| CODE | DBS5009 | ||||||||
| TITLE | A Life Course Approach to Disability | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Disability Studies | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit will critically analyse the phenomenon of disability from a life course approach. It will present the concept of life course as a socially constructed, dynamic, shifting concept that may not be clearly or directly related to chronological age. Therefore it will discuss how the main stages in one’s life, e.g. childhood, adulthood and old age, are socially, rather than biologically, determined. Moreover, it will explore how these life stages are context, time, and culturally specific. During this study-unit, the factors that have impacted on the concept of life course, for example, the expansion of technology, demographic changes and the developments in the education, employment and welfare sectors, and the growing culture of individualism shall be discussed. In this study-unit we will be taking the dimension of the individual’s life into account. The shift in social theory, from social determinism to social constructivism, has generated a new interest in people's lived realities, and in the interplay between individual experience, action, social and cultural transformations. In this study unit we will engage with the studies of disabled individuals’ life courses focusing on specific phases and transitions. Study-Unit Aims: tilising a social model of disability approach, the study-unit aims to introduce students to debates surrounding the concept of life course as applied to the phenomenon of disability. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Outline the major life phases and the specific issues, myths and realities, related to each one. - Describe the dynamic relationship between chronological age and the development of the life course. - Identify specific dynamics between gender and development through the life course - Understand the concept of life course as a social construction. - Describe the phenomenon of disability in terms of the various life phases. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Apply the concept of the life course to the transitions that disabled persons and their significant others go through, throughout their lives. - Analyse the enablers or barriers that produce disability in particular life stages. - Differentiate between and identify intersections between gender and disability specific barriers - Critically evaluate research that explores the complex relations between the individual’s biological age and societal/cultural factors that affect disabled people’s lived experiences in different life stages. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Priestley, M. (2003). Disability: a life course approach. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Limited. - Tamar, H. & Harris S.P. (2012). Disability through the life course. The SAGE Reference Series on Disability. Supplementary Readings: - Wehmeyer, M.L., Shogren, K.A., Little, T.D. & Lopez S.J. (Eds) (2017). Development of Self-determination through the life course. Springer. - McCarthy, M. (2009). Contraception and women with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 22(4), 363-369. [made available on VLE by lecturer] - Aunos, M., & Feldman, M. A. (2002). Attitudes towards sexuality, sterilization and parenting rights of persons with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 15(4), 285-296. [made available on VLE by lecturer] |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Maria Victoria Gauci |
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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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