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Research

Academic Units

Disability Studies Minor

The Disability Studies minor provides an interdisciplinary learning experience about key disability issues while also attuning you to varied ways of thinking, communicating and moving through the world. Cultural ideals of beauty, youth, fitness, strength, sex appeal, social skill, mental acuity and “health” all rely on norms of ablebodiedness, heterosexuality and whiteness. Thus, we approach disability not as fixed or singular category, but as a fluid, historically shifting, culturally specific formation that intersects with race, class, gender, language and nation. Together we will work together to crip — or disturb — contemporary epistemologies of disability.

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Looking for our latest Disability Studies event recording?

Here it is! Explore our latest event recording and transcript, “Research at the Intersections: Disability, Race, Indigeneity, Ethnicity.”

What does it mean to do genuinely intersectional research on disability, race, Indigeneity and ethnicity? Five scholars explain their current projects and discuss their intersectional topics and methods in this panel discussion.

Disability Studies is an interdisciplinary field that explores social, political, cultural, and economic factors that shape disability; considers the ways disability is understood and constructed across different historical moments, cultures, and nations; examines the intersectional relationships amongst disability, race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality; and foregrounds the experiences and perspectives of disabled activists, scholars, artists, and thinkers.

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Attend Upcoming & Watch Past Disability Studies Lectures

Learn directly from leading Disability Studies experts through our annual Disability Studies Lecture, where we explore exceptional research and hold critical discussion on intersectional scholarship, models of excellence and more.

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Take a Disability Studies Course

“Bad Bodies: Gender & Disability” and “Race, Disability, and Illness” both offer grad-level sections.

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Campus Accessibility

The University of Utah endeavors to ensure that its campus and programs are accessible and in compliance with state and federal disability laws and to provide reasonable accommodations to remove barriers that may prevent an individual with a disability from equally participating in academics, employment, or other University program.

Accessibility Website

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Stay in Touch

To join the Faculty/Staff Disability Studies mailing list or to ask a question about Disability Studies, email ang.smith@utah.edu.

Apply for a Transform scholarship!

We are accepting applications from November 6 through December 1.
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Research at the Intersections: Disability, Race, Indigeneity, Ethnicity

What does it mean to do genuinely intersectional research on disability, race, Indigeneity and ethnicity? Five scholars explain their current projects and discuss their intersectional topics and methods in this panel discussion.
red tulips bloom in the middle landscape area on Presidents Circle

Dean of School for Cultural and Social Transformation is named

University of Utah Provost Mitzi M. Montoya announced that Ruma Chopra has accepted an offer to serve as dean of the School for Cultural and Social Transformation.
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Making it Accessible

For the Day of Disability and Neurodiversity, a panel of campus experts provided brief overviews and demonstrations of basic accessibility practices for communications and event planning.

“My minor in disability studies has challenged me to think critically about systems of power and given me a platform to start imagining how I can help create a more accessible world through policy.”
Sydney Kincart, Class of 2024