| IDS Home | Course Descriptions | IDS Concentration | Student Projects |

Interdisciplinary Disability Studies (IDS)

Concentration in Interdisciplinary Disability Studies

Description:

The Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies (CCIDS), Maine’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (UCEDD), in conjunction with faculty representatives from 14 academic departments at the University of Maine, offers a concentration in Interdisciplinary Disability Studies (IDS). The Interdisciplinary Disability Studies curriculum provides students a means to explore disability within the larger context of diversity and to examine professional practice, scholarship and policy related to persons with disabilities.

Administered through the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies, the concentration consists of 24 credits distributed among elective courses in three categories: social change, diversity studies, and environmental context; and three core interdisciplinary courses taught by faculty with expertise in disability studies. Students declare this concentration in addition to their major field of study.

The components of the concentration are a common core of three DIS courses and electives in three categories of study.

Required Core DIS courses (9-12 credits):

• DIS 400: Disability as Diversity I (3 credits) (or DIS 300 by permission);
• DIS 450: Disability: Population-Environment Diversity (3 credits);
• DIS 470: Interdisciplinary Project in Disability Studies (3 to 6 credits).

Electives (12-15 credits):

• Choose a minimum of one course from each of the three categories: social change, diversity studies and environmental context.

The coursework and Project combine to provide students with an appreciation of the many factors that affect human diversity, and how their disciplines and disability studies can reciprocally inform one another.

Who might be interested in the concentration?

Students throughout the university should consider enrolling in the concentration in Interdisciplinary Disability Studies. The purpose of the concentration is to examine disability as a critical element of human diversity and provide the theory and practice for fashioning universal access to our communities and resources for all people including those with disabilities.

Here are just a few examples of student interest from diverse disciplinary fields:

• An engineering student interested in crafting sporting equipment for adaptive kayaking and canoeing;
• An art history student examining the changes in depiction of people with disabilities in painting;
• A journalism student interested in advancing equal opportunity for disabled workers through writing in community newspapers;
• An education major interested in full inclusion of students with disabilities in public education;
• A social work student interested in advocating for civil rights for marginalized populations including people with disabilities;
• A psychology major interested in studying child development in youth with disabilities;
• An English major interested in the depiction of disabled people in contemporary literature;
• A new media student interested in studying universal web access;
• A musician interested in studying alterative ways to perform to audiences who cannot hear.

Who offers the concentration?

The concentration in Interdisciplinary Disability Studies is administered through the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies. The Center is Maine’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (UCEDD), a partnership of people bringing together the resources of the community and the university to enhance the quality of life for people with disabilities and their families. As agents for social change, we believe in self-determination and advocacy for people with disabilities, and we are committed to community inclusion, interdependence, and the recognition of each person’s ability to contribute to society.

The Center’s Interdisciplinary Disability Studies Academic Committee (IDSAC) is the governing board for the Concentration in Interdisciplinary Disability Studies. The IDSAC includes faculty members from Art, Child Development/Family Relations, Communication Disorders, Elementary Education, Engineering, English, Human Development, Kinesiology and Physical Education, Music, Nursing, New Media, Public Administration, Psychology, Social Work, and Sociology.

Enrollment Procedures:

• Student discusses intent to pursue the concentration with his/her departmental advisor.
• Student and Interdisciplinary Disability Studies Coordinator complete the Undergraduate Concentration Plan of Study (Appendix A).
• Student completes a University of Maine Declaration of Concentration form and receives approval from his/her departmental advisor and the Interdisciplinary Disability Studies Coordinator to enter the concentration (Appendix B).
• Coordinator for Interdisciplinary Education registers student for the Interdisciplinary Concentration in Disability Studies.

  View Appendix A for the Undergraduate Plan of Study here.

  View Appendix B for the Undergraduate Approval Status form here. 

  University of Maine Change of Program/Plan Sub-plan/Concentration form can be obtained from departmental advisors or the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies, Room 100, Corbett Hall.

Interdisciplinary Disability Studies Course Descriptions

Electives

The Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies offers an introductory course in disability studies that is open to all students in all disciplines.

DIS 300: Disability: Interaction of Human Diversity and Global Environments

This course is designed to introduce the student to disability as an element of human diversity that has a significant reciprocal relationship with the environment. We begin by discussing prevalence and incidence of disability across the globe, examine the historical changes in concepts of disability over time, and then study disability as a human phenomenon which both emerges from and influences biological, economic, physical, social, political, spiritual, cultural, technological and virtual environments.

Credits: 3

Satisfies the General Education requirements: Population & Environment, and Cultural Diversity & International Perspectives

Prerequisites: None

Core Courses

DIS 400—Disability as Diversity I

This course examines disability history, theory and current thinking in the field of disability studies. Through interdisciplinary interchange and experiential learning, students will explore the lived experience of people with disabilities and their families across the lifespan, examine and debate ethical dilemmas related to disability, and analyze implicit disability-related values reflected in diverse academic and professional fields. Students will apply their learning to their own disciplines.

Credits: 3

Satisfies the General Education Ethics Requirement and General Education Cultural Diversity and International Perspectives Requirement

Prerequisites: None

DIS 450: Disability: Population-Environment Diversity

Consistent with contemporary literature and research in the interdisciplinary field of disability studies, students will examine and analyze disability as an interactive disjuncture between the environment, the human body and population groups. Students will analyze how environments shape and are shaped by disability and will focus on realigning bodies, populations, and environments to advance full participation, reduce personal and environmental harm, and preserve just and safe environments. Included will be natural, virtual, service, economic, social, policy, and community environments across the globe.

Credits: 3

Satisfies the General Education Population & Environment Requirement and General Education Ethics Requirement

Prerequisites: None

DIS 470—Interdisciplinary Project in Disability Studies

The disability project provides the opportunity for students to apply knowledge about disability to the actualization of a disability-related project in the student’s area of interest. With guidance from the DIS 470 instructor and the student’s advisor, students may participate in ongoing projects or identify new disability-related areas for project activity. Students may take this course to complete the requirements for the disability concentration or to work with guidance on a project of interest. The course provides the opportunity for collaboration across disciplines.

Credits: 1-6 (depending on requirements and/or interest)

Prerequisites: DIS 400 & 450, or by permission

Grading Policy

Students must earn a letter grade of “C” or above in all core courses in order to successfully graduate with a concentration in Interdisciplinary Disability Studies.

| IDS Home | Course Descriptions | IDS Concentration | Student Projects |