ENGL 5820 - Disability in Literature and Film

Representations of disability – of physical impairment, neurodiversity, chronic illness, and disfigurement – pervade our literary and filmic texts. This course explores the meaning and effects of such representations, considering how and why narratives depend on disability, how disability images produce certain responses in readers and viewers, and how textual disability relates to the social and political marginalization of disabled people in the “real” world. We will question concepts of normalcy, able-bodiedness, and cure, and we will explore the implications of the appropriation or simulation of disability by non-disabled authors and actors.