Teaching Disability Politics: The Recognition–Implementation Gap in Global South Perspectives

Disability-related teaching remains organized around scholarship and frameworks developed in the Global North. Drawing on an original survey of instructors in political science and related fields, this article examines how instructors incorporate Global South perspectives. Among 65 respondents, 90.8 percent described assigned disability literature as mostly or entirely Global North-shaped, yet 60.7 percent reported that Global South contexts constituted no more than 10 percent of their syllabi. The gap persisted across course types: nearly half of respondents teaching courses with majority disability content still reported no more than 10 percent Global South content. Respondents emphasized the value of these perspectives for challenging Northern frameworks and connecting disability to colonialism and political economy. They attributed limited inclusion to publication inequalities, disciplinary canons, limited familiarity, and shortages of teaching materials. Closing the gap requires disciplinary training and infrastructures that make Global South knowledge accessible and usable in teaching.