Theme and approach:

This course considers the ways in which ability and disability are conceived, represented, and negotiated. Through weekly readings screenings, and discussions we will examine mainstream media representations (from Hollywood and Network/Cable TV), alternative film/video, educational and internet-based media as well as assistive technologies.

 

Questions addressed include: How are our ideas about [dis]ability mediated by communication, media, and technology? How have these developed and changed historically? What ethical challenges are presented by the representation of disability? What assisitve and prosthetic roles do communication media/technology take on?

 

Meetings and Office Hours

Class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays 5 - 6:30 pm via Zoom or Canvas

Office Hours: Tues 10:00 am - 11 am & Thurs 10:30-11:30 am

Email: bgoldfarb [at] ucsd • edu

 

Requirements

• Attendance is mandatory and will be considered in your participation grade.
• Weekly readings (approx. 30-50 pages) and/or film/video viewing (streamed via UCSD film library reserve).
• Weekly online discussion entries in response to prompts about the readings and/or class projects (on CANVAS).
• Midterm assignment (Specifications to be discussed in class)
• Final project (Specifications to be discussed in class).

Assessment

The main goals of this class are learning and preparation for research, as well as intellectual and creative work in the field. Grades are required, but I hope of secondary concern. Participants will be graded based on attendaence, participation, and completion of assignment, as follows:

• Participation: 20%
• Weekly online discussion entries (CANVAS) and assignments 25%
• Midterm project 25%
• Final project 30%

Undergraduate P/NP Department Policy:

Typically, all courses taken for credit toward the Communication major or minor must be taken for a letter grade with the exception of one 198 or 199. The Department is amending that policy for courses taken during Spring 2020: all courses taken during Spring Quarter 2020 can be taken for P/NP and still count toward the major. Students will be able to change their grading option for a course through the end of the 10th week of the quarter. Please be aware that P/NP grades can affect students in other ways such as (but are not limited to) Financial Aid, Veteran's Services, Academic Probation, etc. Please reach out to these specific departments to learn how a P/NP grade may affect you.

 

Undergraduate Add/Drop Policy:

The deadline to add a course is extended to the end of Week 3, and the deadline to drop, without a W, is extended to the end of Week 5. The undergraduate drop deadline, with a W, is extended to the end of Week 7. Undergraduates may petition to drop a class or withdraw from the University after the end of week 7 and by the end of Week 10 for emergency reasons

Required Texts

• Class readings and media will be available via Canvas, E-reserves, or linked to the course website as noted on the syllabus.

Optional Texts:

• Beth Haller (Avocado Press, 2010), Representing Disability in an Ableist World.
• Charles a. Riley II (2005), Disability and the Media: Prescriptions for Change
• Leonard Davis (Routledge; 5 edition, 2016),The Disability Studies Reader
• Elizabeth Ellcessor & Bill Kirkpatrick, eds. (NYU Press, 2017), Disability Media Studies
• Katie Ellis (Macmillan Palgrave, 2016) - Disability Media Work: Opportunities and Obstacles- .pdf
• David Proud (2016) The Art of Disability: A handbook about Disability Representation in Media
• Katie Ellis (2015) Disability and Popular Culture: Focusing Passion, Creating Community and Expressing Defiance

Remote Teaching and Access Considerations

• Please email the professor to let them know if you will be working from another time zone, and if so which one. [If need be, the professor may offer two different sessions for live meetings to accommodate those for whom the 5 pm - 6:20 pm meeting time would be in the middle of the night]
• While we wait to hear about how the Office of Students with Disabilities will address concerns during the Spring Quarter (info to be posted here: https://osd.ucsd.edu/resources/covid-19.html ), the professor welcomes you to email questions, concerns, suggestions that would help them to think through ways to make this course as accessible as possible for the specific needs of the entire class. In this regard please let the professor know the following (this confidential information will be kept confidential):
• You anticipate using a screen reader (for vision impairment, etc)
• You ordinarily rely on sign language interpretation or captioning (CART) for lectures, seminars and other audio/visual learning
• Have any other concerns that you would like to share with the professor around accommodation for participation in the course
• Feel free to let the professor know if you do not have access to a laptop or desktop computer with an internet connection with a wireless connection that would allow you to view audio/video materials or connect to a video-conference (Zoom, etc) 

 

Disability Accommodations

The professor is dedicated to making this course as accessible to all students as possible and working with students to address diverity of learning styles. If you require accommodations or services for disabilities, please communicate with the Professor at the beginning of the course and register with the Office of Students with Disabilities (OSD) [https://osd.ucsd.edu/] in order to obtain a current Authorization for Accommodation (AFA) letter. This letter is required for eligibility for requests. Receipt of AFAs in advance is necessary for appropriate planning for the provision of reasonable accommodations. OSD Academic Liaisons also need to receive current AFA letters. Information regarding COVID-19 and OSD Accommodations during Spring Quarter 2020 can be found at https://osd.ucsd.edu/resources/covid-19.html#Information-for-Students

For additional information, contact the Office for Students with Disabilities:

• 858.534.4382 (V)
• 858.534.9709 (TTY) - Reserved for people who are deaf or hard of hearing
• osd@ucsd.edu
  

Course Policies

1.     Courtesy and consideration for others: The position taken in this class is that are no stupid opinions, only uninformed ones. Please do your best to understand and explore viewpoints expressed by students that might differ frrom yours. And if offering a contrasting opinions, take care to provide information that might persuade others to think differently instead of simply dismissing their views out of hand. All participants in the class are also required to observe the UCSD Principles of Community which can be found at: https://ucsd.edu/about/principles.html

2.     You are expected to read assigned texts and view assigned media before the meetings where they are listed on the syllabus.

3.     Attendance and particiaption all scheduled meetings is an important aspect of this class and will be considered in assessment of your grade. If you must miss a class meeting, it is your responsibility to: (a) notify your the professor (in advance if possible); (b) obtain notes and information on what you missed from classmates (c) complete the assigned readings for the class. Please do not ask the professor about material that you missed before obtaining notes from a classmate.

4.     All assignments must be turned in on the due date indicated on the syllabus. You will lose a grade point for each day that an assignment is late. This means, for example, that if you get an A on an assignment that is two days late, your grade will drop to a B+

5.     You are required to observe university regulations regarding academic integrity. This means no student shall engage in any activity that involves attempting to receive a grade by means other than honest effort; for example:

• No student shall knowingly procure, provide, or accept any unauthorized material that contains questions or answers to any examination or assignment to be given at a subsequent time.
• No student shall complete, in part or in total, any examination or assignment for another person.
• No student shall knowingly allow any examination or assignment to be completed, in part or in total, for himself or herself by another person.
• No student shall plagiarize or copy the work of another person and submit it as his or her own work.
• No student shall employ aids excluded by the instructor in undertaking course work or in completing any exam or assignment.
• No student shall alter graded class assignments or examinations and then resubmit them for re-grading.
• No student shall submit substantially the same material in more than one course without prior authorization.
• No student shall sign attendance sheets for another student, or ask someone else to sign in for her/him. Any plagiarism will result in a grade of F for the assignment or exam, will be reported to the Academic Integrity Office, and may result in an overall course grade of F. To view the UCSD Academic Integrity Statement, visit: https://students.ucsd.edu/academics/academic-integrity/ai-and-you.html

Maintaining Academic Integrity: Students agree that by taking this course all required papers will be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. Use of the Turnitin.com service is subject to the terms of use agreement posted on the Turnitin.com site.