Emma Williams

Major: Social Work

Minor: Interdisciplinary Disability Studies

Advisor: Sandra Butler

Reply to question: How have the IDS courses shaped your perspective of disability?

Interdisciplinary disability studies courses have enlightened me to the different ways of approaching disabilities. With societal norms as they are now, disability is typically looked at as a failure or something to be fixed. This set of courses showed me that disability can be examined from so many more approaches than just the medical model. What I have learned is that societal norms can be just as impairing as any physical or mental “disability”. Our
connotations of what the human body should be able to do, what it should look like, and how it should think can trap individuals into boxes. Just as society is starting to re-examine cultural norms surrounding race, gender, and sexual identity, we must also strive towards changing the normative idea of what the ideal human body should be. I hope to be a part of this change, on a personal level and on a professional level. These courses enlightened me on not only how societal views need to change, but how policies need to be changed and adapted to fit our current disability climate. As I go through my career as a social worker and hopefully a lawyer someday, I will advocate for this change.”