What is Disability Studies

Colleges and universities have increasingly worked to provide an international curriculum acknowledging that students must be prepared to deal with international issues in a globalized world. Study abroad programs provide students with opportunities to learn about cultural and linguistic systems outside the United States (US). While scholarship on learning outcomes associated with study abroad programs is emerging, inquiry into offerings that employ critical disability studies perspectives acknowledge power and intersectionality is absent. The inclusion of these frameworks provide opportunities to disrupt traditional, hegemonic, and ethnocentric understandings of knowledge and work to reflect the increasingly diverse demographics of college students. By examining the experiences of students on a short-term program to Brazil, the authors illustrate how disability studies, inclusive education, culturally relevant pedagogy and intersectionality address access, participation and learning outcomes to and about historically underrepresented groups.