disabilitystudies

Disability studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that analyzes disability as a social, political, and cultural phenomenon, rather than solely a medical condition. It explores how social structures, laws, and cultural representations produce, limit, or enable disability, and seeks to reframe disability from individual tragedy to a matter of rights, justice, and inclusion.

Emerging in the late 20th century from the disability rights and independent living movements, disability studies builds on the social model of disability, which distinguishes impairment from disability. It contrasts with the traditional medical model that locates limitation in the individual and emphasizes cure or normalization.

Core concerns include accessibility, universal design, and inclusive policy; disability justice emphasizes intersectionality, care, consent, and collective solidarity. Researchers often engage in critical analysis of language, representation, and power, and extend inquiry to education, employment, healthcare, law, media, and culture.

Methodologies range from critical theory, ethnography, and policy analysis to participatory and user-led research, which centers disabled people as makers of knowledge. The field also examines the built environment, assistive technologies, and social institutions to identify barriers and advocate for reforms.

Disability studies informs advocacy worldwide, complements legal frameworks such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and supports movements toward independent living and equal participation. Ongoing debates include the balance between medical and social explanations, and the ethics of representation and research with disabled communities.