Disability Resources

Search Strategies for Disability Studies

Finding keywords for disability studies can be challenging:

• Critical theory may use its own critical vocabulary and jargon
• Some terms related to disability may be used as metaphors in other contexts
• Older work may use dated terminology
• Older work may not have been cataloged as disability studies at all

Some keywords to try

• abledness, ableism,ableist, able-bodied, able-bodiedness
• access, accessible, accessibility
• ageism, ageist, aging
• Deaf, deafness, deaf studies (some Deaf people consider themselves to be a linguistic/cultural minority, not disabled)
• dis/ability, disability, disabilities, "disability studies", "disability rights", disabled
• disease, dis-ease
• enable, enabling
• inclusion, inclusiveness, inclusivity
• normalcy, normals, normative
• universal design