Courses in Disability Studies are taught by Texas Center for Disability Studies faculty and staff and are currently offered through the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin. The course number for each course is SW 387R for the graduate level and SW360K for the undergraduate level class.

This Web-based course provides an overview of disability policy. Topics include the history of the disability rights movement, relevant federal and state legislation, legal and ethical issues, services and supports through federal and state programs, the political economy of disability, and disability culture, advocacy, and leadership issues.

Course Objectives:
The purpose of this course is to introduce the student to the history of the disability movement and how this movement affected the development of federal and state legislation, legal and ethical decisions, policies, agencies, and services, including those delivered through waiver programs. Finally, a discussion of disability culture, advocacy, and leadership, and how these issues aid our understanding of Disability Studies, will complete the course. To that end:

• The student will understand the major events in the history of the disability movement and their relationship to current legislation, policy, legal issues, and service delivery affecting people with disabilities.

• The student will understand the content and intent of recent legislation and court decisions that affect people with disabilities.

• The student will identify how attitudes and beliefs about disability may affect the development of legislation, legal decisions, and policies.

• The student will explore and critically evaluate the complex issues related to the political economy of disability.

• The student will examine federal and state agencies providing services to people with disabilities and their families.

• The student will examine the complex process of obtaining needed services through federal and state waiver programs.

• The student will identify qualities of the disability culture and how it is perceived by mainstream culture.

• The student will critically evaluate the importance of disability advocacy and leadership, and consider ways to support this movement.

SYLLABUS for FALL 2008

Syllabus Lesson
Goals
We will go over the information you need to be successful with online learning, how to use the WebCT software, and helpful online resources.

Lesson 1: History of Disability and the Disability Movement
Goals
We’ll go over the major events that occurred in the disability movement and begin to discuss their impact on legislation, legal rulings, programs, and services for people with disabilities. Topics will include disability definitions, perceptions of disability in different times and places; disability in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries; systems of care of people with disabilities, including focus on institutional placements; models of disability, including pity, charity, empowerment, etc., disability language, and person-first language.

Lesson 2: Federal and State Legislation
Goals
We will explore the impact of legislation on the lives of people with disabilities. Federal legislation will include ADA, IDEA, the Rehabilitation Act, and others. Specific Texas legislation will also be examined.

Lesson 3: Legal and Ethical Issues
Goals
We will examine major legal rulings and ethical issues that affect people with disabilities. Legal rulings will include the Olmstead decision, ADA and educational decisions, civil rights, and others. Some of the ethical issues we will consider include assisted suicide, advance directives, educational inclusion, parenting, marriage, medical issues, and others.

Lesson 4: Programs and Services
Goals
In this section, we will begin to examine the relationship between legislative activity and legal rulings on the development of policies, programs, and services. The process of finding and obtaining services is very difficult. There are numerous agencies, service programs, and federal and state waivers. People with disabilities and families are faced with this maze daily. We will talk about it here.

Lesson 5: Political Economy of Disability
Goals
In this section, we will discuss the social and economic aspects of disability, and how this affects the development of programs and services for people with disabilities. We’ll talk about how services and programs are developed, who gets the services, and how some of those decisions are made.

Lesson 6: Disability Culture, Advocacy & Leadership
Goals
The disability culture is a real thing! We’ll talk about its characteristics, and how advocacy and leadership are developed and supported.