
Welcome to the Purdue OWL
This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.
Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.
Note for Purdue Students: Schedule a consultation at the on-campus writing lab to get more in-depth writing help from one of our tutors.
Critical Disability Studies
(1990s to Present)
Summary:
This resource will help you begin the process of understanding literary theory and schools of criticism and how they are used in the academy.
Disability studies considers disability in political, aesthetic, ethical, and cultural contexts, among others. In literature, many critics examine works to understand how representations of disability and “normal” bodies change throughout history, including the ways both are defined within the limits of historical or cultural situations. Disability studies also investigates images and descriptions of disability, prejudice against people with disabilities (ableism), and the ways narrative relates to disability (see “Narrative Prosthesis” below).
It’s important to understand disability as part of one’s identity, much like race, class, gender, sexuality, and nationality. Because of its concern with the body and embodiment, disability studies also intersects other critical schools like gender studies, queer studies, feminism, critical race studies, and more. In fact, many races, classes, ethnicities, and other parts of identity have been classified as or associated with disabilities in the past, emphasizing what feminist and disability theorist Rosemarie Garland-Thomson describes as the tendency of disability to be a “synecdoche for all forms that culture deems non-normative” (259). Put differently, disability frequently signifies things outside of the “normal” world, making it an important area to investigate critically.
The Social Model: Physical vs. Social
One approach to disability studies is the social model, a theory that distinguishes between impairment and disability. “Impairment” refers to a physical limitation, while “disability” refers to social exclusion. For instance, damage to the optic nerve resulting in limited vision may be an impairment. However, the inaccessibility of our society to those who are partially or fully blind is really based on assumptions about what a “normal” body is, not on some universal Truth or ideal. The social model stresses that we live in a disabling society—that the issue isn’t people with disabilities; rather, society has failed to account for the diversity of bodies that live in the world.
Sociologist Tom Shakespeare writes that the social model is useful for creating a group identity, spreading knowledge about disability, and promoting activism. However, the social model has been criticized in recent decades for too-easily making distinctions between physical impairment and social disability (Shakespeare 202). The way we understand the body is based on socially constructed terms, ideas, and narratives; therefore, the body is always already socially “coded” in one way or another. So, the clear dividing line between physical and social sometimes breaks down. Nevertheless, the social model is a good starting point for many when thinking about disability.
What Does It Mean to Be “Normal”?
Many literary critics in disability studies examine the ways novels and other public spaces reinforce concepts about “normal” individuals. For instance, Lennard Davis writes about the historical context of the term “normal,” noting that the word’s modern use came into being with the rise of statistics and eugenics in the nineteenth century. At this time, the idea of “the average man” became central to national discourses. For Davis, a normal body is actually a theory or idea based on “the average man,” a concept that ultimately disguises the drastic differences among individuals in a society.
In the context of literature, Davis writes, “the very structures on which the novel rests tend to be normative, ideologically emphasizing the universal quality of the central character whose normativity encourages us to identify with him or her” (11). Therefore, investigating normalcy in literary texts allows one to use a disability studies approach when reading almost any work.
In a similar vein, Garland-Thomson uses the term “normate” to describe those who are unmarked by the stigmas of disability, framing disability as a minority (rather than medical) discourse. The word “normate” highlights assumptions about the body in politics, rhetoric, literature, and other areas, including the erasure of cultural and bodily difference (compare “normate” to terms like “cisgender” or “cissexual,” for instance).
Narrative Prosthesis: The Story’s “Crutch”
Narrative is also intricately tied to disability. Theorists Sharon Snyder and David Mitchell write that disabled characters act as a “crutch upon which literary narratives lean for their representational power, disruptive potentiality, and analytical insight” (49).
