HS 398 - Global Histories of Disability

(3.00 cr.)

Prerequisite: One HS 100-level course. According to the World Health Organization, about 15% of the world's population (more than 750 million people) live with some form of disability. This course explores the history of disability in global and comparative perspective. It examines how different societies across time and place have determined who is able and who is disabled, who is normal and who is abnormal. Topics include Deaf history, blindness, madness, intellectual and developmental disabilities, eugenics, war veterans, disability rights movements, and the persecution of people with disabilities during the Holocaust. Students visit online disability museums and archives and work with a wide variety of primary and secondary sources. An optional service-learning experience may be included. IPJ