generations to come. Environmental conditions also result in various disabling conditions.
Large scale conflicts such as wars or riots motivated by inter-community violence and armed
control of contested territories are known to cause disablement.
Given this wide range of events and circumstances, we could agree that disability is pervasive and
therefore worthy of academic attention.
 Disability Studies
AN INTERDISCIPLINARY FIELD OF STUDY
Disability studies does not treat disease or disability, hoping to
cure or avoid them; it studies the social meanings, symbols, and
stigmas attached to disability identity and asks how they relate
to enforced systems of exclusion and expression.
- Tobin Siebers, Disability Theory (2008)

Disability studies are a broad area of theory, research and

practice that are antagonistic to the popular view that disability
equates with personal tragedy.
- Dan Goodley, Disability Studies: An interdisciplinary introduction
(2011)
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DISABILITY STUDIES

Recognise the epistemic potential of disability.

[people with disabilities can provide important knowledge about living
with different kinds of disabilities]
e.g.1: Inclusion of blind people in designing buildings
e.g.2: Getting a person who stutters to state what they require from the listener
e.g.2: Autistic life writing
 What can you take away from this course?

• Diverse ways of thinking, seeing and going about the world

• Exploring how technology can be shaped by disability design – Mechanical, Civil,
Electrical and Electronic, Computer Science
• Socio-political, cultural, ethical frameworks that can usefully revise practices in the
Biological Sciences, Pharmacy, Economics
• Impact policy at the workplace, educational institutions, in your profession, at higher
administrative levels
• Reflect and introspect on stereotypes; study the relationship between cultural
representations and the experience of being disabled

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Course logistics

• Course resources will be shared on CMS.

• Email is preferred for communication with the IC.
• Lecture and discussion mode of classroom interaction.
• Class participation is strongly encouraged (5% of the overall
assessment).
• Respectful conversations are encouraged, being mindful of all our
social and cultural differences.
Disability Studies (recap of the previous class)

• Rejects the deficit model of thinking about and responding to

disability
• Moves beyond medical and rehabilitative frameworks (this does not
mean that we reject them but that we critically reflect on more than
just these ways of considering disability)
• Epistemic perspective
DISABILITY STUDIES

Critical field of inquiry

[questions and criticizes assumptions we may have about disability or
disabled people by critically analyzing the so-called ‘expertise’ of
Medicine, Psychiatry, Education and the Law in relation to disability]
e.g.1: Medical diagnoses as listed in the DSM
What disability studies does:

- Studies disability as a system of exclusions that stigmatizes human differences

- Examines the communities and identities that the bodies we consider disabled
have produced
-Attempts to reveal discriminatory attitudes and practices directed at those
bodies.
- Exposes disability as a social category of analysis.
- Frames disability as an effect of power relations.
- Rosemarie Garland Thomson
Disability as a social category

Interpersonal relations
Bodies and minds in society
Stigma
Identity
Disability as a cultural category

• Language of disability (terms used for various impairments; ways in

disability experiences are narrated --- language is always ideological)
• Representation in media (fiction, film, news, advertising)
• Disability writing, art and performance
Interdisciplinary approach

legal perspectives
policy interventions
cultural narratives
sociological studies of ableism
historical studies of the ideas of ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’
assistive technology and access
What are some of the common assumptions and myths about various
disabilities and people with disabilities?