Values and Principles of Teaching Critical Disability Studies in a Physical Therapy Curriculum: Reflections from a 25-Year Journey—Part 1: Critical Disability Studies Value Framework

The field of disability studies (DS) has grown rapidly in North America and around the world over the past 20 years.1–3 Canada has seven designated DS programmes across the country and DS courses in other areas of concentration in a variety of disciplines, such as the humanities.4 DS is now also being taught in non-DS health professional academic programmes—including physical and occupational therapy and rehabilitation courses in the United States.5 Consistent with these initiatives, Judith Heussman’s keynote address at the 2007 World Congress of Physical Therapy6 emphasized the importance of physical therapists working with the community with disabilities. These developments guide the perspectives described in this editorial. In Canada, DS has not secured a substantial foothold, in general, in the allied health professional programmes—physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy, speech language pathology, and social work. However, in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Toronto, we have been developing content for, and teaching, critical disability studies (CDS) since the 1990s—more than 25 years. We began teaching DS at a time when no other PT programme in Canada offered this content and critical perspective to their students.