Unlike some marginalized groups, people with disabilities have frequently been at the foreground of representation, according to Snyder and Mitchell in Narrative Prosthesis. For example, a captain’s prosthetic leg may entail a story about his obsession with a whale, or characters like Tiny Tim may serve as wellsprings of pity and emotion. In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, the protagonist’s disfigured foot and eventual blindness metaphorize disability as destiny, and the hunchbacked protagonist of William Shakespeare’s Richard III has a complex performance history that blurs high- and low-art conventions. The list goes on.
“Narrativeprosthesis” refers the ways narrative uses disability as a device of characterization or metaphor, but fails to further develop disability as a complex point of view. Disability is used to mark characters as “unique,” and it is sometimes what prompts a narrative in the first place; however, few works develop complex perspectives about disability (Mitchell and Snyder 10). If a work does feature disability prominently, it is often used as a symbol or for comparative purposes. For example, Benjy in The Sound and the Fury has a cognitive disability, but many critics argue he is sometimes reduced to a “moral arbiter for the rest of the characters” (Bérubé 575), a standard on which the reader’s judgements about morality might be based. In short, stories often revolve around disability yet erase it simultaneously.
Types of Questions
- How is disability represented in literature?
- How are “normal” people or bodies constructed? How is normalcy reinforced?
- Is disability a catalyst for the narrative?
- Are people with disabilities gendered differently? As asexual? As feminized?
- In what ways do disability, gender, race, nationality, and class intersect?
- Does the narrative refigure the ways we define the human body? For example, how is prosthesis or technology tied to the body, and how does this change the ways we relate to our environment?
- How are disabilities like blindness tied to “Truth” or deafness to communication within a literary work? What symbolism is attached to disability?
For Further Reading
Disability studies is a recent and developing area compared to other theories and schools of criticism in literature; nevertheless, there are some works that stand out in the field. The following list is in no way comprehensive; rather, it provides avenues for exploration in literary criticism, theory, and history.
- Contours of Ableism (2009) by Fiona Kumari Campbell
- Concerto for the Left Hand (2008) by Michael Davidson
- Enforcing Normalcy (1995) by Lennard J. Davis
- The Birth of the Clinic (1963) and Madness and Civilization (1964) by Michel Foucault
- Extraordinary Bodies (1996) and Staring: How We Look (2009)by Rosemarie Garland-Thomson
- Feminist, Queer, Crip (2013) by Alison Kafer
- Bodies of Modernism (2017) by Maren Tova Linett
- Narrative Prosthesis (2000) and Cultural Locations of Disability (2005) by Sharon L. Snyder and David T. Mitchell
- A Disability History of the United States (2013) Kim Nielsen
- Aesthetic Nervousness (2007) by Ato Quayson
- Deafening Modernism (2015) by Rebecca Sanchez
- Disability Aesthetics (2010) and Disability Theory (2008)by Tobin Siebers
- The Question of Access (2011) by Tanya Titchkosky
Works Cited
Bérubé, Michael. “Disability and Narrative.” PMLA, vol. 120, no. 2, Mar. 2005, pp. 568-76.
Davis, Lennard. “Constructing Normalcy: The Bell Curve, the Novel, and the Invention of the Disabled Body in the Nineteenth Century.” The Disability Studies Reader, 2nd ed., edited by Lennard Davis, Routledge, 2006, pp. 3-16.
Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. “Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory.” The Disability Studies Reader, 2nd ed., edited by Lennard Davis, Routledge, 2006, pp. 257-73.
Mitchell, David and Sharon Snyder. Narrative Prosthesis: Disability and the Dependencies of Discourse. U of Michigan P, 2000.
Shakespeare, Tom. “The Social Model of Disability.” The Disability Studies Reader, 2nd ed., edited by Lennard Davis, Routledge, 2006, pp. 197-204.
- Navigation
- Purdue OWL
- General Writing
- General Writing Introduction
- Writing Style
- The Writing Process
- The Writing Process Introduction
- Writing Task Resource List: What Do You Need To Write?
