Professional Degree courses in Dentistry, Education, Law, Medicine and Theology (MTS, MDiv)
6000-6999
Courses offered by Continuing Studies
9000-9999
Graduate Studies courses
* These courses are equivalent to pre-university introductory courses and may be counted for credit in the student's record, unless these courses were taken in a preliminary year. They may not be counted toward essay or breadth requirements, or used to meet modular admission requirements unless it is explicitly stated in the Senate-approved outline of the module.
Suffixes
no suffix
1.0 course not designated as an essay course
A
0.5 course offered in first term
B
0.5 course offered in second term
A/B
0.5 course offered in first and/or second term
E
1.0 essay course
F
0.5 essay course offered in first term
G
0.5 essay course offered in second term
F/G
0.5 essay course offered in first and/or second term
H
1.0 accelerated course (8 weeks)
J
1.0 accelerated course (6 weeks)
K
0.75 course
L
0.5 graduate course offered in summer term (May - August)
Q/R/S/T
0.25 course offered within a regular session
U
0.25 course offered in other than a regular session
W/X
1.0 accelerated course (full course offered in one term)
Y
0.5 course offered in other than a regular session
Z
0.5 essay course offered in other than a regular session
Glossary
Prerequisite
A course that must be successfully completed prior to registration for credit in the desired course.
Corequisite
A course that must be taken concurrently with (or prior to registration in) the desired course.
Antirequisite
Courses that overlap sufficiently in course content that both cannot be taken for credit.
Essay Courses
Many courses at Western have a significant writing component. To recognize student achievement, a number of such courses have been designated as essay courses and will be identified on the student's record (E essay full course; F/G/Z essay half-course).
Principal Courses
A first year course that is listed by a department offering a module as a requirement for admission to the module. For admission to an Honours Specialization module or Double Major modules in an Honours Bachelor degree, at least 3.0 courses will be considered principal courses.
Explores provocative ethical and practical Disability Studies topics using a Liberal Arts framework. Students actively engage both sides of cases with legal, medical, and recreational significance. Examines how disability, mental health and neuro-diversity intersect with modern culture and social institutions.
Explore the dynamic sports and recreation venues where people with and without disability are involved in working towards diverse forms of participation and inclusion. These are crucial spheres of self-expression, sociability, integration and contribution. Recreational and elite sports, youth and adult programs and camp settings are covered.
Disability Studies challenges the historical, medical and mainstream views of disability and mental illness as personal tragedies or solely problems to be fixed. We explore diverse approaches to imagining disability, changes over time, and associated symbolic and material outcomes.
Learn how common disability and neuro-diversity conditions are defined and resourced. Understand the complex nature and tacit assumptions of diagnostic contexts and care systems, past and present. Consider both the empowering and constraining bio-political implications of medical labelling for individuals and groups.
Learn about current and past frameworks for exceptional learners in education. Examine common systemic tensions between: macro-social policies and individualized learning plans, inclusion and specialized supports,
universal design and quality, and how families navigate accessibility and relationships amidst limited resources and neoliberalism.
Antirequisite(s): Childhood and Social Institutions 2294B if taken in Summer 2014.
This course uses diverse research and personal narratives to identify and challenge mainstream ways of thinking about the controversy of institutionalizing Intellectually and Physically Disabled, and Mad people. It explores the cultural context and social impact of the histories of de/institutionalization, intersectionality, criminalization, and housing.
Examine cultural contexts and attitudes that produce diverse, evolving representations of disability and normalcy in private reflections and public media (news, policies, memoirs, arts, social media) by care professionals, law, state, church and family. Students critique existing media representations and work on constructive alternatives.
This course draws on diverse research and first person narratives to identify and challenge mainstream ways of thinking about mental illness, psychiatry, labelling and processes of containment. Additionally, this course explores the themes of de/institutionalization, intersectionality, political economy, criminalization, housing and employment as they impact(ed) Mad people.
There is no single solution for inclusion in camp and community recreational settings that satisfies the desires and needs of diverse kids. We study theories and cases of mainstream, specialized and reverse inclusion and their operationalization in organizational contexts including best practices for training, intake, disability support, accessibility and integration.
Disability Studies critiques the medical model, yet medicine and health care play an important role in the everyday management of disabilities, mental health and chronic illness. This course explores applications for disability studies perspectives in health and rehabilitation disciplines, including medicine, psychology, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology.
