LSJ 430 A: Topics in Disability Studies

CHID/LSJ/DIS ST 430 A: Disability, Representation & Intersectionality Cultural Studies Approaches

  Instructor and Class Information

      Instructor: Ronnie Thibault

      Phone:  206-380-3460

      Email:  ronnie22@uw.edu 

Class Meetings:

This class will follow a synchronous online format.

Monday and Wednesday Meetings: 1:30-3:20. Zoom link for synchronous attendance: HERE 

All class meetings will be recorded for asynchronous access, and all course materials, including in-class lectures, videos, and presentations, will be available asynchronously. If you have questions or concerns regarding the class structure, please feel free to reach out to me at ronnie22@uw.edu 

Office Hours:

Mondays 12:00-1:00 via Zoom or by appointment. 

University of Washington Resources: Links Page: This page links directly to academics, health and wellness, COVID-19, technology, library, disability services, diversity, and various service pages. If you have a link to a service not included on the list, please do share it with me and I will add it.  

Welcome to the course!

I am looking forward to teaching and learning with you this quarter! I make every attempt to respond to students' emails promptly (usually within a few hours) and address any issues that may come up in your learning. I also encourage student input and make course adjustments based on student feedback as the quarter unfolds. 

Course Description

This course will engage with and respond to some of the more pressing questions from within the disciplines of critical disability studies, feminist practice, and critical cultural studies. What is the relationship between disability, race, gender, ethnicity, and nation? What do critical disability studies have to offer feminist and other disciplines outside of the field? This course will look at some of the competing theories and assumptions related to disability and highlight the historical erasure of disabled lives across multiple political, academic, cultural, and mediated platforms. But, this erasure is only part of the story. As such, we will also look at interventions led by disabled activists that push against these historically oppressive tactics and strategies on local, national, and international stages. 

How does representation work, and who decides how something or someone 'gets represented'? Transnational, postcolonial, critical race, and cultural disability studies scholars argue that a fuller exploration of race, class, gender, ethnicity, and embodied experience can help us understand how, through representational practices, systemic oppression operates across a multiplicity of institutional and material contexts.

This interactive course includes in-class workshop activities, canvas online interactions, and in-class discussions. As a starting point for locating how critical approaches in disability studies inform and complement one another, we will take a deeper look at some of the ongoing tensions between disability studies and feminist scholarship and enter into some of the more critical debates concerning representation, subjectivity, activist practice, visibility, inclusion, and embodied experience.

Together, we will learn how culture and representation work, how the power of representation operates across media modalities, and the ways in which disability activists have pushed against the typical stereotypes and tropes that are used to create misunderstandings and assumptions about their lives. We will explore emergent postcolonial approaches to gender and disability at the intersections of race, disability, sexuality, and nation, and we will discuss the multiple ways these disciplines work together to form critical interventions and approaches. This course will help you think differently about how disability gets represented at the intersections of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, and nation.  

Finally, this class is media intensive, and we consider disability representation across a multiplicity of social media, news, popular culture, and various other platforms. I encourage all of you to share representational examples that relate to our work at any time during the quarter. You can post your examples on the general Q&A discussion page or send them to me if you aren't sure if it is appropriate. As always, please be respectful and considerate of the multiple perspectives we have in our class, and if the representation you are sharing is in the least bit questionable in content or structure, send it to me for approval before you post. I will monitor the Q&A pages and provide feedback and responses throughout the quarter. 

Course Content Weekly Modules 

All course materials and content will be available in weekly modules/pages that I will update as the course progresses. This includes assignments due, upcoming readings and guides, recorded lectures, media content, all content given during our in-person and Zoom meetings, in-class activities and discussions, and important class announcements. I will update the syllabus and weekly modules as we progress through the quarter. This class is interactive, and I may make adjustments based on our interactions in class. Be sure to check the weekly modules/pages often for any updates or changes. 

