Disability Studies - A Short note

As a child, I remember reading an illustrated abridged version of The Hunchback of Notre Damus by Victor Hugo. The main character, hunchback Quasimodo, is portrayed as a lonely figure, loathed by everyone, and is bewitched by a beautiful gypsy dancer, Esmeralda. The illustrated abridged version of the novel carries images of Quasimodo in which the artist has gone to great lengths to bring out the disability. Today, as I prepare this short note on Disability Studies, just a day after the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which is observed every year on December 3. 

Disability Studies draws on ideas from fields such as philosophy, sociology, psychology, and history. It helps students understand how disability is connected to society, fairness, and politics. Today, images of disabled people are everywhere — in children’s books, movies, and magazines. But these images often show disabled people in minimal ways, such as helpless victims, villains, or heroes. Disabled children are usually shown either as brave sufferers or as angry characters. Disability Studies encourages students to question these images and think critically about how society treats disabled people. It also helps students understand how social systems and institutions affect the lives of people with disabilities. Disabled people often face pain, illness, loss, and frustration, and may also feel left out psychologically. Everyone experiences poor health at times, which reminds us that being healthy and able-bodied is not permanent. In recent years, Disability Studies has become an academic subject in universities, along with growing interest in Inclusive Learning in the UK. Some of the literary texts that have elements of disability are Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.