Course Syllabus

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HSTCMP / DIS ST 402 Topics in Disability History

Offered jointly with HSTCMP / DIS ST 502

Summer Term:  A-term

Course topic: Devices and Designs: Histories of (In)Accessible America

Book cover Jaipreet Virdi, Hearing Happiness: Deafness Cures in History, yellow background and drawing of a woman smiling holding a tube to her earBook cover Accessible America: A History of Disability and Design by Bess Williamson

Facilitation days:

  • Wed June 28 (A & B): Genevieve, Emma G, Sana, Olivia, Tera, Billy, Jess, Ben, Malcolm, Haley, Kimi, Ashland
  • Thur June 29 (C & D): Bella, Halina, nc, Wanjiru, Ariel, Jenna, Sarah, Andrew, Zara, Anna, V, Oscar September
  • Wed July 12 (A & C): Genevieve, Olivia, Emma G, Sana, Tera, Bella, Halina, nc, Wanjiru, Ariel, Jenna
  • Thur July 13 (B & D): Billy, Jess, Ben, Malcolm, Haley, Kimi, Sarah, Andrew, Zara, Anna, V, Oscar, September, Ashland

Announcements

  • Course evaluation (link) is open until August 11th: thank you for taking time to share your feedback!  The completion rate is still low, so if you haven't finished it yet please do.

 

Instructor:

  • Joanne Woiak, Disability Studies Program
  • Contact: jwoiak@uw.edu
  • Office hours: By appointment on Zoom or campus office Smith 019

Class meetings via Zoom Join URL: https://washington.zoom.us/j/95541325713

Hybrid learning course delivery plan:

  • Mondays: asynchronous lectures, podcasts & webinars
  • Tuesdays: class meets on Zoom, 1:50-4:00pm
  • Wednesdays: class meets both in the on-campus classroom and on Zoom, 1:50pm - 4:00pm
  • Thursdays: class meets both in the on-campus classroom and on Zoom, 1:50pm - 4:00pm
  • NOTE: This course can be completed online and asynchronously. All materials will be available for asynchronous access.
I created a survey in which you're asked to share with me your feedback about the course delivery plan, and how you anticipate you will participate in the course (in-person or remote). You can fill it out anonymously or give your name. You may also provide any information about your circumstances or access needs that you're comfortable telling me, including any trigger or content warnings that would support your access to the materials. You're also always encouraged to speak with me about what you may need, including accommodations or adaptations. Student survey link 

Getting started:

 

Course description:

This course seeks to bring disability into the center of historical inquiry, engaging with topics and themes in the histories of disability in the United States from the 19th to the 21st centuries. Topics will focus on disability activist movements; medicine and technology in the lives of disabled and D/deaf people; and histories of design, material culture, and accessibility.

Disability is entangled in complex ways with devices and designs: technological artifacts (whether or not they are called “assistive” technologies), medical interventions and research, the public design of built environments, and the structures of capitalism that bring forth and shape all of these in the past and current US context. Technology creates barriers (inaccessibility), and technology counters discrimination and facilitates life activities. Disability Justice activist and poet Eli Clare highlights some of these intricacies with his observation: “cure saves lives; cure manipulates lives; cure prioritizes lives; cure makes profits; cure justifies violence; cure promises resolution to body-mind loss.”

The histories we’ll read delve into the archives to uncover the material things of disability, and to connect these artifacts to lived experience, personal memoir, and activism. Everyday objects have been tinkered with by disabled people in do-it-yourself accessible design; ubiquitous curb cuts and blue buttons on automatic doors improve access for many people; prosthetic limbs have an ambiguous relationship to "progress;" and civil rights battles have been fought over accessible public accommodations such as bathrooms and buses. Given the historical obsession with “fixing” deafness, Deaf and hard-of-hearing people have found themselves hopeful, pressured, disempowered, and resistant. Since the 19th century, patient-consumers have confronted the promises of medical devices and treatments, quacks and fads, and profiteers offering “happiness” or at least the prospect of passing as “normal.”  As disability historian Katherine Ott notes, attention to material culture is an essential historical method. “Objects give a tactile, sensory dimension to the past. They provide access to lived experience and nonverbal aspects of relationships. Technology inhabits a suspect yet essential space in the material culture of disability.”

