Disability Studies, Minor

Program Description

This is an intercollege minor, offered jointly by the College of Engineering and the College of the Liberal Arts, and overseen by the Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Program. It is designed for students with special interests in the social systems, environmental factors, and cultural history of disability. In addition to the requirements of the student's major department, the minor consists of 18 credits selected from several colleges and departments. For those majoring in disability-driven disciplines (e.g. nursing, speech and communication disorders, psychology, special education, rehabilitation and human services, health administration), a Disability Studies minor provides relevant interdisciplinary links that broaden the understanding of disability beyond the clinical realm. For students in the humanities (e.g. history, philosophy, political science, and literature), Disability Studies offers important new dimensions and challenges to traditional accounts of human value and political agency. For students with personal experience of disability, the minor provides an academic grounding and community for disability advocacy on personal, community, and national levels.

What is Disability Studies?

The minor includes courses on disability culture, activism, and history. It asks the following questions: what counts as "normal" and why? What are the racialized and class dimensions of "ability"? How do people with disabilities navigate a largely inaccessible world? What does disability look like on a global scale? What are the lived experiences of disability, and how are they central to American history and culture? How is disability coded by gender or sexuality? What is the value of learning about the lives and contributions of people with disability? How is disability related to environmental studies, bioethics, animal studies?

You Might Like This Program If...

• You are interested in the engineering or architecture of built environments, health care professions, art and performance, social history, social justice activism, the political philosophy of citizenship, contemporary literature, legal studies, community advocacy, universal design. The list is endless, since Disability Studies is a genuinely multidisciplinary field. All students are welcome.

Program Requirements

Requirements for the Minor

A grade of C or better is required for all courses in the minor, as specified by Senate Policy 59-10.

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Prescribed Courses
Prescribed Courses: Require a grade of C or better
ENGL 228	Introduction to Disability Studies in the Humanities	3
RHS 100	Introduction to Disability Culture	3
Additional Courses
Additional Courses: Require a grade of C or better
LA 495	Undergraduate Field Experience or Practicum (or an equivalent independent research course or internship approved by the faculty member in charge)	3
Supporting Courses and Related Areas
Supporting Courses and Related Areas: Require a grade of C or better
Select at least three courses for at least 9 credits from an approved department list in consultation with adviser		9

Academic Advising

The objectives of the university’s academic advising program are to help advisees identify and achieve their academic goals, to promote their intellectual discovery, and to encourage students to take advantage of both in-and out-of class educational opportunities in order that they become self-directed learners and decision makers.

Both advisers and advisees share responsibility for making the advising relationship succeed. By encouraging their advisees to become engaged in their education, to meet their educational goals, and to develop the habit of learning, advisers assume a significant educational role. The advisee’s unit of enrollment will provide each advisee with a primary academic adviser, the information needed to plan the chosen program of study, and referrals to other specialized resources.

READ SENATE POLICY 32-00: ADVISING POLICY

University Park

Janet Lyon
Associate Professor of English and Director of the Disability Studies minor
430 Burrowes Building (mail)
109 Burrowes Building (advising)
University Park, PA 16802
814-865-9681
lyon@psu.edu

Career Paths

Ph.D. in Disability Studies, supportive courses for graduate degrees in Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Physical Therapy, Social Work, medical school, design engineering, others.

Careers

Coordinator for diversity and accessibility programs within universities, corporations, or non-profit organizations; OT, PT, Speech Therapy, disability programming, community education and outreach, consultation.

Contact

University Park

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
434 Burrowes Building
University Park, PA 16802
814-863-0258
sfc10@psu.edu

http://english.la.psu.edu/undergraduate/minors