As we plan for Spring and select courses, many are interested in more information about disability identity, history and context. To support those who would like to know more, we're highlighting and listing courses that take a more comprehensive look at individual and collective experiences of disability-related topics that are a part of the national conversation.
Highlighted Course:
Writing Disability Identities: ENGL 493 - 01 (5128) Seminar in Communication &Technology
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"Nothing About Us Without Us": this slogan epitomizes the disability rights movement's demand for disabled people to control social representations of their lives and bodies. In this course, we will connect Writing Studies and Disability Studies to explore the efforts of disabled activists to gain inclusion and challenge harmful stereotypes about disability and neurodiversity. Topics and communities we will study include: physical disabilities and mobility; d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing; blindness/visual disabilities; mental disability and neurodiversity; chronic illness and chronic pain; invisible disabilities; and others. Our primary readings will span many genres, from essays and memoir to documentary film, podcasts, and social media activism. (Combined with ENGL 671) Link: https://highpoint-prd.ps.umbc.edu/app/catalog/classsection/UMBC1/2212/5128
Instructor: Dr. Drew Holladay is an Assistant Professor of English at UMBC who teaches classes on writing and digital media. Dr. Holladay connects each course to issues of social justice related to disability/ableism, racism, xenophobia, gender identity, and sexism, among others. His research is primarily in the rhetoric of health and medicine with significant grounding in disability studies and feminist theory. He is currently working on his first book, tentatively titled Neurodivergent Embodiment: Rhetoric, Advocacy, and Lived Experience.
Other courses that include disability themes or sections:
Previous Courses:
Composing Disability: ENGL 220
Disability and Rehabilitation SOCY 455/655
No room in your schedule? A preferred course not available? Engage in some independent learning with the documentary: Crip Camp - A Disability Revolution.
Do you know of a course that should be added to the list? Email us via slazar@umbc.edu to expand the list and possibly be featured in a future highlight.
