Society for Medical Anthropology · AAA
Disability Research
Interest Group
Building networks among disability anthropology scholars, educators, activists, and practitioners — theorizing disability through the diversity of lived experience.
Our Mission
DRIG operates at the intersection of anthropology, disability studies, and activism — educating colleagues and fostering critical engagement with disability across the discipline.
Scholarship
Advancing disability anthropology by documenting and analyzing the diversity of everyday life experiences of people with disabilities — beyond purely biomedical framings.
Community
Building networks among scholars, educators, activists, and practitioners committed to disability-centered research across classrooms, conferences, and scholarly work.
Advocacy
Challenging ableism as systemic oppression intersecting with race, class, gender, and sexuality — and centering disabled people as active participants, not passive subjects.
2025 Prize Winner
"The Cat That Lives in Your Dreams"
— Seon Shim
DRIG presents an annual essay prize recognizing outstanding graduate student work in disability anthropology. Honorable mentions for 2025 were awarded to Sasha Kulenkova and Mine Egbatan.
Prize Details & Past WinnersWinner Photo
400 × 400 px
Resources
Tools and materials for disability anthropology scholars and practitioners.
Guidelines for Accessible Presentations
Best practices for making conference presentations accessible to all attendees.
Is there a disabled anthropologist on your syllabus?
A zine by Erin Durban — a resource for building more inclusive course syllabi.
SANDS — Sociocultural Anthropology Network of Disabled Scholars
A network of disabled ethnographers and allies at disabledethnographers.com.
Join the DRIG Network
Connect with disability anthropology scholars, educators, activists, and practitioners worldwide. DRIG membership is open to anyone committed to advancing disability-centered research.
Get in Touch