A year after its implementation to the UCLA curriculum, the disability studies minor has taught students and faculty an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the nature of what constitutes a disability.
Kyle McJunkin, an academic counselor in the UCLA College, said that disability studies is an emerging subject in many major universities.
“Disabilities studies aims to challenge the medical model of what a disability is considered and offer a perspective through a humanistic approach,” McJunkin said.
He added that the minor is currently without a departmental home but is being supervised by the College.
Helen Deutsch, a professor of English who teaches some of the disability studies courses, said her teaching approach looks at disabilities as a vital part of culture rather than a problem that needs to be solved.
“The humanities are leading the push to the forefront in changing the way we look at disabilities,” Deutsch said.
Three students have graduated with the minor successfully, while six are in the minor this year, McJunkin said.
He added that students from other majors often take classes in disability studies out of their own interest.
Deutsch said the courses and minor attracted a diverse group of students last year.
“We had kids signing up from all over campus at all different levels. I was concerned how these students would find common ground in their dialogues but the conversations they had were amazing,” Deutsch said.
Third-year global studies student Draco Chu is one of the students minoring in disability studies this year. He said he enjoys the small class sizes and interactive nature of disability studies.
“I’m taking a choreography class teaching movement for people with disabilities, and I visit the University Elementary School and mentor students with learning disabilities,” Chu said.
The minor came into existence through the efforts of UCLA faculty from 16 departments across the College, said the College’s assistant vice provost, Lucy Blackmar.
“For over two decades UCLA faculty and administrators have wanted to put the study of disabilities as part of our academic mission,” Blackmar said.
She added that the students take one yearly core course, offered in the winter, as well as several electives.
McJunkin said the core course for the minor, called Disability Studies 101, consists of a weekly guest speaker and a different way of looking at disability for the accompanying topic.
“The speakers talk about how disabilities are viewed socially, culturally, legally and artistically,” McJunkin said.
Students in the disability studies minor can use their experience to their advantage for a wide variety of professional skills, Deutsch said.
Some of the disciplines that disability studies can complement include public health, psychiatry, pre-medicine, and neuroscience, she said.
The students also receive real world work experience through a two-quarter internship working with either a disabled population or through policy issues relating to disabilities, Blackmar said.
But Chu said he is enrolled in the minor because he wants to use his privilege as an able-bodied person to understand more about diversity.
“I want to empower a deeper understanding for those around me relating to issues of diversity,” he said.