- Invention: Starting the Writing Process
- Prewriting (Invention)
- Organization & the CARS Model
- Writer's Block
- Stasis Theory
- Creating a Thesis Statement, Thesis Statement Tips
- Developing an Outline
- Reverse Outlining
- Proofreading
- Time Management: Conquering Long Assignments
- Writing with Feedback
- Academic Writing
- Academic Writing Introduction
- The Rhetorical Situation
- Establishing Arguments
- Logic in Argumentative Writing
- Historical Perspectives on Argumentation
- Paragraphs and Paragraphing
- Essay Writing
- Conciseness
- Paramedic Method
- Reverse Paramedic Method
- Adding Emphasis
- Sentence Variety
- Using Appropriate Language
- Active and Passive Voice
- Email Etiquette
- Email Etiquette for Students
- Using Foreign Languages in Academic Writing in English
- Public Speaking and Presentations
- Learning from Lectures
- Common Writing Assignments
- Common Writing Assignments Introduction
- Understanding Writing Assignments
- Argument Papers
- Research Papers
- Research Posters
- Exploratory Papers
- Annotated Bibliographies
- Book Reports
- Definitions
- Essays for Exams
- Book Reviews
- Mechanics
- Mechanics Introduction
- Higher, Lower Order Concerns
- Sentence Clarity
- Parts of Speech Overview
- Sentence Clarity Presentation
- Sentence Fragments
- Transitions and Transitional Devices
- Dangling Modifiers and How To Correct Them
- Parallel Structure
- Two-Part (Phrasal) Verbs (Idioms)
- Capitals: Help with Capitals
- Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives
- Grammar
- Grammar Introduction
- Spelling: Common Words that Sound Alike
- Numbers: Writing Numbers
- Adjective or Adverb
- How to Use Adjectives and Adverbs
- Appositives
- Articles: A versus An
- How to Use Articles (a/an/the)
- Prepositions
- Pronouns
- Relative Pronouns
- Count and Noncount Nouns
- Subject/Verb Agreement
- Verb Tenses
- Active Verb Tenses
- Irregular Verbs
- That vs. Which
- Punctuation
- Punctuation Introduction
- Punctuation
- Sentence Punctuation Patterns
- Independent and Dependent Clauses
- Conquering the Comma Presentation
- Commas
- Apostrophe Introduction
- Hyphen Use
- Quotation Marks
- Visual Rhetoric
- Visual Rhetoric Introduction
- Visual Rhetoric
- Analyzing Visual Documents
- Using Fonts with Purpose
- Color Theory Presentation
- Designing Effective PowerPoint Presentations
- Data Visualization
- Undergraduate Applications
- Undergraduate Applications Introduction
- Advice from Undergraduate Admissions Officers
- Undergraduate Application Timeline and Additional Resources
- Graduate School Applications
- Graduate School Applications Introduction
- Overview
- Researching Programs
- Statements of Purpose
- Requesting Recommendation Letters
- Writing a Research Statement
- Personal Correspondence
- Community Engaged Writing
- General Writing FAQs
- Research and Citation
- Research and Citation Resources
- Conducting Research
- Conducting Research Introduction
- Research Overview
- Conducting Primary Research
- Evaluating Sources of Information
- Searching Online
- Internet References
- Archival Research
- Writing a Literature Review
- Using Research
- Using Research Introduction
- Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing
- Paraphrase Exercises
- Writing with Statistics
- Strategies for Fair Use
- Writing Scientific Abstracts Presentation
- Resources for Documenting Sources in the Disciplines
- APA Style (7th Edition)
- APA Style Introduction
- APA Overview and Workshop
- APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th Edition)
- General Format
- In-Text Citations: The Basics
- In-Text Citations: Author/Authors
- Reference List: Basic Rules
- Reference List: Author/Authors
- Reference List: Articles in Periodicals
