DISABLTY 113G Making Disabilities: The Construction of Ideas

Examines the expression of social and cultural ideas of disability in popular culture through film, television and print media. The course aims to develop skills to examine the construction and maintenance of concepts of disability and disabling identities in popular culture. The consequences of these processes are also discussed and their implications for perpetuating social devaluation, discrimination, and disadvantage

Note:  BHumServ and BSW students can not use DISABLTY 113G to meet their General Education requirement. 

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Develop and demonstrate awareness of the processes of the construction of disability in culture and media of New Zealand and internationally. 
2. Develop critical and reflective thinking alongside an awareness of the student’s identity.
3. Explain the role of media such as film, television and photography in the construction of the disabled identity.
4. Demonstrate the contribution of ideas and methods from cross-disciplinary research to an understanding of the construction of social responses to disability. 
   

'I loved this course. It completely opened my eyes to a new way of thinking and experiencing the world. It was well–organised, interesting and intellectually stimulating. The lecturers were approachable and friendly. I liked the way they used a variety of different media as resources e.g. videos, articles, webcomics, etc.'

'The course has let me rethink my medical understanding of disability.'

'Visual and audio examples were helpful for putting theory into a context, which made it much easier to understand.'

'The lecturers had personal knowledge of the situations they were lecturing about.'

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