Dennis
Opinions are like buttocks - we all have them but it doesn't always do to
air them in public... nonetheless....
I am not familiar enough with U.S. university funding to fully understand
the implications of your proposed disability studies programme, but my
primary concerns would be:
1) does the university have access to teachers with adequate experience of
social model influenced disability studies?
2) how can content and standards be protected - there are some unimpressive
D.S. courses already out there
3) experience in the UK suggests that a well constructed, delivered and
advertised course will attract students, although the danger is that primary
interest will be in medical/rehabilitation/legal aspects, rather than pure
D.S.
Efforts to establish cost-benefit exercise (which is what appears to have
been proposed) is fraught with peril. Adequate enquiry would, presumably,
need to establish number of similar courses available nationally/locally and
their 'success' with a consideration of scale of unmet need. A more likely
response will be to conduct a mail out and see how many enquiries result.
Or is the course to be offered as a self-contained module for students
majoring in other subjects?
Appreciated the reference to 'Field of Dreams' - there's at least one other
sad sap out there then!
Good luck with the course.
Richard Light
Research & Publications Director
Disability Awareness in Action
11 Belgrave Road
London SW1V 1RB
United Kingdom
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Telephone: + 44 (0)20 7834 0477
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