Welcome to the course website for "What Is Normal?" I'm glad you're here and know that you will find this class to be one of the most important and thought provoking experiences of your entire college career. This page will serve as the main link to course content and other information. Once you have your web pages up, I will also link to them through this page. In other words, if it's online and related to this class you'll find it here...
This class will give you a good basic understanding of how disability is experienced and perceived in the modern world and to give you an introduction the field of Disability Studies. We will look at the history of oppression that individuals with disabilities have experienced. We will look at the pros and cons of policies designed to equalize opportunities for individuals with disabilities. We will look at cultural representations of disability in pop culture, movies, and literature, and attempt to understand how these pervasive media shape and perpetuate disability stereotypes.
In general you are going to be asked to step outside of your comfort zone and learn how to critically examine the world and culture that we live in. I will challenge you intellectually and, perhaps, even physically...that's my job. If you respond to the challenge you will learn and gain important academic, intellectual, and social skills. Remember, what you get out of this class in directly proportional to the amount of effort you put into it. Again, I'm glad to have you on board. Let's get on with it shall we?