"Disability studies is an academic discipline that examines the meaning, nature, and consequences of disability."
The interdisciplinary field that studies the social, cultural, and historical dimensions of disability.
Disability history: Understanding the historical origins and societal attitudes towards disability can provide a foundation for Disability Studies.
Disability theory: This involves exploring the complex relationships between disability and other social identities such as race, gender, sexuality, and class.
Disability in literature: Examining the representation of disability in a wide range of texts, including fiction, poetry, drama, and memoirs can help to highlight the ways in which disability is portrayed in society.
Disability and narrative: Exploring the relationship between disability and narrative can help to highlight the role of storytelling in shaping attitudes towards disability.
Disability and culture: Examining the cultural implications of disability can help to understand the societal attitudes and norms that contribute to disability stigmatization and exclusion.
Disability and medicalization: The medicalization of disability has been used to reinforce ableist ideas about disability, and exploring this topic can help to highlight the importance of social approaches to disability.
Disability and accessibility: Examining the ways in which accessibility is both a physical and social construct can help to highlight the ways in which disabled people are often excluded from public life.
Disability and activism: Understanding the role of disability activism in challenging ableism and promoting social inclusion is a key component of Disability Studies.
Disability and the arts: Exploring the cultural contributions of disabled artists and performers can help to challenge stereotypes and provide a more nuanced understanding of disability.
Disability and education: Understanding the ways in which educational institutions can be more inclusive of disabled students is an important aspect of Disability Studies.
Critical Disability Studies: This field examines how disability is defined, represented, and experienced in mainstream culture and society, and seeks to challenge ableism and other forms of oppression.
Disability Rights: This field is focused on the legal and political aspects of disability, including disability policy, advocacy, and the fight for equal rights and opportunities for people with disabilities.
Medical Humanities and Narrative Medicine: These fields explore the intersection of medicine, narrative, and the experience of illness and disability, often through studying patient narratives and personal accounts.
Disability and Technology: This field examines the role of technology in shaping disability experiences and identity, and how technology can be used to enhance accessibility and support independent living for people with disabilities.
Disability and the Performing Arts: This field explores the representation and expression of disability in theater, film, and other performing arts, and how disability is portrayed in the media.
Disability and Education: This field examines how education systems can be restructured to better meet the needs of students with disabilities, and how disability is represented in education settings.
Disability and Religion: This field explores the intersection of disability and religious practices, beliefs, and communities.
Disability and Sports: This field examines the role sports play in shaping disability identity and experience, and how accessible sports can be used to promote social inclusion and physical health for people with disabilities.
Disability and Aging: This field explores the intersection of aging and disability, including the experiences of aging with disability and the impact of disability on caregiver relationships.
Disability and the Environment: This field examines the relationship between disability and the built environment, including accessibility, urban design, and the impact of environmental factors on disability experiences.
"The field focused on the division between 'impairment' and 'disability', where impairment was an impairment of an individual's mind or body, while disability was considered a social construct."
"This premise gave rise to two distinct models of disability: the social and medical models of disability."
"The social model was universally accepted as the model preferred by the field."
"In recent years, the division between the social and medical models has been challenged."
"Recent investigations suggest using 'cross-sectional markers of stratification' may help provide new insights on the non-random distribution of risk factors capable of exacerbating disablement processes."
"Disability studies courses include work in disability history, theory, legislation, policy, ethics, and the arts."
"However, students are taught to focus on the lived experiences of individuals with disabilities in practical terms."
"The field is focused on increasing individuals with disabilities' access to civil rights and improving their quality of life."
"Disability studies primarily emerged in the US, the UK, and Canada."
"In 1986, the Section for the Study of Chronic Illness, Impairment, and Disability of the Social Science Association (United States) was renamed the Society for Disability Studies."
"The first US disabilities studies program emerged in 1994 at Syracuse University."
"The first edition of the Disabilities Studies Reader was published in 1997."
"The field grew rapidly over the next ten years."
"Germany looks at queer disability studies since the beginning of the early 20th century."
"The disability studies in Germany are influenced by the written literary works of feminist sexologists who study how being disabled affects one's sexuality and ability to feel pleasure."
"In Norway, disability studies are focused on in the literary context."
"A variation emerged in 2017 with the first accessibility studies program at Central Washington University."
"[The program has] an interdisciplinary focus on social justice, universal design, and international Web Accessibility Guidelines (WAG3) as a general education knowledge base."
"Disability studies were also conducted in other countries through different lenses."