What does Disability Studies Look Like? Disability Studies is an interdisciplinary field that often gets overlooked in our discussions of diversity, equity, inclusion and the humanities. Our conversation will focus on what the role of disability studies should be in the future of humanities at large and at Miami University specifically. We will also discuss how we might increase access to higher education for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and how humanities courses might be more accessible to neurodivergent learners.
Please refer to this essay in preparation of the lunch forum.
Michael Bérubé is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Literature at Pennsylvania State University, where he teaches American literature, disability studies, and cultural studies. He has previously served as president of the Modern Language Association, director of the Institute for Arts and Humanities at Penn State, director of the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, and council member of the American Association of University Professors. He is the author of thirteen books, including The Left at War; The Employment of English; What’s Liberal about the Liberal Arts?; and The Humanities, Higher Education, and Academic Freedom. His book Life as We Know It: A Father, A Family, and an Exceptional Child, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and a best of 1996 selection by National Public Radio’s Maureen Corrigan. Bérubé’s work has appeared in The Nation, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, and many other newspapers and magazines. His most recent book is The Ex-Human: Science Fiction and the Fate of Our Species. In 2012, Penn State awarded him the Faculty Scholar medal for research.
