Disability Studies/Not Disability Studies

The growing interest in and increased visibility of the ® eld of Disability Studies raises questions about the ® eld’ s logical borders and valid dimensions. This essay looks to guiding principles from the ® eld itself as the basis for delineating a robust liberal arts-based inquiry into disability, distinct from traditional interventionist models. The former is described in this essay as Disability Studies, the latter endeavor, in substance the medicalized applied ® elds and special education, is identi® ed here as the Not Disability Studies. The essay begins with an overview of the problems found in the academic curriculum with respect to the study of disability, and proceeds to describe how the proposed liberal arts-based Disability Studies can redress those problems. As the ® eld of Disability Studies is gaining momentum and broader visibility, it is timely to examine how the ® eld is being de® ned and the various uses the term is being put to. The border between what is considered Disability Studies and what is not is ® xed at different points by different authors. Although it is unlikely that anyone would suggest that there be an absolute boundary, efforts to circumscribe the domain and to anticipate the consequences of limitless permeability across the borders are worthwhile. In this essay, I am concerned with providing a coherent rationale for marking a border, setting off Disability Studies as a socio-political-cultural examination of disability, from the interventionist approaches that characterize the traditional study of disability. I position myself as an advocate for the creation of a robust liberal arts-based inquiry into disability, and as a disabled woman with an investment in increasing the equitable participation of disabled people in society. The delineation proposed here is consciously rendered to serve those interests, and the interests of valid ity and reliability which my social science training has schooled me to attend to. The delineation between Disability Studies, and what I am describing here as the `Not Disability Studies’ , has speci® c consequences for both scholarship and for disabled people’ s lives. The ® eld of Disability Studies arose, in part, in response to the omissions and distortions in the traditional curriculum’ s[1] approach to disability. In one sense, the development of Disability Studies is a remedial endeavor, redressing the sins of omission and commission in the cannon. Yet, in a signi® cant 0968-7599/98/040525-16 $7.00 Ó 1998 Carfax Publishing Ltd