Privacy and the Past in US Disability History

DIS ST/HSTCMP 402 & 502 A, Topics in Disability History

Winter 2025

Hybrid Instruction in SAV 132 & on Zoom

Tuesdays & Thursdays, 10:30am-12:20pm

Instructor: Joanne Woiak, jwoiak@uw.edu 

Welcome to the course!

Welcome to my disability studies class on United States disability history. The course is designed to provide flexibility in how you access the content and how you show your engagement with the material. I’m looking forward to teaching and learning with you this quarter. 

Course delivery:

Methods of instruction will encompass class discussions, lectures, podcasts, webinars, and films. The course content will be offered in a variety of modalities in order to provide as much flexibility and accessibility as possible. Class meetings will be recorded. It is preferred that students participate synchronously on a regular basis, including for student facilitation of discussion. An asynchronous participation option will be available for anyone who sometimes needs that or via arrangements with the instructor. This course will be largely discussion based. My goal is to support you in engaging with the course material while navigating hybrid learning. The plan for class meetings may change some days to Zoom only, and I will provide as much advance notice as possible. Tuesdays & Thursdays hybrid learning: Class meets in SAV 132 and on Zoom, 10:30-12:20. Students may attend in either modality.

Course description: “Privacy and the Past in US Disability History”

What are historians’ ethical obligations to the people they study and their communities? What policies and practices around privacy and preservation shape access to historical documents such as medical records, letters, and photos? Whose histories get told and from whose perspective, and whose remain hidden or erased from public memory and how do scholars confront these silences and stigma? In this course we will first survey key themes in United States disability history, including eugenics, incarceration, activism, and intersections with race and gender. Then we will delve into examples from the literature that grapple with “ways to proceed with sensitivity and creativity in the exploration of disabled peoples’ and disability’s pasts” (Richard and Burch, “Documents, Ethics, and the Disability Historian”). Texts we read will include selected chapters from:

• Kim Nielsen, A Disability History of the United States
• Susan Lawrence, Privacy and the Past: Research, Law, Archives, Ethics
• Adria Imada, An Archive of Skin, An Archive of Kin: Disability and Life-Making during Medical Incarceration
• Susan Burch, Committed: Remembering Native Kinship in and beyond Institutions
• Jenifer Barclay, The Mark of Slavery: Disability, Race, and Gender in Antebellum America

Instructor & Getting Started

Instructor: Joanne Woiak (she/her). I am faculty in the Disability Studies Program.

• Email: jwoiak@uw.edu
• Office hours: by appointment on Zoom or in my office SAV 414

To get started in the course, click on "Welcome"

• Welcome
• Syllabus (Word doc)
• Assignments (Word doc)
• Schedule of Topics & Readings
• Policies & Grading & Resources
• Please always check the Modules and daily Home Pages for all information and updates about content warnings, assignments, lectures, films, readings, and announcements.

Assignments:

• 15% Participation
• 10% Interdependence (note taking & annotating)
• 30% Reading Responses (write 3 papers)
• 15% Facilitating Discussion (small group assignment)
• 30% Essay/Project - guidelines published
  • 10% Pre-writing and peer workshop
  • 20% Final essay/project
• Students enrolled in DIS ST/HSTCMP 502: This class is taught jointly as DIS ST/HSTCMP 402/502. Graduate students will have an additional assignment preparing a short presentation on one reading for one day followed by their leadership of the discussion. Grad students will write a final term paper that takes a deeper dive into one or two of the topics and/or theories covered in the course. This assignment can be negotiated with the instructor; it could be a literature review, original research into historical primary sources, a draft article for your primary field of study, or another format.

Readings:

It’s expected that you do the required reading before class begins and be prepared to discuss your ideas, queries, and opinions. Consult the modules regularly for readings, film & podcast links, lectures, supplementary texts, and updates to the assignments.

All of the required readings are on the course website as PDFs or external links. You can find them in Files and in the Modules.

Learning objectives:

• Understand the history of disability and activism in the United States in connection with other social categories and movements.
• Gain or deepen a theoretical background in the field of disability studies (DS), and apply the concept of the social construction of disability to knowledge and methods in disability history.
• Investigate how normalcy is constituted through gender, sexuality, race, class, and disability.
• Develop skills in communicating complex ideas related to disability, diversity, and intersectionality.
• Demonstrate knowledge of emerging issues, debates, and scholarship in disability history, disability studies, and disability justice.
• Disability Studies Program Learning Goals: https://disabilitystudies.washington.edu/skills-knowledge-careers

Grading scale

Accommodations, access, and resources:

            Please do not wear scented products in our classroom or the instructor’s office, to make these spaces more accessible for people with chemical sensitivity.

            The instructor is trying to create an inclusive learning environment. Your experiences in the class are important to all of us. If you anticipate or encounter barriers participating or demonstrating your learning because of any aspect of how the course is taught, I encourage you to contact me as soon as possible so that we can discuss options.

            We can work in conjunction with Disability Resources for Students: Disability Resources for Students (UW Seattle) Email: uwdrs@uw.edu Phone: 206-543-8924. If you have already established accommodations with DRS, please communicate your approved accommodations to me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course. DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions.  Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, your instructor(s) and DRS. 

            Note that while this is directly applicable to students who are registered with DRS, you do not need to disclose a disability or provide an accommodations letter to discuss accessibility. Please feel free to talk with me about any aspect of accommodations or accessibility.

Religious Accommodations Policy

Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request.

Mental Health Services to Students:

• Here is the main UW website with many on-campus and off-campus resources: https://wellbeing.uw.edu/topic/mental-health
• View more Student Support Services on this Canvas pageand on the University Services and Support Page Link

Writing Resources:

• POL S/LSJ/JSIS Writing Center: http://depts.washington.edu/pswrite/
• Odegaard writing & research center: http://depts.washington.edu/owrc/
• CLUE writing center: http://depts.washington.edu/clue/dropintutor_writing.php

• CHID (Interdisciplinary Writing Studio) https://chid.washington.edu/writing-center