The emerging and growing field of disability studies is quickly becoming a prominent feature at some of the world's most forward thinking colleges and universities. Currently more than 30 such programs exist at institutions located across North America and the United Kingdom.
The proliferation of these programs reflects a definite trend toward the incorporation of persons with disabilities, as well as disability-related issues and research, into the larger society and the burgeoning body of scholarship that explores human differences and exposes systems of power and marginalization.
The University of Arizona has established "The Disability Studies Collaborative" to explore this new field and engage faculty from across campus in incorporating it into their teaching and research.
The collaborative will host its first annual luncheon Thursday, May 3, to discuss disability studies, why it matters, and how the UA is uniquely positioned to become a leader in the southwestern United States. The collaborative is open for anyone interested in joining.
Michael A. Rembis, a UA adjunct faculty member with a doctorate in history, is the coordinator of the Disability Studies Collaborative, and is excited about the program's possibilities. "The UA is already recognized as a University Center of Excellence on developmental disabilities. What the university, the state and the region need are social science and humanities courses in disability studies and eventually the creation of an undergraduate degree in disability studies," Rembis said.
Rembis is looking forward to developing curricula and seeing classes taught. The meeting on May 3 is being held to raise awareness and assess what is currently being offered at the UA and to gauge general interest in providing future courses in disabilities studies. "We hope after the meeting to move forward and discuss scheduling classes and the development of course curricula. We know that faculty are currently incorporating the ideas of disability studies into their teaching but now we'd like to create classes with disability studies as a central focus - not an add on," Rembis added.
Rembis teaches history and incorporates race, gender, ethnicity and disability into his courses. Next school year he will teach the UA's first class specifically on the history of disability in a global context.
"There are established models to build from and a lot of scholarship on disability studies with a basis in sociology and history, as well as other social sciences and humanities. Disability studies reorganizes the way people look at the world by studying disability in a more social, political and intellectual context that moves away from a medical rehabilitation approach," he added.
Students, faculty, administrators or community members committed to studying the complex nature of disability, with all of its implications, as well as the more pragmatic measures that can be taken to minimize the negative personal and social consequences of disability may join the collaborative. For more information on the collaborative, please visit the disabilities studies Web site, http://drc.arizona.edu/disabilitystudies/index.html.