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Disability Studies Minor
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Why Choose Disability Studies?
The Minor in Disability studies will create an interdisciplinary experience that exposes students to various national and international theoretical, sociopolitical, cultural, ethnological, and historical perspectives of disability. Students will be challenged to explore their personal attitudes, beliefs, and viewpoints regarding disability, and the impact of societal perspectives on the valuation and treatment of individuals with disabilities will be examined. The program will provide exposure and foster an understanding of the various lived experiences of individuals with disabilities, and include an overview of associated identity factors, sexuality, activism and Crip justice, the arts (literature, film, theatre, etc.), as well as bioethical factors often encountered in the disability community. The models and theories learned in this program can benefit students that plan to work in settings such as education, business, human services, social work, health care, counseling, and many others. The minor consists of 21 credits and a grade of C or higher is required in all courses taken toward the minor concentration.
What the Disability Studies Minor is not: It is not a service provider educational program (i.e. Rehabilitation Services). This program does not prepare individuals to become rehabilitation professionals or related service providers to people with disabilities, rather the minor in Disability Studies will prepare students to have a global understanding and an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the disability community and to be social justice advocates and allies of/with people with disabilities. Additionally, this minor does not prepare students to be an interpreter for the Deaf or teacher of the deaf. It is not a prerequisite for entrance into Sign Language Interpreting (SLI) courses at Wright State.
Objectives
The purpose of the Disability Studies minor is to encourage students, activists, teachers, artists, practitioners, and researchers to engage the subject of disability from various interdisciplinary perspectives in a social justice framework designed to encourage expanded understandings of humanity and multiculturalism.
The Minor in Disability Studies program will assist students:
- Situate disability as the locus of critical inquiry within an interdisciplinary framework in exploring related theoretical views, national/international perspectives, attitudes and beliefs, policies, literature, arts, culture, and history.
- Explore models and theories that examine social, political, cultural, and economic factors that define disability and help determine personal and collective responses to human and multicultural variance.
- Challenge and de-stigmatize the view of disability as an individual deficit, impairment or defect to be remedied solely through medical intervention or rehabilitation by "experts" and other service providers.
Academics and Curriculum
View Minor in Disability Studies program information, degree requirements, and graduation planning strategies in the Academic Catalog.
Note: Students must complete all required courses in the minor at Wright State University with a grade of C or higher.
Admission
Admission Requirements
- Cumulative minimum GPA of 2.0
Admission Process
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Current Wright State Students in Other Colleges
Submit Major/Minor Change Request form online in WINGS Express. (Select the "Registration and Records" menu and then the "Major/Minor Change Request" option.)
Contact Information
Rehabilitation Services Program Director:
Gina Oswald
gina.oswald@wright.edu
(937) 775-3270
or
Thomas P. Webb
ADA/504 Coordinator
Director, Office of Disability Services
Wright State University
3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy
180 University Hall
Dayton, Ohio 45435
937-775-5680 (Office)
thomas.webb@wright.edu
