The University of Toledo

Welcome

Dr. Jim Ferris is the Ability Center of Greater Toledo Endowed Chair of Disability Studies.

Disability Studies is an interdisciplinary field of study located in the College of Language, Literature, and Social Sciences, which is focused on the contributions, experiences, history, and culture of people with disabilities regionally, nationally, and internationally. 

Disability Studies also turns a lens on the intersections of the experience of race, gender, class, and disability. 
 
In this program, disability will be understood as a sociocultural phenomenon and not as a medically defined condition. 
 
This new field of study has emerged as a result of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 and Disability Studies Program at the University of Toledo ensures that the academic inquiry into the experience of disability is no longer confined to medical definitions nor focused on one aspect of disability as in special education programs. 

The Disability Studies interdisciplinary minor has been developed according to the Guidelines for Minors adopted by the Arts & Sciences Council on May 2, 1989 and amended on May 16, 1995 and November 2, 1999.