"Disability studies is an academic discipline that examines the meaning, nature, and consequences of disability."
It examines the experience of disability through the lens of trauma theory and explores the psychological and emotional impact of disability.
Social Models of Disability: This topic explores the societal barriers that individuals with disabilities face and how they can be overcome through social change.
Medical Models of Disability: This topic examines the medical view of disability and the ways in which it affects the lives of people who live with various types of disabilities.
Ableism: Ableism refers to discrimination and stereotypes against individuals with disabilities, and how they can be eliminated by fostering an inclusive society.
Trauma: This topic involves exploring the psychological impacts of traumatic events on disabled individuals, including how it affects their mental health and wellbeing.
Disability Representation in Literature: This topic examines the role of disability in literary works and the representation of disability in popular culture.
Disability Advocacy: This involves exploring the role of advocacy in helping to promote the rights and well-being of people with disabilities.
Disability Rights Laws: This topic focuses on the legal protections afforded to people with disabilities and their rights to equal access to education, employment, and other opportunities.
Disability and Intersectionality: This involves examining how disability intersects with other aspects of identity, such as race, gender, sexuality, and class.
Disability History: This topic explores the history of disability and how attitudes toward disability have changed over time.
Disability and Education: This involves exploring issues related to special education, accessibility, and inclusion in educational settings.
Medical Model: This model is rooted in the medical understanding of disability as an individual deficit, treating disability as a medical condition that needs to be cured or treated through medical interventions.
Social Model: The social model sees disability as a social construct and emphasizes the role of social and environmental barriers in disabling people. In literary disability studies, this approach looks at how literary works influence our understanding of disability and contribute to disability-related stigmas.
Cultural Model: The cultural model of disability looks at how culture shapes our understanding of disability and how it influences disability-related identity and representation.
Critical Disability Studies: Critical disability studies draws on the social and cultural models of disability and seeks to uncover the underlying power dynamics that shape our understanding of disability.
Trauma Studies: Trauma studies examines the psychological and emotional effects of trauma on individuals and society. In literary disability studies, this approach looks at how trauma is represented in literature, and how it shapes our understanding of disability.
Feminist Disability Studies: This approach draws on feminist theory to examine the intersections between gender and disability, and how they shape the experiences of disabled women.
Queer Disability Studies: This approach looks at the intersections between disability and sexuality and how they impact the experiences of disabled LGBTQ+ individuals.
"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."