Advanced Certificate in Disability Studies

Academic Director: Mariette Bates, PhD
CUNY School of Professional Studies
119 West 31^st Street, 2^nd Floor
New York, NY 10001
Email Contact: disabilitystudies@sps.cuny.edu ​

The Program

The field of Disability Studies fosters a new understanding of contemporary culture, not only for people with disabilities but for society as well. The Advanced Certificate in Disability Studies provides an overview of this emerging discipline: its philosophy and key concepts; its impact on the service delivery, services and supports to people with disabilities; its importance in disability research, and its influence in the formation of public policies for people with and without disabilities.

Disability Studies offers a unique opportunity to examine disability from an interdisciplinary perspective, which includes the social sciences, humanities, science, social policy and the law. A fundamental premise of the disability studies approach is that the direct experience of individuals with disabilities is primary. Using the social model perspective of disability, the program incorporates overlapping lenses through which students discover a new understanding of disability and society.

The Advanced Certificate in Disability Studies prepares a new generation of leaders in community-based or governmental agencies as they evolve in the 21st century. It prepares students to further or begin a career working with and for people with a wide range of disabilities and is ideal for administrators, social service professionals, educators, scholars who wish a specialization in Disability Studies, people with disabilities or family members, and advocates. Certificate credits may be applied towards the M.A. in Disability Studies and to other graduate programs at CUNY.