Who We Are
About DRIG
A section interest group of the Society for Medical Anthropology, dedicated to disability anthropology scholarship, community-building, and advocacy.
Our Mission
The Disability Research Interest Group (DRIG) is dedicated to building networks among disability anthropology scholars, educators, activists, and practitioners. We seek to theorize disability by documenting and analyzing the diversity of everyday life experiences of people with disabilities — while challenging the assumption that disability is purely a biomedical phenomenon to be treated or corrected.
A core aim of DRIG is to educate colleagues and foster anthropological discussions about disability across classrooms, conferences, and scholarly work. We recognize ableism as a form of systemic oppression that intersects with race, class, gender, and sexuality — and we are committed to centering disabled people as active participants in research, not as passive subjects or objects of study.
DRIG operates as a section interest group within the Society for Medical Anthropology (SMA), itself a section of the American Anthropological Association (AAA). Members can join through AAA membership options.
Core Commitments
Centering Lived Experience
We prioritize the diverse everyday experiences of disabled people as primary sources of knowledge, resisting reductionist biomedical framings of disability.
Intersectional Analysis
We recognize ableism as inseparable from other forms of systemic oppression — race, class, gender, and sexuality — and engage disability through an intersectional lens.
Participatory Research
We are committed to research practices that center disabled people as active collaborators and agents, not as passive subjects or populations to be studied.
Accessible Scholarship
We advocate for accessible presentations, publications, and conference environments — modelling within our own practices the inclusivity we study.
Critical Pedagogy
We support educators in building more inclusive syllabi that center disabled scholars, activists, and disabled-authored texts.
Network Building
We connect anthropologists working across disability studies, medical anthropology, crip theory, and related fields — bridging academic and activist communities.
History
DRIG is established as a section interest group within the Society for Medical Anthropology. The founding steering committee begins organizing sessions at AAA annual meetings and awarding travel grants to graduate student presenters.
DRIG curates and promotes disability-relevant sessions at AAA Annual Meetings and administers travel awards for graduate students presenting disability-focused research.
DRIG launches its Annual Essay Prize, recognizing outstanding graduate student work in disability anthropology. The prize has since become a flagship recognition in the field.
The 2025 Essay Prize is awarded to Seon Shim for "The Cat That Lives in Your Dreams," with honorable mentions to Sasha Kulenkova and Mine Egbatan. DRIG continues to grow its steering committee and network.
Organizational Context
DRIG is a section interest group (SIG) within the Society for Medical Anthropology (SMA), which is itself a section of the American Anthropological Association (AAA). Membership in DRIG is open to all AAA members with an interest in disability research and anthropology.
Join DRIG