Storying Disability: Interview project and Individual Paper

(75 points or 30% overall)

This assignment provides students with the opportunity to get an in-depth view of an individual with a disability’s life, his or her perspectives, and some of his/her past and current experiences (ups, downs and in-betweens!). This interview itself provides a face-to-face opportunity to get to know and work collaboratively with a person with a disability and understand his or her view of the world. The final product will allow for a synthesis of that individual’s, or family’s, story with supplementary, contextual information about the disability more broadly. At least 3 key themes from the course should be addressed within the final product.

Interview (25 points, 10% of grade)

1.     Identify a person to interview: Students will identify, and ask permission to interview, an adult with a disability, a parent of a child with a disability, or an advocate working on behalf of individuals with particular disabilities. They will not share individual’s real names, but provide a pseudonym (fake name) and brief description of the person (i.e. “I will be interviewing Shari B., a lawyer with Dementia).

·       NOTE: Students will focus this project on one of the disability category experiences covered in class that is different from the one presented in the Disability Category Group Presentation and Handout assignment. Either students can identify the person they want to interview first, or they can identify the type of disability experience they are interested in learning about and seen an interview participant based on that.

2.     Preparing for the interview: Prior to the interview students will develop an interview protocol that includes the questions they plan to ask. The purpose of the interview is to uncover the story, the challenges, and, the successes of a person with a disability. Design broad, open-ended questions that get at this understanding. It is important to phrase the interview questions broadly so that students can elicit as much detail as possible from the person being interviewed. In order to develop an interview protocol, students will draw on class discussions and readings that centered on qualitative research. Remember to then prepare thoughtful possible follow up questions based on the responses of the interviewee.