The course content will be offered in a variety of modalities in order to provide as much flexibility and accessibility as possible. Some class sessions will meet in person with synchronous remote access, and some will meet on Zoom only. All classes will be recorded and all class materials will be available for asynchronous access. There will be synchronous and asynchronous participation options. My goal is to support you this summer in engaging with the course material while navigating hybrid learning.

Students will participate in synchronous or asynchronous discussions, write short responses to the readings, films, and podcasts, complete an individual or group project investigating accessibility, design, and the built environment, and write a short reflection paper about the books we read.

 

Assignments [details on the page links below]:

Disability-History_Su2023_assignments-requirements.docx

  • 15% Participation
    • Class activities will be synchronous and asynchronous
  • 15% Reading Responses
    • Write 3 total
  • 20% Facilitating Discussion
    • Do 2 days assigned by instructor; this is an individual assignment or you may work in pairs
    • Hand in: discussion questions, reading notes, and annotations
    • Help facilitate discussion synchronously in class or asynchronously
  • 30% Accessibility Survey
    • Survey the accessibility of a building using the ADA Guidelines
    • Give a presentation of your findings
    • Write a letter reporting your findings and suggestions
  • 20% Final Reflection Paper or Project about the 2 books
    • 3 double-spaced pages (800-1000 words) or equivalent project
  • Note for students enrolled in DIS ST/HSTCMP 502. This class is taught jointly as DIS ST/HSTCMP 402/502. Graduate students will have an additional assignment preparing a short presentation on one reading for one day. Grad students will also write a final paper or project that takes a deeper dive into one or two topics and/or theories covered in the course. This assignment can be negotiated with the instructor.

 

Learning objectives:

  • Understand the history of disability and disability rights and justice activism in the United States in connection with other social categories and movements.
  • Gain a theoretical background in the field of disability studies (DS), and apply the concept of the social construction of disability to knowledge and methods in disability history.
  • Investigate how normalcy is constituted through gender, sexuality, race, class, and disability.
  • Develop skills in communicating complex ideas related to disability, diversity, and intersectionality.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of emerging issues, debates, and scholarship in disability history, disability studies, and disability justice.
  • Learning objectives for the Disability Studies Program

 

Readings:

Much of our work this quarter will focus on reading two recent disability history books. You can find the chapters that we'll read here on Canvas, or you can read/download the books from UW Libraries as digital copies. Copies of the books will also be available for purchase at the University Bookstore on the Ave.  Additional required readings will all be available on Canvas.

  • Jaipreet Virdi, Hearing Happiness: Deafness Cures in History (2020) - available via Canvas, UW Library and University Bookstore
    • "Weaving together lyrical history and personal memoir, Virdi powerfully examines society’s—and her own—perception of life as a deaf person in America." (University of Chicago Press site)
  • Bess Williamson, Accessible America: A History of Disability and Design (2019) - available via Canvas, UW Library and University Bookstore
    • "Have you ever hit the big blue button to activate automatic doors? Have you ever used an ergonomic kitchen tool? Have you ever used curb cuts to roll a stroller across an intersection? If you have, then you’ve benefited from accessible design—design for people with physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities. These ubiquitous touchstones of modern life were once anything but. Disability advocates fought tirelessly to ensure that the needs of people with disabilities became a standard part of public design thinking. That fight took many forms worldwide, but in the United States it became a civil rights issue; activists used design to make an argument about the place of people with disabilities in public life." (NYU Press site)

 

Access, disability and religious accommodations, and resources:

Accessibility and Disability Accommodations

The instructor is trying to create an inclusive learning environment. Your experiences in the class are important to all of us. If you anticipate or encounter barriers participating or demonstrating your learning because of any aspect of how the course is taught, I encourage you to contact me as soon as possible so that we can discuss options.

We can work in conjunction with Disability Resources for Students: Disability Resources for Students (UW Seattle) Email: uwdrs@uw.edu Phone: 206-543-8924. If you have already established accommodations with DRS, please communicate your approved accommodations to me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course. DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions.  Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, your instructor(s) and DRS.  It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.

Note that while this is directly applicable to students who are registered with DRS, you do not need to disclose a disability or provide an accommodations letter to discuss accessibility. Please feel free to talk with me about any aspect of accommodations or accessibility.

Religious Accommodations Policy

Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request. If you are unable to fill out the request but will need an accommodation, please speak with me as stated above.

Student Support Services:

Mental Health Services to Students:

Writing Resources:

 

Course Summary:

Date Details Due