Culture of Disability (EDSP 5250)

• Instructor: Winnie Looby, PhD
• Teaching Assistant: Nicole Villemaire

Students enrolled in this course will examine the social and cultural experience of disability in different times and cultures. As an introduction to Disability Studies, we will examine several topics through lectures, group activities, and independent study.

Topics covered will include:

• Foundational concepts from the field of Disability Studies
• The influence of cultural beliefs relating to disability on individuals, families, disability law, and social policy in the United States and other countries;
• Responses to disability reflected in first person narratives, media, academic and professional discourse and practice, film, art and literature;
• Disability across the lifespan, and the implications for education, health care and social services;
• Many of the philosophical, ethical, historical, and legal foundations of Special Education;
• Family systems and approaches to individual and family support in education and community services;
• The role of different self-help and social change movements in the broader disability rights movement; and
• The historical and cultural foundations of disability-related policies and practices in education, health care, and community development.

Available as both an undergraduate and graduate course. Class meetings and all course content are delivered online.

• Undergrads register for CSD 3200 in the Fall semester, or register for EDSP 3250 or CSD 3200 in the Spring semester.
• Graduate students: register for CSD 5740 or EDSP 5250 in the Fall semester only

Video: Meet Culture of Disability Teaching Assistant Nicole Villemaire

Global Disability Studies (EDSP 5260)

• Instructor: Sefakor Komabu-Pomeyie, PhD
• EDSP 5260 informational flyer (.pdf)

The main concept of this course is to present students with broader views of disability, advocacy, and communication in the traditional African context through the voices and experiences of African disability rights advocates globally. Our primary goal is to explore how disability is viewed across cultures in Africa to empower and to offer opportunities for students to compare, contrast, and conceptualize what they learn for use advocacy and systemic change.

It also has the goal to explore a supportive pathway into educational systems and community life for immigrant and refugee students in K-12 schools and post-secondary programs.

You will be challenged to read thoroughly outside the American context to expand your world view and then analyze your own cultural experiences in the light of global diversity and diversity in VT and the U.S.A.

Video: About the Global Disability Studies course