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BLS 424/Topics in American Studies: Disability and the Body
Suggested topics for research topics on disability,
cultural attitudes and assumptions, and policy
Genetic discrimination (employment, insurance, etc.)
Telethons and other fundraisers (such as the Jerry's Kids Muscular Dystrophy telethon).
Non-disabled parents of disabled children/support and perspective; disabled parents of non-disabled or disabled parents.
Chronic illness and "hidden" disabilities (diabetes, impotence and infertility, etc.) and their relationship to apparent physical disabilities.
The (largely) non-disabled professional non-profit advocacy and education industry.
Notions of gender and their effect on people who have been physically altered due to disabilities.
Non-therapeutic plastic surgery and its relationship to physical disability.
The politics of organ and tissue donation/attitudes towards death and dying.
Coercive/un-consented euthanasia vs.(?) "right-to-die" activists.
Comparative study of level of integration of disabled/non-disabled in two subcultures, or in subculture vs. dominant culture.
The concept of "victimless diseases": obesity, smoking-induced diseases, sex- or drug use-induced AIDS, etc./Hierarchy of "worthy" diseases.
The shifting notions of who is "physically disabled"/legal narratives of who is disabled when interpreting the ADA and related.
Re-visions of images of disability ("Wheelchair Studs" calendars, etc.)/"exposing" images of people with disabilities.
Changing images in a particular media (Hollywood cinema, television, advertising, etc.) of particular disability over time; comparison between two disabilities
Autobiographical literature of disability and its impact on self-definition of people with disabilities and/or impact on culture.
Ideology of individualism vs. community and impact on disability policy.
Different models of education at various levels: complete separation, "special," "mainstreaming," "inclusion."
Paid work and notions of "productive labor" and impact on disability policy.
Children's books and their role in shaping ideas and policies about disability.
Images of children with disabilities and telationship to policy in general or towards children specifically.