- Reference List: Books
- Reference List: Other Print Sources
- Reference List: Electronic Sources
- Reference List: Audiovisual Media
- Reference List: Other Non-Print Sources
- APA Legal References
- Footnotes & Appendices
- Numbers and Statistics
- Additional Resources
- APA Headings and Seriation
- APA PowerPoint Slide Presentation
- APA Sample Paper
- APA Tables and Figures
- APA Classroom Poster
- Changes in the 7th Edition
- General APA FAQs
- MLA Style
- MLA Style Introduction
- MLA Overview and Workshop
- MLA Formatting and Style Guide
- General Format
- MLA Formatting and Style Guide
- MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics
- MLA Formatting Lists
- MLA Formatting Quotations
- MLA Endnotes and Footnotes
- MLA Works Cited Page: Basic Format
- MLA Works Cited Page: Books
- MLA Works Cited Page: Periodicals
- MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources
- MLA Works Cited: Other Common Sources
- MLA Additional Resources
- MLA Abbreviations
- MLA Sample Works Cited Page
- MLA Sample Paper
- MLA Tables, Figures, and Examples
- MLA PowerPoint Presentation
- MLA FAQs
- MLA Classroom Poster
- MLA 9th Edition Changes
- MLA 8th Edition Changes
- Chicago Style
- CMOS Introduction
- CMOS Overview and Workshop
- CMOS Formatting and Style Guide
- Chicago Manual of Style 17th Edition
- General Format
- Books
- Periodicals
- Web Sources
- Audiovisual Recordings and Other Multimedia
- Interviews, Personal Communication
- Legal, Public and Unpublished Materials
- Bluebook Citation for Legal Materials
- Miscellaneous Sources
- CMOS Author Date Sample Paper
- CMOS NB Sample Paper
- CMOS NB PowerPoint Presentation
- CMOS Author Date PowerPoint Presentation
- CMOS Author Date Classroom Poster
- CMOS NB Classroom Poster
- IEEE Style
- AMA Style
- ASA Style
- APA Style (6th Edition)
- APA Style Introduction
- APA Overview and Workshop
- APA Formatting and Style Guide (6th Edition)
- General Format
- In-Text Citations: The Basics
- In-Text Citations: Author/Authors
- Footnotes and Endnotes
- Reference List: Basic Rules
- Reference List: Author/Authors
- Reference List: Articles in Periodicals
- Reference List: Books
- Reference List: Other Print Sources
- Reference List: Electronic Sources
- Reference List: Other Non-Print Sources
- Additional Resources
- Types of APA Papers
- APA Stylistics: Avoiding Bias
- APA Stylistics: Basics
- APA Headings and Seriation
- APA PowerPoint Slide Presentation
- APA Sample Paper
- APA Tables and Figures 1
- APA Tables and Figures 2
- APA Abbreviations
- Numbers in APA
- Statistics in APA
- APA Classroom Poster
- APA Changes 6th Edition
- General APA FAQs
- Using Citation Generators Responsibly
- Using Paper Checkers Responsibly
- Style Manual Glossary
- Avoiding Plagiarism
- Teacher and Tutor Resources
- Writing Instructors
- Writing Instructors Introduction
- Parents
- Grades 7-12 Instructors and Students
- Non-Purdue Users
- Purdue Instructors and Students
- Adult Basic Education
- Writing Across the Curriculum: An Introduction
- Creative Nonfiction in Writing Courses
- Poetry in Writing Courses
- Teaching Detailed Writing and Procedural Transitions
- Teaching OSDDP: A Guide for Professional Writing Instructors
- Email Etiquette for Professors
- Writing Letters of Recommendation for Students
- Writing Tutors
- Writing Tutors Introduction
- Meeting One-on-One with Students
- Tutoring a Résumé
- Tutoring Cover Letters
- Tutoring Creative Writing Students
- Tutoring Lab Reports
- Tutoring Grammar
- Tutoring Deaf Clients
- Teaching Resources
- Teaching Resources
- Remote Teaching Resources
- Remote Teaching Resource Portal
- Technology in the Writing Classroom
- Adapting Projects to Online Classrooms
