About the Program

Minor

The Disability Studies minor provides a space to explore questions such as these: How has disability been defined in various historical moments, in various cultures and eras? While impairment has unquestionably been a frequent experience throughout human history, has disability—the construction of impairment as a generic social category—been a historical constant, or is it a modern invention? What social ideologies, cultural systems, and societal arrangements have shaped the meaning and experience of disability? How has disability been defined or represented in cultural and artistic productions, public laws and policies, modern professional practices, and everyday life?

Declaring the Minor

No later than the semester before your Expected Graduation Term (EGT) semester, please submit the following form:

* Disability Studies Minor Declaration Form

In your final semester, please submit the following documents: 

* Completion of L&S Minor Form - Please be sure to have your major advisor sign page 2 of the Completion of L&S Minor form acknowledging that you are sharing no more than one class between your major and the minor.

* Transcripts (Transcripts printed through the "Cal Central" system are acceptable. Please choose the printing option that includes your name). If you are taking courses for the minor in the semester you plan to graduate, print a copy of your current class schedule as well.

* A list of 5 courses (2 core and 3 electives) you wish to use to satisfy the Disability Studies Minor, as well as the semester and year the courses were taken. You must identify any course that overlaps with any of your majors or other minors. Only one course may overlap.

Please be sure that your name, local phone number, and e-mail address is up to date, as we may need to contact you if questions arise.

Visit Program Website

Minor Requirements

Students who have a strong interest in an area of study outside their major often decide to complete a minor program. These programs have set requirements and are noted officially on the transcript in the memoranda section, but are not noted on diplomas.

General Guidelines

1. All minors must be declared before the first day of classes in your Expected Graduation Term (EGT). For summer graduates, minors must be declared prior to the first day of Summer Session A. 

2. All upper-division courses must be taken for a letter grade. 

3. A minimum of three of the upper-division courses taken to fulfill the minor requirements must be completed at UC Berkeley.

4. A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 is required in the upper-division courses to fulfill the minor requirements.

5. Courses used to fulfill the minor requirements may be applied toward the Seven-Course Breadth requirement, for Letters & Science students.

6. No more than one upper division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs.

7. All minor requirements must be completed prior to the last day of finals during the semester in which the student plans to graduate. If students cannot finish all courses required for the minor by that time, they should see a College of Letters & Science adviser.

8. All minor requirements must be completed within the unit ceiling. (For further information regarding the unit ceiling, please see the College Requirements tab.)

Requirements

Faculty

Faculty

Mel Chen, Associate Professor. Gender and Women’s Studies.

Michael Dear, Professor. City and Regional Planning.

Katherine Sherwood, Professor. Art Practice.

Susan Schweik, Professor. English.

Lecturers

Chris Downey, Lecturer. Architecture.

Georgina Kleege,  Lecturer. English.