Taught By:
Janelle Hinchley
Visiting Assistant Professo
Gender Studies Department
College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University
Read profile here.
Course Description:
Ableism is a system of discrimination and oppression targeting those who identify as being disabled, or those who society has labeled disabled. The course focuses on the human experience of disability using a “Disability Justice Framework.” This framework was created by disability activists in the mid-2000’s who were queer, poor, and people of color trying to make sense of their experiences and create a movement that did not exclude others with multiple experiences of marginalization and oppression. This framework challenges our ideas of “independence” as being central to those who identify as being disabled, to that of “inter-dependent” with the whole community being involved. This framework also challenges our norms of what constitute “whole” bodies versus “broken” bodies and that “brokenness” must be fixed for people to live “whole” lives. In this course we deconstruct false and limited narratives on what it means to be disabled, and at the same time, act in solidarity for the liberation of every “body.” The course is considered a social action course in the Gender Studies minor, and it will be revised to expand and strengthen its Social Action components. I plan to develop and incorporate a project that requires students to collaborate with a community artist or performer in challenging ableism.
