This course will introduce students to the field of disability studies by examining depictions of disability in literature. We will discuss foundational texts in the field and consider key terms including access, ableism, design, medicalization, representation, and prosthesis. These critical texts will be read alongside literature, primarily from the Victorian period, that represents blindness, deafness, speech impairments, and other forms of disability. Together we will question the historical construction of disability and various bodily, mental, and communicatory norms. The course will conclude by turning to contemporary memoir and poetry to illuminate the intersections of disability studies with other identity-based fields.
- Teacher: Riley McGuire