Disability Studies

Disability studies is a dynamic, interdisciplinary minor that explores disability as a human experience. Students study the history, culture, and human rights movements of disabled people, analyzing disability's intersections with race, class, gender, sexuality, and nationality. We assume there is no need to fix disabilities. Instead, we build a better world that accommodates and respects people with disabilities.

20+
internship opportunities
90+
students in the minor
10+
interdisciplinary departments

What You Can Do with a Disability Studies Minor

The disability studies minor prepares students for careers in psychology and counseling, health and medicine, government, nonprofit agencies, advocacy, public policy and administration, education, and social work. Graduates can pursue careers in:

  • Human and family services
  • Physical, occupational and speech therapy
  • K-12 education
  • Pre-med and pre-law
  • Arts and museum education
  • Adaptive recreation
  • Nonprofit organizations
  • Public interest groups
  • Advocacy
Colin Wilfrid, Disability minor student, playing horn

How Disability Studies Enriches Your Career

"As someone with an intellectual disability, I got to learn a lot about people with physical disabilities. It gave me a lot of broad advocacy skills to advocate on behalf of both physical and intellectual disabilities."

—Colin Wilfrid, Disability Studies Minor

Our Degree Program

Undergraduate students can earn a minor in disability studies with a focus on interdisciplinary studies and fieldwork that provides real-world experience. 

Teacher and kid in class

Learn from Experts in the Field

Students minoring in disability studies will learn from faculty who are known experts in their respective fields. Because each student is given the flexibility to build their own course of study built on their specific interests, there are opportunities to work with faculty representing a broad range of departments.

Children and student at daycare

Get Real-world Experience

Earn credit toward your minor while gaining hands-on experience in the field. You’ll have the opportunity to learn directly from people with disabilities through a wide variety of community partnerships in sports, schools, healthcare, direct support provision, the arts, and many other spheres of life.

Scholarships and Funding

Students in the Disability Studies Program can seek funding through the College of Arts and Sciences, which awards various scholarships both to incoming students and to those already attending the UO.

Undergraduate Scholarships

Academic Support

Students minoring in disability studies can consult our program director or seek support from the advising team at Tykeson College and Career Advising.

Tykeson Advising

Humanities News and CAS Events

CINEMA STUDIES, MATHEMATICS - Abby Lewis, a fourth-year mathematics and cinema studies major, hopes to address the divide between mathematics vs. arts students in her second children’s book, Moose and the Math Fairy, earlier this year. “Math is in patterns, and it’s all around us in the world," Lewis said.
ROMANCE LANGUAGES, WOMEN'S AND GENDER AND SEXUALITY STUDIES - Oregon Ducks come from all over the world, including the Basque Country, a small region carved out of northern Spain on the border with France. Meet Nagore Sedano Neveira and learn about her life's journey that brought her to University of Oregon.
DISABILITY STUDIES, JUDAIC STUDIES - Students who come to CAS seeking a degree often find something even greater: themselves. Discover how an identity-focused major or minor can lead to a fulfilling career.

All News »


Department of History Coffee Hour
Oct15
Department of History Coffee Hour Oct 15 McKenzie Hall
Disabled and Neurodivergent Graduate Student Time Together
Oct15
Disabled and Neurodivergent Graduate Student Time Together Oct 15 Susan Campbell Hall
The Roots of Polarization: From the Racial Realignment to the Culture Wars
Oct15
The Roots of Polarization: From the Racial Realignment to the Culture Wars Oct 15 William W. Knight Law Center
How to Be Ready for the Graduate Student & Postdoc Industry Recruitment Event (GSPIRE)
Oct15
How to Be Ready for the Graduate Student & Postdoc Industry Recruitment Event (GSPIRE) Oct 15
Let's Talk - Tuesdays 3-5PM (CMAE/Zoom)
Oct15
Let's Talk - Tuesdays 3-5PM (CMAE/Zoom) Oct 15 CMAE
The BIG 10+ Academia Career Fair
Oct16
The BIG 10+ Academia Career Fair Oct 16
Resume Extravaganza! (Drop-In Resume Reviews with Career Coaches & Peer Coaches)
Oct16
Resume Extravaganza! (Drop-In Resume Reviews with Career Coaches & Peer Coaches) Oct 16 Willie and Donald Tykeson Hall
Get Ready for the Big One! What You Need to Know About Earthquake Preparedness
Oct16
Get Ready for the Big One! What You Need to Know About Earthquake Preparedness Oct 16 Erb Memorial Union (EMU)
Let's Talk - Wednesdays Noon-2MP (Peterson Hall/Zoom)
Oct16
Let's Talk - Wednesdays Noon-2MP (Peterson Hall/Zoom) Oct 16 Peterson Hall
Let’s Talk – Wednesdays 2PM-4PM (BCC/Zoom)
Oct16
Let’s Talk – Wednesdays 2PM-4PM (BCC/Zoom) Oct 16 Lyllye Reynolds-Parker Black Cultural Center

All CAS events »