Course Learning Goals 

1. Learn to apply critical techniques to analyze representations of disability in social media, popular culture, news, government, educational, and history platforms.
2. Conceptualize the differences, similarities, and tensions between cultural, critical race, feminist, crip, queer, and, transnational, and postcolonial disability studies theories and practices.
3. Appreciate the multiple ways that power and representation shape social perceptions of disability and influence disability experience. 
4. Become familiar with the proactive efforts of a large contingent of disability activist groups and movements. 
5. Ask new and critical questions about disability, race, gender, ethnicity, nation, and identity, and understand how socially and culturally constructed disability categories are exploited to oppress multiple forms of difference.
6. Engage in disability history, arts, activism, and social justice endeavors.  

DSP STATEMENT ON COVID PRECAUTIONS 

Disability Studies Program Objectives

Link To Disability Studies Program Website 

Like other oppressed groups throughout history, disabled people have been marginalized; this has led to minimal attention to the historical, cultural, and political/legal dimensions of disability. The effects of disability-based discrimination have been particularly severe in the fields of education, employment, housing, transport, cultural life, and access to public places and services. The development of Disability Studies represents a much-needed pro-active educational approach to address this pervasive discrimination towards disabled people in our society. The University of Washington is at the forefront of the development of Disability Studies as an academic discipline through the individual research and teaching of growing numbers of faculty across campuses and disciplines, increasing student interest in the subject area, and an expansion of traditional diversity efforts to include disability.  

Policies and Expectations

Privacy/FERPA statement

This course is a hybrid course scheduled to meet synchronously via Zoom and in person as indicated in the above schedule. Our in-person classes and Zoom meetings will be recorded for asynchronous access. The Zoom recordings will capture the presenter’s audio, video, and computer screen. Student audio and video will be recorded if they share their computer audio and video during the recorded session. The recordings will only be accessible to students enrolled in the course to review materials. These recordings will not be shared with or accessible to the public.

The University and Zoom have FERPA-compliant agreements in place to protect the security and privacy of UW Zoom accounts. Students who do not wish to be recorded should:

• Change their Zoom screen name to hide any personal identifying information such as their name or UW Net ID, and
• Not share their computer audio or video during their Zoom sessions.
• If you do not wish to be recorded during our class sessions, please contact me at ronnie22@uw.edu 

 Course Communication

 My goal is that each student in this class gains as much out of the course materials and experience as possible. I encourage you to visit me during office hours to ask questions, have a discussion, brainstorm about your projects, or make suggestions about the course. If my office hours conflict with your schedule, we can arrange a different meeting time.  I am very responsive to e-mails and encourage you to feel comfortable asking me questions if you struggle with materials or assignments. There is also an open discussion forum in the Canvas discussion posts section if you would like to pose a question to the class or to me: Course Q&A 

Remember, if you struggle with a concept or assignment, there is a good chance that some of your classmates will have a similar experience. Asking questions in class or through the general discussion page is a fantastic way to work through issues collectively.  Please take advantage of my office hours if you have questions, would like to discuss course material, or find you need help locating the University of Washington academic, accessibility, or counseling services.  

Online Outages During Our Class Meetings: Now What??

I guarantee that sometime during the quarter, I will temporarily lose my internet connection during our meetings. In the event that my internet does go down during our meetings, I will immediately switch to hot spot connectivity, and I ask that you please remain in the Zoom session for at least five minutes while I make the change. If, on the outside chance, I cannot reconnect within five minutes, you may assume the class has ended, and I will send a class announcement through Canvas with further instructions.  I appreciate your patience in advance. Conversely, if you lose connection, feel free to contact me after class if you have questions or concerns about what transpired in your absence. This is not required. 

Additional Remote Learning Notes: 

 Online Etiquette & Comfort:

We all continue to adjust to learning online and many of us are in less-than-ideal pedagogical settings. As such, we must balance online etiquette with our own needs, limitations, and comfort. While there is no requirement to have your video on during synchronous sessions and many of us are working from spaces that we don’t necessarily want to share with the class for a variety of reasons, research shows greater student engagement when videos are on, so if you are comfortable with your video being on, we encourage it. That said if you need to take a break to stand up, if you learn better while moving around, or are otherwise engaging with the class in a way that might be distracting to other students, consider turning your video off while you do. Similarly, you may or may not be in a quiet setting when joining class, so we would ask that you try to keep your microphones muted except when speaking (that said, you are all encouraged to speak up as research shows that actively participating in classes by asking questions and contributing to discussions leads to better learning outcomes).