- Sharing and Presenting Work in Remote Classrooms
- Teleconferencing in the Writing Classroom
- Cloud-Based Platforms in the Writing Classroom
- Remote Peer Review Strategies
- Writing Prompts for Analyzing Nonfiction
- Nonfiction Analysis Framework
- Writing Prompts for Analyzing Fiction
- Activities for Remote Creative Writing Classrooms
- Discussion Forum Practices for Creative Writing Classes
- Conducting an Interview Presentation
- Writing Process Presentation
- Organizing Your Argument Presentation
- Peer Review Presentation
- Visual Rhetoric Slide Presentation
- Writing a Literary Analysis Presentation
- Effective Persuasion Presentation
- Teaching and Assessing Grammar
- Analytical Research Project Presentation
- OWL Video Offerings for Instructors
- Conducting an Interview Presentation
- Job Acceptance Letter Presentation
- Invention Presentation
- Preventing Plagiarism
- Preventing Plagiarism Introduction
- Contextualizing Plagiarism
- Contextualizing Plagiarism
- Truth or Consequences
- Handout: Truth or Consequences
- The Big Picture
- Authorship and Popular Plagiarism
- Copyright and Plagiarism
- Handout: Copyright and Plagiarism
- Collaborative Authorship
- Handout: Collaborative Authorship
- Defining Our Terms
- Class Plagiarism Policy
- Comparing Policies
- Handout: Comparing Policies
- Avoiding Plagiarism
- Avoiding Plagiarism
- Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting
- Peer Summarizing
- Anonymous Paraphrasing
- Paraphrasing from Media
- Handout: Paraphrasing from Media
- Using In-text Citations
- Handout: Using In-text Citations
- Quoting Others
- Handout: Quoting Others
- Summary, Paraphrase, and Quotation in Context
- Handout: Summary, Paraphrase, and Quotation in Context
- Translingual Writing
- Writing in the Engineering Classroom
- Why Include Writing in Engineering Courses?
- Using Bloom’s Taxonomy
- Types of Writing Assignments for Engineering Courses
- Conceptual Writing Prompts
- Explain-a-Problem Writing Prompts
- How Stuff Works Writing Prompts
- Real-World Example Writing Prompts
- Design-a-Problem Writing Prompts
- Open-Ended Design Writing Prompts
- Writing Tips for Students
- Assessment and Feedback of Engineering Writing
- Research Team
- OWL Presentation Mode
- Writing Instructors
- Graduate Writing
- Introduction to Graduate Writing
- Graduate Writing Topics
- Graduate Writing Genres
- Thesis & Dissertation
- Subject-Specific Writing
- Professional, Technical Writing
- Professional, Technical Writing Introduction
- Workplace Writers
- Effective Workplace Writing
- Audience Analysis
- Prioritizing Your Concerns for Effective Business Writing
- Parallel Structure
- Activity and Postmortem Reports
- Tone in Business Writing
- HATS: A Design Procedure for Routine Business Documents
- Basic Business Letters
- Accentuating the Positives
- Memos
- Four Point Action Closing
- Grant Writing
- Donation Request Letters
- Technical Reports & Report Abstracts
- White Papers
- Revision in Business Writing
- Business Writing for Administrative and Clerical Staff
- Writing in Literature
- Writing in Literature Introduction
- Writing About Film
- Literary Terms
- Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism
- Introduction to Literary Theory
- Moral Criticism, Dramatic Construction
- Formalism
- Psychoanalytic Criticism
- Marxist Criticism
- Reader-Response Criticism
- Structuralism and Semiotics
- Postmodern Criticism
- New Historicism, Cultural Studies
- Post-Colonial Criticism
- Feminist Criticism
- Gender Studies and Queer Theory
- Ecocriticism
- Critical Race Theory
- Critical Disability Studies
- Writing About Fiction
- Writing About Literature
- Writing in Literature (Detailed Discussion)
- Professional, Technical Writing