Disability and Disability Studies

Disability studies is an interdisciplinary area of academic study and research that is concerned with the cultural meanings of disability, with the experiences and knowledges of disabled people, and with asking critical questions by placing disability at the center rather than the margin. 

Although disability studies is interested in various models of disability (or, ways of understanding disability) it is grounded in the social model. That is, it begins from the premise that disability is not a personal tragedy or medical problem, but rather a form of social, cultural, and political exclusion that affects people with specific kinds of differences. Disability studies emerged alongside disability activism and has taken root in humanities disciplines, but it has always been interdisciplinary and can also be found in fields like law, information science, architecture, and more. 

At University of Michigan

The University of Michigan Initiative in Disability Studies was established in 2003. The Initiative is led by a group of multi-disciplinary faculty and currently offers:

• Rackham 580: Graduate Seminar in Disability Studies, every fall and winter term, with different instructors leading different versions
• Annual speaker series and/or conference, highlighting emerging scholarship in the field
• Funding for graduate student research

Programs in Disability Studies

Many colleges and universities have centers or departments offering degree or certificate programs in Disability Studies. The following lists are not exhaustive, but offer a snapshot of degree-granting programs in English-speaking North America.

• North-American Colleges offering a degree in Disability Studies, from The College Blue Book (2012)
• US programs in Disability Studies offering a degree or certificate, within the Association of University Centers on Disabilities network (2011)
• Disability Studies degree programs, at English-speaking Schools (Cushing & Smith 2009), in Disability Studies Quarterly

Book Series

The book series below are publishing programs at specific presses committed to publishing books in disability studies under the direction of a series editor(s). Each has a particular perspective as indicated in the short description provided by the publisher.

• Corporealities: Discourses of Disability, University of Michigan Press, "promotes a broad range of scholarly work analyzing the cultural and representational meanings of disability"
• Critical Perspectives on Disability, Syracuse University Press, "explore[s] the place of people with disabilities in society through the lens of disability studies, critical special education, disability law and policy, and international human rights"
• Dis/Color, Temple University Press, "highlights innovative books that reveal the intersections among racism, ableism, and other unequal structures and practices in U.S. and transnational contexts"
• Disability Histories, University of Illinois Press, "explores the lived experiences of individuals and groups from a broad range of societies, cultures, time periods, and geographic locations, who either identified as disabled or were considered by the dominant culture to be disabled"
• Disability History, Manchester University Press, "has a broad international historical remit, encompassing issues that include class, race, gender, age, war, medical treatment, professionalisation, environments, work, institutions and cultural and social aspects of disablement"
• Interdisciplinary Disability Studies, Routledge, "extends the interdisciplinary dialogue between disability studies and other fields by asking how disability studies can influence a particular field"
• Literary Disability Studies, Palgrave Macmillan, "dedicated to the exploration of literature and literary topics from a disability studies perspective"

Journals

The following academic journals primarily publish articles with a disability studies perspective.

The journal title is followed by its founding year below.

• Disability Studies Quarterly, 2000
• Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 2012
• Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, 2009

The following academic journals also publish articles with a disability studies perspective. However, the main approach in the journals ranges from rehabilitative to medical, from service provision to policy making.

• Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 1990
• Disability & Society, 1994
• American Annals of the Deaf, 1886

• Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 1987

• Disability and Rehabilitation, 1987

• International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 1954
• Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability

  This is the official journal of the Australasian Society for Intellectual Disability (ASID) and covers topics related to developmental and neurodevelopment disabilities.

• Journal of Intellectual Disability Research

  Part of Wiley Online Library this journal covers topics related to the study of intellectual disability broadly and internationally.

• Research in Developmental Disabilities

  This journal deals with interdisciplinary research related to developmental disabilities.

• Review of Disability Studies

  This is a peer-reviewed academic journal that is targeted towards many different topics related to disabilities studies all over the world.

• Sexuality and Disability

  A Journal Devoted to the Psychological and Medical Aspects of Sexuality in Rehabilitation and Community Settings.

Reference

The following reference works focus on disability from a disability studies perspective

• Encyclopedia of Disability, edited by Gary L. Albrecht (2006)

• SAGE Reference Series on Disability, book series edited by Gary L. Albrecht (2011-2012)

• Encyclopedia of Special Education, edited by Cecil R. Reynolds et al. (2014)

• SAGE Deaf Studies Encyclopedia, edited by Genie Gertz & Patrick Boudreault (2016)