Disability Studies

This article brings together key texts and theorists from disability studies, which is a growing and vibrant inter/multidisciplinary field. It is an area of inquiry that has been evolving for the past forty years. It is important to note that, as part of the development of disability studies and in reflection of its global nature, there has been discussion and debate around terminology. Different countries, and therefore different researchers, will often use different terms and this is reflected in the sources included. This review includes seven sections, focusing on the most prominent areas of inquiry within the disability studies field: Overview, History and Advocacy, Disability Studies as Academic Inquiry, Critical Disability Studies, Intersectionality, Representation, and Cultural Disability Studies. Disability studies developed as a result of disability activism and advocacy in the 1970s and has subsequently become a fully-fledged area of research and study. Disability studies is not focused on curing disability, rather it examines the social structures that contribute to the marginalization of those with disability. Fundamental to disability studies is its history, which begins in the 1970s in the United States and United Kingdom with the fight for civil rights for those with disabilities. This time period also saw a rejection of the medical model of disability, which positioned disability within the body of the individual, and the rise of a “social model” of disability that emphasizes disability is created by social and environmental factors. The second phase within disability studies was its inclusion in institutions of learning as a field of academic inquiry. This led to a third phase, critical disability studies, which reconsiders what disability is and what it means for individuals and for society more broadly. Critical disability studies acknowledges divergences in approaches and theories and questions the social model of disability. Critical disability studies also advocates for a conscious inclusion of the intersections that have existed within the field since its inception, such as gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality. Connected to intersectionality is representation, which is another growing area of disability studies. Representation looks at representation of, as well as representation by, persons with disability in a range of mediums including film, television, literature, and stage. Some theorists argue that the field has now moved beyond critical disability studies and advocate for a cultural disability studies approach, which acknowledges the complex nature of disability and considers the cultural practices and beliefs related to disability. Each of these themes traces the growing field of disability studies as it has developed and become more complex, highlighting the deepening understanding of difference and what it means to be human.