Eligibility Requirements

  • 2.0 UW GPA
  • Minimum of 45 credits earned
  • Completed DIS ST/LSJ/CHID 230: Introduction to Disability Studies with a minimum grade of 2.0

Disability Studies is a minimum admission major, accepting applications at any time.

Major Requirements

  • Minimum of 55 credits to complete the major.
  • 35 credits must be upper division.
  • Students must complete the General Education Requirements for the College of Arts and Sciences, including foreign language through 103 or equivalent. 

Core Courses

BOTH of the following (10-20 credits)

  • DIS ST/LSJ/CHID 230 (5): Introduction to Disability Studies (5 credits)
  • Thesis Project undertaken as either INDIV 493: Senior Study (5 credits) or DIS ST 499: Independent Study (5-15 credits)
    • A final independent study project/paper on a topic of interest to you within the field of disability studies, and a presentation or other public engagement component. This represents the culmination of your studies in the major. You must take a minimum of 5 credits and may take a maximum of 15 credits.
    • Complete Guidelines for the Thesis Project.

Note: Students may enroll in DIS ST 499 for all or part of the Thesis Project core course. A student may take a maximum of 15 credits of DIS ST 499. To register for DIS ST 499 Independent Study, please fill out this intake form.

Required Courses

One DIS ST course from each of the three Subfields in the Required list (15 credits)

  1. Rights, Policy, & Inequality (5 credits)
  2. Global & Historical Perspectives (5 credits)
  3. Diversity, Representation, & Identity (5 credits)

Special topics courses may be considered for use in the Required Courses category. Please see the Disability Studies adviser for permission to use a course to fulfill a particular Subfield.

Electives

At least one course from each of two or more Subfields in the Electives list (20-30 credits to 55 total)

  1. Rights, Policy, & Inequality
  2. Global & Historical Perspectives
  3. Diversity, Representation, & Identity

Any course not on the approved lists must be approved by the Disability Studies adviser. Please fill out the Disability Studies Course Petition Form for further review by an adviser.

 

Lists of Approved Courses

Subfields Required Courses List

Take one (1) course from each Subfield (3 courses total, 15 credits):

  1. Rights, Policy, and Inequality
  • DIS ST 300 Disability Studies in Education
  • DIS ST 337 / SOC 337 Social Construction of Madness and Mental Health in the US
  • DIS ST 384 Topics in Disability Rights and Inequalities
  • DIS ST 430 / LSJ 430 / CHID 430 Topics in Disability Studies
  • DIS ST 433 / LSJ 433 / CHID 433 Disability Law, Policy, and the Community
  • DIS ST 434 / LSJ 434 / CHID 434 Civil and Human Rights Law for Disabled People
  1. Global and Historical Perspectives
  • DIS ST 346 / LSJ 346 / JSIS B 346 Disability in Global and Comparative Perspectives
  • DIS ST 402  / HSTCMP 402 Topics in Disability History
  • DIS ST 421 / B H 421 History of Eugenics
  • DIS ST 430 / LSJ 430 / CHID 430 Topics in Disability Studies
  • DIS ST 434 / LSJ 434 / CHID 434 Civil and Human Rights Law for Disabled People
  1. Diversity, Representation, and Identity
  • DIS ST 235 / SOC 235 Representations of Disability in Popular Culture
  • DIS ST 300 Disability Studies in Education
  • DIS ST 332 / LSJ 332 / CHID 332 Disability and Society
  • DIS ST 335 / GWSS 335 / CHID 335 Sex, Gender, and Disability
  • DIS ST 337 / SOC 337 Social Construction of Madness and Mental Health in the US
  • DIS ST 360 Redesigning Humanity: Disability in Speculative Fiction
  • DIS ST 419 / CHID 419 Disability and the Arts
  • DIS ST 430 / LSJ 430 / CHID 430 Topics in Disability Studies

 

Electives Courses List

Take at least one (1) course from at least two (2) of the Subfields (20-30 credits to 55 total)

