In the 2009 documentary film Monica and David, Monica, a woman with Down syndrome, is asked to define the word “handicap.” She responds, “When someone is in a wheelchair,” adding that the term may also apply to people who cannot hear or walk. “It’s a sickness,” she concludes. When presented with the same question, her husband, David (who also has Down syndrome), says he does not have a handicap. Asked if he has Down syndrome, he answers, “Sometimes.” In this brief exchange, Monica and David exemplify the challenges of defining disability as a coherent condition or category of identity. Yet David’s assertion that “sometimes” he has Down syndrome suggests that he understands a central tenet of disability studies: that disability is produced as much by environmental and social factors as it is by bodily conditions. While Down syndrome may prevent David from driving a car or managing his own finances, for example, his genetic condition is not a defining feature of his home and family life. These insights by Monica and David remind us that the meanings we attribute to disability are shifting, elusive, and sometimes contradictory. Disability encompasses a broad range of bodily, cognitive, and sensory differences and capacities....

In 2005, Gallaudet University—the premier research and teaching institution for Deaf and hearing-impaired students in the world—began designing a new building, the James Lee Sorenson Sign Language and Communication Center. Instead of simply commissioning an architectural firm to do its work, administrators invited faculty and graduate students in the social sciences and humanities to help design the building, which was eventually completed in 2008. To this end, Dirksen Bauman, a Gallaudet faculty member who studies linguistics and critical theory, held a graduate seminar in 2006 entitled “Deaf Space.” Bauman worked with students to think about the political and experiential ramifications of Deaf space rather than simply giving administrators or architects of the new building a laundry list of “needs” that could be incorporated or added on to an existing design. Would a building designed entirely by and for Deaf people look, feel, and be experienced differently from other buildings—and, if so, how might it work? Alternately, because Deaf people already live in the world without specially designated spaces, could there be something fundamentally problematic and even essentialist about creating an identifiable “Deaf” space? Does designing a building for “the Deaf” undermine the goals of the universal design movement, which is...

_Keywords for Disability Studies_ is intended for use in a wide range of interdisciplinary teaching environments. The essays are written clearly with a minimum of specialized language, and they do not assume prior knowledge of the field, so they should be readily accessible to undergraduate readers. By defining terms and concepts in their historical contexts, they provide a foundation on which more topical course readings can be based. At the same time, the essays offer syntheses of previous scholarship and critical perspectives that will help guide graduate work on issues related to disability in humanities or social sciences courses, as well as professional fields such as law, business, social work, nursing, and medicine. We hope to make students and teachers in all of these fields more self-conscious about the language and concepts they use, and also to provide opportunities for dialogue across disciplines. One of the most important pedagogical functions of _Keywords_ is to provide conceptual frameworks for disability studies courses across the disciplines. By assigning a set of 2-3 _Keywords_ essays at each session, instructors can encourage students to think about the broader issues behind a given set of readings. For example, students who have been asked to read...

_Keywords for Disability Studies_ aims to broaden and define the conceptual framework of disability studies for readers and practitioners in the field and beyond. The volume engages some of the most pressing debates of our time, such as prenatal testing, euthanasia, accessibility in public transportation and the workplace, post-traumatic stress, and questions about the beginning and end of life. An invaluable resource for students and scholars alike, _Keywords for Disability Studies_ brings the debates that have often remained internal to disability studies into a wider field of critical discourse, providing opportunities for fresh theoretical considerations of the field’s core presuppositions through a variety of disciplinary perspectives. The print publication includes 60 essays, each focused on a distinct critical concept, including [“ethics,”](/disability-studies/essay/ethics/ "Ethics") [“medicalization,”](/disability-studies/essay/medicalization/ "Medicalization") [“performance,”](/disability-studies/essay/performance/ "Performance") [“reproduction,”](/disability-studies/essay/reproduction/ "Reproduction") [“identity,”](/disability-studies/essay/identity/ "Identity") and [“stigma,”](/disability-studies/essay/stigma/ "Stigma") among others. This site includes the volume’s [“Introduction,”](/disability-studies/introduction/ "Introduction") 9 web essays from the volume, the list of [works cited](/disability-studies/works_cited/) for all the essays, information about the [contributors](/disability-studies/contributors/ "Contributors"), a [note on classroom use](/disability-studies/courses/in-the-classroom/note-on-classroom-use/ "Note on Classroom Use"). Any page in the site can be printed or saved as a pdf, and a single click provides a citation to that page that can be pasted into a...