Disability Studies Minor

Over the past three decades, disability studies has emerged as a robust and vibrant field of intellectual inquiry, bringing together cutting edge research in the humanities, social sciences, and health sciences. The discipline analyzes the cultural and political significance of disability, examining the construction and production of disability in history and in the present moment. Disability studies hones critical tools to analyze how societies grapple with physical and mental difference, the way disability becomes a site for negotiating stigma and social power, and questions of normativity and deviance.

Disability is a fundamental dimension of human diversity. One in every four Americans lives with a disability, making it our country’s largest minority population. Students increasingly recognize that gaining a more sophisticated understanding of disability experience is a critical element in their education, and one that will help prepare them for a growing number of disability-specific careers. Drawing from rich offerings in disciplines as various as Anthropology, Bioethics, English, Health Systems Administration, Nursing, Philosophy, Psychology, Theater and Performance Studies, Theology and Religious Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies, the program in Disability Studies enables students to explore this critical facet of human diversity in an in-depth fashion, as it relates to their broader intellectual interests and to their professional aspirations.

Additionally, Washington is home to some of the most influential institutions bearing on the experience of disability nationally and globally, encompassing the fields of law, medicine, policy, advocacy, research, and cultural production. Undergraduates come to Georgetown eager to become leaders in these fields, and they bring with them a critical humanist perspective, drawn by Georgetown’s commitment to social justice and educating the whole person. Disability Studies enables them to integrate their intellectual and professional aspirations, nurturing critical thinking and engendering a greater openness to human diversity. 

Requirements for the Minor

Six courses are required to complete the minor in Disability Studies:

• DBST 2270 (or ENGL 2700) Introduction to Disability Studies 
• Three Disability Studies core courses 
• Two elective courses that engage disability in theory or practice 

Disability Studies core courses center discipline-specific disability studies theories and/or methodologies along with a focus on disability experience, history, and/or culture. Elective courses have a substantial focus on disability experience, history, and/or culture and enable students to do individual work employing disability studies theory and/or methodology.

For a list of core courses and approved electives, please visit the program website at https://disabilitystudies.georgetown.edu/programs/courses/.

A maximum of two courses taken elsewhere (i.e., study abroad or summer courses) may be counted as electives in the minor, with approval of the steering committee.

To declare the minor, students should complete the interest form available on our website, disabilitystudies.georgetown.edu. Please direct questions to lsr@georgetown.edu.