GIST 3150 - Disability in Local and Global Worlds

Goals: Through this course, students will gain: a comparative, global standpoint on disability, and a connection with local organizations that empower people with disabilities to be independent, creatively engaged, and often self-supported.

Content: “Ableism” – like its sister concepts of sexism, racism, ageism, and classism – is best understood as a structural form of exclusion and inequality. Individuals are marked as “impaired” and thereby treated as if they “cannot” (read: should not) participate in mainstream, everyday activities. This course is designed to get students to think critically about how societies exclude, oppress, and disadvantage large numbers of their members through stigmatizing people as “dis-abled.” The seminar portion of the course will include discussion of readings and films that examine disabilities from critical and culturally diverse (global) perspectives. The practicum portion of the course will involve engagement with a community organization in the Twin Cities.

Credits: 4