Disability Resources for Students (DRS)

I aim to make this course accessible to all students and if there are accommodations specific to your learning approach that you would like to bring to my attention please feel free to reach out to me at any time. 

DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, your instructor and DRS. If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary or permanent disability that requires accommodations (this can include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), you are welcome to contact DRS at any time and feel free to approach me with any requirements specific to this course. Visit DRS Website (Links to an external site.)

Respect for Diversity

In all contexts related to this course, students are expected to respect individual differences, which may include disability, age, cultural background, ethnicity, family status, gender presentation, national origin, personality differences, race, religious and political beliefs, sex, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and/or veteran status. When you disagree with someone in class, please speak up, but focus your comments on the larger issues, institutions, and frameworks at hand rather than that particular person.

I strive to cultivate an inclusive learning environment for all students in this class. If you are experiencing obstacles within the class or outside of your coursework, there are medical, legal, mental health, and social-support resources available to you (generally at no or low cost) as a student at the University of Washington. I encourage you to communicate with me about any barriers to your learning that might arise throughout the quarter and we will work together to resolve them. 

Many of the topics covered raise sensitive questions of ethics, identity, and policy. Students in the class have a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. For some, the information and perspectives may be completely new; others may have previous knowledge of disability, oppression, history, or representation. Please keep in mind that this course is being taught from an anti-oppressive point of view, and a principal goal is to teach and apply the academic critical disability studies and cultural studies approach. Alternative assignments can be arranged individually for students who are uncomfortable speaking in class.

Religious Accommodations Policy

Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for the accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request. If you are unable to fill out the request but will need accommodation, please speak with me as stated above.

Canvas:

I expect you to check the Canvas site and the email account associated with your Canvas account so that I can communicate with each of you electronically between classes. You are responsible for all materials and announcements covered during class sessions. 

Late work:

Please contact me and I will work with you if you have circumstances that are cause for a late submission.

Academic Integrity: 

Students at the University of Washington are expected to maintain a certain standard of conduct and be responsible members of the community. The Student Conduct Code defines prohibited conduct and describes how the University holds students accountable as they pursue their academic goals. 

Avoiding Plagiarism:

Properly crediting and citing your sources is an important step in the writing process. If you have questions about how to properly cite resources please contact me or make an appointment at the writing center. If I determine you appear to have intentionally copied work directly from a source without giving proper credit you will receive a null grade on the assignment and any future instances will be referred to Academic Affairs. 

Review the UW plagiarism policiesLinks to an external site.

Inclement Weather: 

Please check if the campus may be closed due to inclement weather. I will make a course announcement via our Canvas course site if there are weather closures specific to our meeting times. 

Illness and emergencies:

This course is specifically designed to allow for asynchronous content access. If you are ill or have an emergency, please take care of yourself and your needs. Contact me as soon as possible during my office hours, through email, or a zoom appointment and we can discuss your specific circumstances and devise an updated work plan. 

Assessment & Grading 

Course Participation and Activities 40%  

• Individual class discussions, worksheets, and projects - 10%
• In-Class Group Activities and Workshops - 10% 
• Weekly Artifact Post & Discussion Response - 30% 

Representational Analyses - 40% 

• Four Representational Analysis Short Papers - 40%
  • Advertising, Marketing, & Disability Representation -5%  
  • News, Social Media, and Online Representations of Disability - 5% 
  • Disability Organizations & Movements -10% 
  • Final Representation and Reflection Essay -20%

In-Class Presentation- 10%

Grading scale:  

See weekly modules for media links and required media content 

Weekly Readings by Topic (subject to change) TBD

**all readings and course materials are available on the course canvas pages