Disability Studies

Five people move together in a line. The ground beneath them is curved as if they were journeying on-top of a large blue planet.
A spiral of people reaching out to each other for connection and community. Individuals wave, reach their arms out wide, rest their hands on others’ arms and shoulders, and communicate through technology.
A group of four people gather, bonding and working together. A reflection of the group, with slightly different people, takes up the same positions and interactions. This mirrored image suggests a world united through accessible practices.
Iconic UCLA buildings and landscapes transform, illustrating the
impact of Disability Studies by interweaving and reshaping their surroundings.
A torso-up headshot of Alice Sheppard; she is a multiracial Black woman with coffee-colored skin and platinum blond short curly hair, she wears a hot pink top. Alice folds her hands in her lap and regards the camera with a slight smile. The rims of her wheelchair arc into the bottom of the frame. Text reads “From Regents’ Lecturer Alice Sheppard, Making Our Stage: Disabled Artists at Work. Date & Time: February 11 at 5-6:30pm. Location: UCLA Kaufman Hall 220.”

DISABILITY STUDIES AT UCLA

With 54 million Americans identifying as disabled, UCLA is committed to graduating leaders who will advocate for a world that values the contributions of all individuals, affirms the achievements and life experiences of the disabled, and celebrates the full range of human potential.

Disability Studies is a groundbreaking field that challenges and changes society’s attitudes toward disability. Led by some of UCLA’s most distinguished faculty, Disability Studies examines the meaning, nature and consequences of disability from a variety of perspectives, including arts and humanities, health sciences, social sciences, public policy, technology, and education. At UCLA, the conversation around disability has shifted: from exclusion to inclusion, from limitations to possibilities.

REDEFINING ‘NORMAL’

Disability—whether bodily, cognitive, emotional, or sensory—is part of the fabric of universal human experience, and yet it is often regarded as a deficit to be fixed, cured or hidden, with disabled individuals cast as unfortunate victims. UCLA’s robust Disability Studies program is challenging this view, changing attitudes and redefining ‘normal.’

By exploring disability as a social issue and cultural identity, rather than a medically defined condition, we prepare students to use the experience of disability as a lens to re-envision models of access, inclusion, participation, communication, and equality.

The result is graduates with deep insights into the human condition, keen analytical and observation skills, empathy, and capacity for self-reflection—part of a new generation that understands and embraces disability.

HELP REDEFINE NORMAL

You can help UCLA become the world-leading center of excellence in Disability Studies. Your support will transform lives, change the conversation around disability, and help move society forward.

For more information about philanthropy and how to support Disability Studies, please go to the Support Us webpage.

View the Disability Studies brochure, which captures just some of the vibrant work that is occurring at UCLA around issues of disability.

DISABILITY STUDIES (DS) INCLUSION LABS

Inclusion Labs, nested in the UCLA Disability Studies Interdepartmental Degree Program (IDP), create spaces for scholars, community members, researchers, educators, policymakers, practitioners, and activists to explore disability as a social, political, and cultural identity. Building off the momentum of the 2017 UCLA Disability Studies International Conference ‘Disability as Spectacle’, the Autism Media Lab and Dancing Disability Lab were launched in 2018 to bring faculty, community, and students together on focused topics.

The DS Labs continue to grow and to put disability culture front and center and work to understand and eliminate the ways persons with disabilities are marginalized by ableism, discrimination, and prejudice. Explore the Disability Studies Inclusion Labs website for more information.