Go to the website http://www.ssa.gov/disability/professionals/bluebook/ and click on “General Information.” There, you will find the legal “Definition of Disability” as well as the discussions of included terminology that follow. After reading about the Social Security definition, please search the web for other definitions of disability and disability studies. The first part of your assignment will be to discuss these various definitions and develop one of your own.
Next, go back to the Social Security website and browse through the “Adult Listings (Part A)” and “Childhood Listings (Part B).” Get a feel for how this important government program defines the various impairments in the listing book–what signs, symptoms, and laboratory findings are required in order for the government to determine a claimant disabled based on a particular impairment.
The famous Social Security Blue Book through which you have been browsing is an important tool in the disability determination process. For the purpose of this class, we will use this book, also known as the Listing of Impairments, to select topics for the upcoming three research papers. Select any topic (disability) from the website to analyze this semester (see here and here) https://www.ssa.gov/disability/professionals/bluebook/AdultListings.htm. Make sure to pick a specific disability and refer to it by name.
Read through the information about some of the impairments that interest you. Then go to the library’s website and begin doing some preliminary research. Locate and skim through some articles on various topics related to the impairments you have chosen. When you have found a topic that interests you AND located some research topics on the subject, you are ready for this week’s assignment, which is in two parts:
Define disability Discuss in 100-150 words your current understanding of disability based on the Social Security definition and the other definitions you found online.
Defend your topic choice In at least 250 words, discuss the impairment you have chosen to study in the course (be specific–ONE of the impairments listed above). Why have you chosen this impairment? What are some of the possible research topics–in all three disciplines (natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities)–you have discovered in your preliminary research? What would you like to learn about the impairment, the people who are disabled by this impairment, and the cultural implications of this impairment? What fictional works are you familiar with that treat the impairment?
