HIS-333 History of Disability in the U.S.

This course will cover the history of disability in the United States from the early nineteenth century to the present, focusing on two important eras. The period of industrialization, from the late nineteenth century through the 1920s, will receive the most attention, as the status of people with disabilities changed most dramatically and having a disability led to stigmatization. This course will examine closely the disability civil rights era from the 1960s to the 1990s when disability rights advocates gained more visibility and federal laws and programs began to focus on disability civil rights issues. The course content will focus on three themes: Perceptions of disability and how those perceptions of disability change over time, as well as the socioeconomic status of people with disabilities; the role that people with disabilities have played in American history and the actions they have taken to affect their position in society; and Federal policies and laws related to disability issues, and how they have changed over time.