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Jonathan Paul Mitchell, BA, MA, PhD

Fee £45.00 (concession rate £36.00) - fee will amend when you select the appropriate fee rate below.

Autumn 2026

6 weekly sessions on Tuesdays 6.30 pm to 8.00 pm, starting 29 September 

This course untangles various, sometimes contradictory, ways disability has been conceptualised and represented. Today disability is mostly conceived in medical terms: something wrong with someone's body or mind that should be corrected or mitigated. It was not always framed this way. We will examine different portrayals of disability: Ancient drama and Middle Ages superstitions, wherein anomalous bodies were marvels or moral exemplars; subsequent scientific understandings of anomaly as error, and their apotheoses in mass containment and eugenics; Nineteenth and Twentieth Century cultural artefacts from freak shows to ‘inspirational’ film performances; and the emergence of disability rights and arts movements. We relate these to wider social contexts and to how real disabled people were treated. We consider which ideas still echo in the present, and evaluate their effects. 

This class will be offered in hybrid form, i.e. you can attend on QUB campus or online 

For further reading: Stiker, Henri-Jacques.  A History of Disability. University of Michigan Press, 1999. Goodley, Dan.  Disability Studies: An Interdisciplinary Introduction. SAGE, 2011. 

Support Requirements

If as a result of your disability you have support requirements, please complete a support needs form and return it 3 weeks before your class commences. The form is available to download here under the Facilities and Support for Disabled Students section or contact the office on 90 973323.

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