Elizabeth DePoy is a theorist, researcher who is best known for her work in methods of inquiry, legitimacy theory, and disjuncture theory. Co-authored with Stephen Gilson, DePoy developed Explanatory Legitimacy Theory. Through that lens, DePoy analyzes how population group membership is assigned, is based on political purpose, and is met with formal responses that serve both intentionally and unintentionally to perpetuate segregation, economic status quo, and inter-group tension. Co-authored with Gilson, Disjuncture Theory explains disability as an interactive “ill-fit” between bodies (broadly defined) and environments (broadly defined).
DePoy's work has earned numerous awards including:
University of Maine Trustee Professorship, 2013-2014
Senior Scholar Award, Society for Disability Studies, June 2009.
Elected to The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, University of Maine, April 2009.
Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award, American Public Health Association, October 2008.
Faculty Fellowship Summer Institute in Israel, Society for Peace in the Middle East, Summer, 2008. Sponsored by Bar-Ilan University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ben Gurion University, Tel Aviv University, Haifa University, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Jewish National Fund, Media Watch International, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
University of Maine, Presidential Research and Creative Achievement Award, May 2007.
Outstanding Achievement Award, Association of University Centers on Disability, November 2006.
Allan Meyers Award for Scholarship in Disability, American Public Health Association, September 2005
Fulbright Senior Specialist Scholar, Grant awarded to Assuit University, Assuit, Egypt, March, 2003
Feminist Scholarship Award-Council on Social Work Education, March 2000.
In her initial book on disability theoryRethinking Disability (2004), and more recent work, Disability as Disjuncture (2011), DePoy, with co-author Gilson, takes on the essentialist nature of current diversity categories with a particular focus on disability, laying bare the value foundation and political and economic purpose of “disability category” assignment and social, professional and community response. Her subsequent works, co-authored with Gilson, include The Human Experience (2007), Human Behavior Theory and Applications (2012) and selected essays and papers. This scholarship applies legitimacy theory to understanding theories of human description and explanation and their purposive, political use in diverse “helping professional” and engineering worlds.
In her most recent writing in press, DePoy, with co-author Gilson, applies design theory and practice to the analysis of diversity categories, their membership, and their maintenance. She asserts that current approaches to understanding and responding to diversity are grand narratives that advantage the market and professional economy while perpetuating difference and inter-group struggle, truncating social justice and limiting equality of opportunity.
Most recently, applying this theoretical synthesis to healing disjuncture, DePoy has engaged in a collaborative research agenda with Gilson and Vince Caccese, applying engineering and robotic science to the creation of juncture. Her most recent innovations involve prototyping and testing service and fitness robotics and aesthetically designed devices.
With Gilson, DePoy is examining how campus architectures, images, and cultural campus policies affect juncture and participation in the intellectual enterprise.
DePoy is currently professor of Interdisciplinary Disability Studies, Social Work, and cooperating faculty in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maine and a principle in ASTOS Innovations, a non-profit corporation devoted to improving equality of access to community resources in local, national, and global environments. ASTOS Innovations designs and develops model access solutions. DePoy also holds the position of Senior Research Fellow. Ono Academic College. Research Institute for Health and Medical Professions. Kiryat Ono, Israel.
DePoy was born in 1950 and grew up in New York. She earned a BS in 1972 and PhD in 1988 from the University of Pennsylvania. She has been teaching in higher education since then in several universities throughout the U.S. She lives on a farm where she and her husband rescue disabled horses, dogs and other animals. Her passions include adaptive riding and skiing.
Selected articles and essays
(She has published 15 books, many book chapters, and over 100 articles in peer reviewed journals.)
DePoy, E., & Gilson, S.F. (2015). Discursive construction of mental health as a disability. In M. O’Reilly & J. Lester (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of child mental health. Houndmills,Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan
DePoy, E., & Gilson, S.F.( 2014). Branding and designing disability. Abingdon, Oxon, UK: Routledge.
DePoy, E., & Gilson, S. (2012). Social work practice with disability: Moving from the perpetuation of a client category to local through global human rights and social justice. Revista de Asistenţă Socială / Social Work Review, 11, 11-22.
Gilson, S.F. & DePoy, E. (2012). The student body. In A. C. Carey and R. K. Scotch (Eds.) Disability and Community In B. Altman and S. Barnartt (Series Eds.) Research in Social Science and Disability (Vol. 6) (pp. 27–47), Bingley, United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing Group.