  1. Rights, Policy, and Inequality
  • DIS ST 300 Disability Studies in Education
  • DIS ST 337 / SOC 337 Social Construction of Madness and Mental Health in the US
  • DIS ST 384 Topics in Disability Rights and Inequalities
  • DIS ST 430 / LSJ 430 / CHID 430 Topics in Disability Studies
  • DIS ST 433 / LSJ 433 / CHID 433 Disability Law, Policy, and the Community
  • DIS ST 434 / LSJ 434 / CHID 434 Civil and Human Rights Law for Disabled People
  • ANTH 303 Technologies of Health
  • EDSPE 304 Disability and Ableism in Schools
  • EDUC 305 The Purpose of Public Schools in a Democracy
  • GWSS 310 Women and the Law
  • LSJ 437 / DIS ST 437 Crime, Law, and Mental Illness
  • SOC W 576 Contexts of Disability and Anti-Ableist Practice
  • SOC WF 404 Cultural Diversity and Justice
  1. Global and Historical Perspectives
  • DIS ST 346 / LSJ 346 / JSIS B 346 Disability in Global and Comparative Perspectives
  • DIS ST 402  / HSTCMP 402 Topics in Disability History
  • DIS ST 421 / B H 421 History of Eugenics
  • DIS ST 430 / LSJ 430 / CHID 430 Topics in Disability Studies
  • DIS ST 434 / LSJ 434 / CHID 434 Civil and Human Rights Law for Disabled People
  • ANTH 322 / RELIG 320 Comparative Study of Death
  • ANTH 420 Social Life of Psychiatry
  • ANTH 478 Introduction to the Anthropology of Institutions
  • G H 305 / LAW 305 Global Health and Justice
  • G H 456 Global Mental Health
  • LSJ 366 / JSIS B Comparative Law and Legal Cultures
  1. Diversity, Representation, and Identity
  • DIS ST 235 / SOC 235 Representations of Disability in Popular Culture
  • DIS ST 300 Disability Studies in Education
  • DIS ST 332 / LSJ 332 / CHID 332 Disability and Society
  • DIS ST 335 / GWSS 335 / CHID 335 Sex, Gender, and Disability
  • DIS ST 337 / SOC 337 Social Construction of Madness and Mental Health in the US
  • DIS ST 360 Redesigning Humanity: Disability in Speculative Fiction
  • DIS ST 419 / CHID 419 Disability and the Arts
  • DIS ST 430 / LSJ 430 / CHID 430 Topics in Disability Studies
  • ANTH 305 Anthropology of the Body
  • ANTH 376 Anthropology of Disability
  • ASL 305 Deaf Culture
  • EDSPE 422 (dis)Ability, Education, and the Arts
  • GWSS 374 Introduction to Transgender Studies
  • GWSS 445 Feminist Science (Fiction) Studies
  • PHIL 242 Introduction to Medical Ethics
  • PHIL 345 Moral Issues of Life and Death
  • PHIL 409 Philosophy of Disability

 

Descriptions of the Subfields

Subfield A. Rights, Policy, and Inequality: 

Courses that examine any of the following: theoretical, empirical, and comparative aspects of disability civil rights and human rights; policy development and analysis from a disability perspective; comparative approaches to law and culture; rights and policy issues that impact disabled people in areas such as healthcare, technology, and education, that address exclusion or perpetuate inequalities; social and physical barriers for people with disabilities; areas of practice and study where applied knowledge about disability and ableism is needed.

Subfield B. Global and Historical Perspectives:

Courses that examine any of the following: the history of disabled people and society’s perceptions of disability in local, national, and global contexts and in connection with other social categories; meanings, politics, and experience of disability globally and locally outside the US; historical or comparative studies of social movements, grassroots, and civil society organizations that address marginalization of disabled people; historical and comparative studies of eugenics, medicine, and institutions; ways that the concept of disability in historical or global contexts has worked with and against other forms of discrimination.

Subfield C. Diversity, Representation, and Identity:

Courses that examine any of the following: representations of people with disabilities and by people with disabilities in literature, art, film, and other cultural texts; processes of disability marginalization and empowerment understood through social science approaches, such as philosophy, anthropology, linguistics, and sociology; critical inquiry into how social movements and social constructions of markers of diversity and identity such as gender, sexuality, race, age, class, and nationality parallel and intersect with disability.