Take the Next Step
Finding the right college means finding the right fit. See all that the College of Health, Education, and Human Services has to offer by visiting campus.
Disability Studies Minor
On this page:
Why Choose Disability Studies?
The minor in disability studies will create an interdisciplinary experience that exposes you to various national and international theoretical, sociopolitical, cultural, ethnological, and historical perspectives of disability. You will be challenged to explore your personal attitudes, beliefs, and viewpoints regarding disability, and the impact of societal perspectives on the valuation and treatment of individuals with disabilities will be examined. You will gain exposure to and understanding of the various lived experiences of individuals with disabilities. Your courses will include an overview of associated identity factors, sexuality, activism, Crip justice, the arts (literature, film, theatre, etc.), as well as bioethical factors often encountered in the disability community. The models and theories you will learn in this program can benefit you if you plan to work in settings such as education, business, human services, social work, health care, counseling, and many others. The minor consists of 21 credits and a grade of C or higher is required in all courses taken toward the minor concentration.
What the disability studies minor is not: It is not a service provider educational program (i.e. rehabilitation services). This program does not prepare you to become a rehabilitation professional or related service provider to people with disabilities. Rather, the minor in disability studies will prepare you to have a global understanding and an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the disability community and to be a social justice advocate and ally of/with people with disabilities. Additionally, this minor does not prepare you to be an interpreter for the deaf or teacher of the deaf. It is not a prerequisite for entrance into sign language interpretation courses at Wright State.
Objectives
The purpose of the disability studies minor is to encourage students, activists, teachers, artists, practitioners, and researchers to engage the subject of disability from various interdisciplinary perspectives in a social justice framework designed to encourage expanded understandings of humanity and multiculturalism.
The minor in disability studies program will help you:
- Situate disability as the locus of critical inquiry within an interdisciplinary framework in exploring related theoretical views, national/international perspectives, attitudes and beliefs, policies, literature, arts, culture, and history.
- Explore models and theories that examine social, political, cultural, and economic factors that define disability and help determine personal and collective responses to human and multicultural variance.
- Challenge and de-stigmatize the view of disability as an individual deficit, impairment, or defect to be remedied solely through medical intervention or rehabilitation by "experts" and other service providers.
Academics and Curriculum
View Minor in Disability Studies program information, degree requirements, and graduation planning strategies in the Academic Catalog.
Note: You must complete all required courses in the minor at Wright State with a grade of C or higher.
Admission
Admission Requirements
- Cumulative minimum GPA of 2.0
Admission Process
1
Current Wright State Students in Other Colleges
Submit Major/Minor Change Request form online in WINGS Express. (Select the "Registration and Records" menu and then the "Major/Minor Change Request" option.)
Contact Information
Thomas P. Webb
ADA/504 Coordinator
Director, Office of Disability Services
Wright State University
3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy
180 University Hall
Dayton, Ohio 45435
937-775-5680 (Office)
thomas.webb@wright.edu