DePoy, E. & Gilson, S.F (2010) Disability design and branding: Rethinking disability within the 21st century Disability Studies Quarterly
DePoy, E. & Gilson, S.F. (2010) Disability by design. Review of Disability Studies.
DePoy, E., & Gilson, S. F. (2009). Disability by Design. The Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal.
Gilson, S.F., & DePoy, E. (2009). Policy legitimacy: a model for disability policy analysis and change. Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal.
DePoy, E., & Gilson, S.F. (2009). Designer diversity: Moving beyond categorical branding. The Journal of Comparative Social Welfare, 25, 59-70.
DePoy, E., & Gilson, S. F. (2008). Designing University Techscapes: An Inter-Organizational Technology Collaboration to Advance Equality of Participation in University Organizations. In J. Salmons, & L. Wilson, (Eds.), A Handbook of Research on Electronic Collaboration and Organizational Synergy(pp. 223–237). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
DePoy, E., & Gilson, S. F. (2008). Disability Studies: Origins, Current Conflict, and Resolution. The Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal 4(4), 33-42.
DePoy, E., & Gilson, S.F. (2008–2009, Winter) Social work practice with disability: Moving from the perpetuation of a client category to human rights and social justice. Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics.
Gilson, S. F., & DePoy, E. (2008). Explanatory legitimacy: A model for disability policy development and analysis. In K. M. Sowers (Series Ed.) I. Colby (Vol. Ed.), Comprehensive handbook of social work and social welfare: Vol 4. Social policy and policy practice (pp. 203–217). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
DePoy, E. & Gilson S. (2008). Healing the disjuncture: Social work disability practice. In K.M. Sowers & C. N. Dulmus (Series Eds.) & B.W.White (Vol. Ed.), Comprehensive Handbook of Social Work and Social Welfare: Vol. 1. The Profession of Social Work (pp. 267–282). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Gilson, S., & DePoy, E. (2008). Designer Diversity: Constructing Bodies and Backgrounds through Contemporary Design Theory. International Journal of the Humanities, 6(4), 177-188.
Gilson, S. F., & DePoy, E. (2008). Explanatory legitimacy: A model for disability policy development and analysis. In K. M. Sowers (Series Ed.) I. Colby (Vol. Ed.), Comprehensive handbook of social work and social welfare: Vol 4. Social policy and policy practice (pp. 203–217). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Gilson, S. F., & DePoy, E. (2007). Da Vinci’s Ill Fated Design Legacy: Homogenization and Standardization. The International Journal of the Humanities, 5, (7), 145-154. Retrieved http://ijh.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.26/prod.1150
Gilson, S. F., & DePoy, E. (2007). Geographic analysis for the social sciences. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 1 (6), 89-96.
DePoy, E. & Gilson, S. (2007) "The Bell-shaped curve: Alive and well and living in diversity rhetoric". International Journal of Diversity in Organizations, Communities and nations, 7.
DePoy, E. & Gilson S. (2006). "Universal web access: An intelligent web interface". International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society, 1, 128-131.
DePoy, E., & Gilson, S.F. (2005/2006). "Moving beyond nomothetic category: Diversity as symmetry". International Journal of the Humanities, 4, http://www.Humanities-Journal.com
DePoy, E. & Gilson, S.F. (2005/2006) "Universal access technology: Advancing the civil right to information literacy". International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society, 1, http://www.Technology-Journal.com.
DePoy, E. (2005) "Assistive technology: A blessing or a curse". Psychosocial Process.
DePoy, E., & Gilson, S.F. (2012). Human behavior theory and applications: A critical thinking approach. Thousand Oakes, CA: Sage Publications.
DePoy, E. & Gitlin, L (2011) Introduction to research: Multiple strategies for health and human services 4th ed. St. Louis, MO: Mosby.
DePoy, E. & Gilson, S.F. (2011) Studying Disability: Multiple Theories and responses. Thousand Oaks, Sage
DePoy, E. & Gilson S. (2008). Evaluation practice: How to do good evaluation research in work settings. New York: Routledge.
DePoy, E. & Gilson S. (2007) The human experience: Description, explanation, and judgment. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
DePoy, E. & Gitlin, L. (2005) Introduction to research: Multiple strategies for health and human services 3rd ed. St. Louis, MO: Mosby.
DePoy, E. & Gilson S.F. (2004) Rethinking Disability: Principles for Professional and Social Change. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks-Cole.
DePoy, E. & Gilson S. (2003) Evaluation practice. New York, NY, Taylor and Francis.
