When architecture disables: Teaching undergraduates to perceive ableism inthe built environment

This article describes an exercise in which students analyze architectural barriers in campus buildings to understand that people with disabilities ar e excluded from everyday social interaction. Sociological concepts such as deviance and discrimination prove elusive to students when merely studied f rom a textbook. Through this active learning exercise, students link their experiential understanding of environmental obstacles with Theories and con cepts about conformity and non-conformity. in their written work, students report about access in public spaces, an understanding of obstacles imposed on people with disabilities, a connection between the physical and social environments, and deviance as a failure to meet the demands of an environme nt built for able bodies.