Age Studies and Disability Studies

Abstract

Age and disability studies explore the meaning, nature, and consequences of embodied difference—of age and/or disability—within society. While distinct fields, these areas of study have some methodologies in common and share the same impetus: to counter prejudice—ageism and/or ableism—and to explain the origins and mechanisms of such prejudice in the interests of reducing or eliminating it. Both fields examine how aging and disability are represented within popular culture and the consequences of these representations in terms of constraining lived experiences through the promotion of stereotypes and stigma and the presentation of limited narrative identities. Through a reading of two graphic novels, this chapter will introduce some of the key methodological approaches these fields have in common and will demonstrate the value—for health humanities in particular—of thinking through the lenses of both fields simultaneously.