ASM4500

The social construction of disabilities

Don Miller

12 points -2 hours per week -First semester -Clayton

Objectives The aim of this course is to give students an understanding of the cultural construction of the concept of 'the disabled' as a category of humanity. The objectives of the subject are to gain an historical knowledge of concepts of normality and pathology as they have been applied to human physical and mental conditions; understand the historical development of these concepts of normality and pathology in relation to the emergence of concepts of sanity and insanity in the West; examine the concepts of normality and pathology as they are applied to deafness and the Deaf community.

Synopsis The subject examines the discursive construction of 'the disabled' in our society. After a brief survey of the perception and treatment of 'disabilities' crossculturally and throughout Western history, the subject concentrates on the link between, on the one hand, the ideological construction of the 'normal' and the 'pathological' in current Western conceptions of humanity, and on the other, the demands of capitalist production for an 'able-bodied' workforce. Two case studies will be examined in detail: the social construction and treatment of the 'insane' and the 'deaf'.

Assessment Two exercises (2000 words each): 40% -Essay (5000 words): 60%

Recommended texts

Foucault M Madness and civilization Vintage, 1973
Gould S J The mismeasure of man Penguin, 1984
Lane H The mask of benevolence: Disabling the Deaf community Alfred Knopf, 1992
Porter R Mind-forg'd manacles Penguin, 1992
Sacks O Seeing voices: A journey into the world of the deaf Picador, 1989
Showalter E The female malady: Women, madness and English culture, 1830-1980 Virago, 1987
Whyte S and Ingstad B (eds) Disability and culture California U P, 1995

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