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BY CHRIS ECKSTINE ’14
or some college students, taking on a minor is required. Others simply want to use a minor to help them find their career sweet spot. But the students enrolled in the disability studies program at Shippensburg University aren’t just taking a minor—they’re part of a movement. “The minor was always conceived as being very interdisciplinary, and not from a biomedical model, but from a social-cultural model of thinking about how do societies think about disability, what do they define as disability, how does that change across time and place, what kinds of policies are created and what are the implications of those for the real lives of people with disabilities,” said Dr. Allison Carey, sociology professor and disability studies minor director. The program, now celebrating five years, started with one course. “There was no way for students to get that specialty across the university or even to recognize it. So the project started with just an honors interdisciplinary class,” Carey said. The 18-credit minor is now one of the biggest on campus, and it grew quickly. “We started really working on bringing in speakers to raise awareness around disability and as a path for student careers, but also the campus philosophy that this was part of multiculturalism, that this was part of diversity, and then we started working on the minor,” she said. Before the program sheet was drawn up, the push for inclusiveness on campus already was in motion. From an Introduction to Exceptionalities class prior to the minor’s creation about seven years ago, the award-winning student group, People
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SHIPPENSBURG UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE
MINOR MAJOR THAT SPURRED A
MOVEMENT
DISABILITY STUDIES I have made friendships I probably would have never made and met people I probably would have never met if I didn’t just take time to open my eyes and just learn. Involved Equally (PIE), was born. Students have since created the Disability Awareness Club, which won an award last year for enhancing diversity. During weekly PIE meetings, adults with developmental disabilities come onto campus and participate in various activities. “It gives me a different view of people, especially with people with disabilities,” said Tori Bender, PIE’s vice president. “I have made friendships I probably would have never made and met people I probably would have never met if I didn’t just take time to open my eyes and just learn.” Bender, a social work major and disability studies minor, also is a job coach for high
school students with disabilities. The junior credits PIE with sparking her interest in taking Introduction to Disability Studies in the first place. “It honestly changed the way I thought about everything.” Bender is just one of many success stories within the minor. Students with majors in all three of Ship’s colleges are taking on disability studies and getting involved with groups like PIE. Faculty created a Disability Studies Steering Committee to incorporate related curriculum in many departments, a movement Carey insists can only benefit from more growth.
