»Disability Studies

The Disability Studies minor provides an overview of the interdisciplinary study of disability across the domains of human experience. It allows students to explore the variety of approaches to understanding disability in personal, social, economic, artistic, and political contexts. The minor focuses on issues in the representation, history, and interpretation of disability as a social category of human difference rather than issues related to the clinical diagnosis and treatment of impairments.

What careers does a Disability Studies minor equip you for?

Disability Advocacy Organizations	Legislative and Regulatory Affairs
Assistive Technology	Social and Human Services Professional
Educational Institutions	Rehabilitation Counselor
Inclusive Education Teacher	Direct Support Professional
Urban Planning	Occupational Therapist
Non-Profit Sector Jobs	Developmental Disabilities Case Manager
Researcher	Social Service Delivery

Taylor Hein '21

English Literature, Rhetoric, and Cultural Studies major; Holocaust History and Disability Studies double minor

"Through the Disability Studies minor, I have been able to explore my own identity as a person with a disability and I have become empowered by my education to be a strong advocate for my community."

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I have taught at Chapman University for twenty-one years. Three years ago I received the Valerie Scudder award, Chapman’s highest faculty honor for teaching. I have taught more than twenty different courses in writing and literature, and I have created original courses for Chapman students, including Writing about the Human Rights Movement, Environmental Rhetoric, Writing about Daoism, and Poetry and Social Science. I have received at Chapman the Award for Curriculum Innovation in Sustainability Education (2012) and the Award for Excellence in Teaching (2019). Before joining the faculty at Chapman, I taught as a postdoc at UC Berkeley and at universities in Campeche, Lisbon, Guatemala City and Duesseldorf.

I am the director of the Disability Studies minor at Chapman, which educates more than sixty undergraduate students in fields as diverse as Education, English, Political Science, Sociology, History, Graphic Design, Anthropology, Philosophy, and Computer Science.

I have published six books of poems with Shanti Arts: All the Hills (2019), Contradictions (2020), Difficult Joy (2021), Reparation Gate (2023), Unnamed Canyon (2024) and Mountains and the Sea (2025). I have also published twenty-four essays on poetics in national and international scholarly venues, including essays in College Literature, Journal of Modern Literature, Amerikastudien, American Imago, and Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society. I have received fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, the Huntington Library, the Deutscher Akademikischer Austauschdienst and the Fulbright Commission.

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»Disability Studies

Director: Dr. Brian Glaser

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