| CODE | DBS1010 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Disability Issues in Society | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 6 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Disability Studies | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit provides a broad understanding of the various issues that disabled people face in society. The emphasis will be on disabling barriers created by society, which can be either attitudinal or material in nature. The study-unit will thus enable students to focus on the social aspect of disability, thus moving away from the traditional equation of disability with biological impairment, a notion which can only ever provide an incomplete explanation of the complex nature of disability. The first part of the study-unit will present different models of disability with a special emphasis on those models of disability that take into account social factors, especially the social, social-relational, and human rights models of disability. These will be contrasted with the individual models of disability, especially the medical, charity, and moral models of disability. The second part of the study-unit will present the development of the disability movement especially in those countries where disabled people were pioneers for disability rights, including the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Scandinavian countries. The final part of the study-unit will present an overview of the current state of affairs regarding disability issues in various countries in countries in the Global North and Global South and in countries with different political and economic systems. Study-Unit Aims: The aim of the study-unit is to enable students to understand the distinction between biological impairment and socially-created disability, to appreciate the impetus of the disability movement that led to the realisation for the need of this distinction, and to become aware of how important this distinction is in working towards achieving equality for disabled people, and what needs to be done by society for disabled barriers to be removed. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Define different models of disability, making a distinction between models that focus on the individual, and those that take into account social factors; - Describe the factors that led to the rise of the disability movement and the struggle by disabled people and their allies for rights and equality; - Develop an understanding of what needs to be done in society to safeguard disabled people’s rights and secure their equal and participation in society; - Develop an understanding of how the struggle for disabled people’s rights has developed differently in various sociocultural, political and economic context. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Critique different understandings of disability, especially in terms of the extent to which they take into account the complex and socially-created aspects of disability; - Discuss the development of the disability movement, taking into account how it has developed historically in ; - Analyse a given situation and identify the issues that are relevant to disabled people; - Analyse the various sociocultural, political and economic factors that affect the situation of disabled people in different countries. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Campbell, J. and Oliver, M. (1996) Disability Politics: Understanding our past, changing our future London: Routledge. - Grech, S. and K. Soldatic, K eds. (2016) Disability in the Global South: The Critical Handbook. Palgrave. - Oliver, M. (2009)(2nd Edition) Understanding Disability: From theory to practice. London: Palgrave Macmillan. - Shakespeare, T. (2013) Disability Rights and Wrongs Revisited Routledge. - Swain, J., French, S., Barnes, C., and Thomas, C. (Eds) (2004) Disabling Barriers Enabling Environments London: Sage. - Williams, V., Camilleri Zahra, A. and Gauci, V. 2019. Disabled people and social wellbeing: What’s good for us is good for everyone. In S. Vella, R. Falzon and A. Azzopardi, editors. Perspectives on Wellbeing: Applications from the field. Brill. (available as e-book) - Zames, D. F., & Zames, F. (2011). The disability rights movement: From charity to confrontation. Temple University Press.(available in Main Library) Internet Sources: - Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability: http://www.crpd.org/ - Leeds Disability Archive, Centre for Disability Studies, University of Leeds: http://www.disability-archive.leeds.ac.uk/ - DOTCOM: the Disability Online Tool of the European Commission: https://www.disability-europe.net/dotcom |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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