Rooted in inquiry-based learning, this course engages students in key particulars of disability research. We focus on how to craft a robust research question and choose appropriate research tools (theoretical and methodological) to locate or source relevant data. Students learn to discern and assess these elements in academic articles.
This course invites students to analyze the implicit ableism of academic writing, and to engage with Disability Studies theorists who have foregrounded access and inclusion in teaching practice (in curricula, pedagogy, and assessment). Its active learning/practicum component will account for a substantial proportion of the course grade.
This course engages students with interdisciplinary academic texts, social media, videos and art in order to thoughtfully challenge mainstream constructions of disability using a gendered lens. This course encourages students to examine the circular influence that gender and disability can have on each other.
Introduction to how moral reasoning can help to identify and address current and emerging disability-related situations in health care practice, caregiving, health policy and research. Normative ethics, philosophy of health care, and Disability Studies models are applied to discussion of case studies.
Antirequisite(s):Philosophy 2272F/G, the former Disability Studies 2072F/G or the former
Philosophy 2072F/G.
This experiential learning course uses our distinct “Integrated Co-Learning” approach, partnering students and community participants with Intellectual /Developmental Disability in collaborative, mutually-enriching projects. It strives to fulfill the Disability Studies goal of centering the voices of self-advocates. Readings and lectures on inclusion, representation, and communication, inform the interactive elements.
This “Integrated Co-Learning” experiential learning course explores how narratives help us make sense of our lives, in both empowering or limiting ways, and how negative, medicalized narratives about people with intellectual disability impact their life chances and selfunderstanding. It examines the lack of positive disability narratives and practices changing this.
Combining thanatology and disability studies, this course explores grief and loss in the context of cognitive impairment. Participants will learn how people labelled with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities rarely have access to grief awareness and support, unpack the reasons for exclusion, and explore emerging strategies aimed at resolving the gap.
An experiential learning course with diverse outside activities in collaboration with disabled participants. Student/participant teams co-create projects using Disability Studies principles and mutuality. Readings and lectures inform and compliment those interactions with a theoretical grounding in social inclusion/exclusion.
Introduces students to key innovations in leadership, rights, laws, policy and practices in the human services and modern disability sector. Research and cases highlight the tensions and possibilities between conceptual ideals and the constraints of practice.
The evolution and diversification of Disability Studies has led to innovative ways of rethinking disability such as: rights, sexuality, race, Marxism, globality, the body, post-structuralism. Students learn how these ideas extend, alter or challenge existing paradigms and how to critically analyze and compare DS research.
Are memes just trivial social media noise or key indicators of who and what society considers legitimate? An interactive seminar-style class rooted in cultural criticism and disability justice, student analyze the tangible and ephemeral effects of the objectification of disability in digital culture and develop emancipatory strategies to (re)claim disability.
Explore the significance and influence of disability and mental health on family and care relationships over the life course. The course combines a Disability Studies lens with narrative, care and kinship concepts. Through written stories, we examine mutuality, discontinuity and creativity in relationships.
Interaction with health and social care systems is inevitable for many people who live with disabilities. This course examines barriers people encounter when seeking to access resources and services. Using narrative case studies grounded in lived experience, students practice applying theoretical concepts to develop practical solutions to real-world challenges.
Learn about the intersection of Law and Bioethics through actual cases involving disability, mental health and chronic illness. Examine such topics through a Disability Studies lens: rights, workplace injury and accommodation, competence assessments, personhood, end-of-life, ethics of care, and the disabling role legal, healthcare, education and job systems can play.
Learn about the intersection of Human rights and related legal frameworks in relation to the Disability Rights movement. Through a Disability Studies lens, this course reviews domestic and international, historical and current cases that represent important legal and ethical turning points: workplace, competence, personhood, end-of-life, genetics and caregivers.
Explores how different cultures construct disability. Uses cases to examine the way diverse sociocultural norms inform definitions, policies, practices and attitudes towards people with disability and how this varies internationally.
Prerequisite(s):Disability Studies 1010A/B, or 3rd or 4th year standing in a Sociology or Criminology or Disability Studies module, or with permission of the instructor.
This course is an opportunity for senior students to work collaboratively with the professor on a capstone applied project or research thesis in any thematic area within Disability Studies. The course will also comprise seminars where students will learn about effective research and communication strategies.