About the Conference
A virtual colloquial series of events throughout Disability Community Month, Toward an Anti-Ableist Academy invites the campus community to learn more about creating a welcoming University climate that actively works toward embracing disability culture and experiences. Ableism is defined as discrimination and social prejudice against people with disabilities and/or people who are perceived to be disabled.
These virtual events encourage open dialogue and discussion with students, staff, faculty and disability experts, providing opportunities to learn about best practices that ensure the disabled community can fully participate in campus life at the University of Michigan.
The conference was created to provide an update on the work of the Student IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility) Board, their recommendations and the ongoing work to implement them. The charge of the Student IDEA Board was, broadly, to assess the current state and capacity of the University’s infrastructure to support and include students who are, or may become, impacted by barriers within the University and/or the University culture regarding disability and accessibility.
This title was chosen by the thirteen members of the planning committee for The Student IDEA Board conference. We brainstormed ideas for a conference title reflective of the progress made and much work to be done on reducing and eliminating accessibility gaps for disabled students, faculty, and staff. This title is indicative of the forward movement towards disability inclusion on campus.
OCTOBER 29 | Kickoff Event & Keynote
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Bonnielin Swenor
Tuesday, October 29, 2024 | 11am – 12pm EST | Hybrid: in-person and virtual option
For those attending in person:
12 – 1pm EST Lunch will be provided;
1 – 1:30pm EST Networking
Dr. Bonnielin K. Swenor is the Endowed Professor of Disability Health and Justice at Johns Hopkins University, holding joint appointments at the Johns Hopkins Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and the Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is also the founder and director of the Johns Hopkins Disability Health Research Center, which focuses on shifting the perspective from “living with a disability” to “thriving with a disability” through data-driven approaches. Dr. Swenor’s work is informed by her personal experience with disability, driving her commitment to advancing equity and inclusion for people with disabilities, particularly in STEM fields.
An internationally recognized expert on disability data, Dr. Swenor has provided expertise to several leading organizations, including the World Health Organization, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Governors Association. Her contributions are widely acknowledged in the academic community, with her research published in renowned journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and The Lancet.
In addition to her academic work, Dr. Swenor has been featured in various media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and TIME magazine. She is also known for translating her research into impactful policy changes. Notably, her advocacy contributed to the National Institutes of Health’s designation of people with disabilities as a health disparity population, highlighting her role in shaping national health policy.
Presenter: Dr. Bonnielin Swenor
OCTOBER 30 | Lessons Learned from the Voices of Students with Disabilities
Lessons Learned from the Voices of Students with Disabilities
Wednesday, October 30, 2024 | 11am – 12pm EST
In Fall 2023, the Student Accessibility and Accommodation Services (SAAS) conducted a survey of all the students connected with the unit. In this presentation, Saumya Gupta, the SAAS Project Coordinator, will discuss some themes and quotes in the student responses, and provide recommendations for improving accessibility in the learning environments. The responses reveal that there is a lot of work to be done to improve the experiences of students with disabilities, and that work goes beyond accommodations alone.
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OCTOBER 30 | Becoming Dis-fabled: Embracing Responsible Storytelling as Community Care
Becoming Dis-fabled: Embracing Responsible Storytelling as Community Care
Wednesday, October 30, 2024 | 1pm – 2pm EST
To become ‘dis-fabled’ requires unlearning outdated models of disability in order to tell real, intersectional stories (not tired fables) that are truer, safer, and ultimately more interesting. When we tell these stories in our everyday lives, we normalize disability as a complex yet natural aspect of human variance. We also make room for others to show up authentically. In higher education, this process can facilitate deeper learning and greater overall achievement, which are added benefits—but not the ultimate purposes—behind becoming dis-fabled.
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OCTOBER 31 | Cripping the Syllabus: Using Crip Theory to Redefine Access and Accommodation
Cripping the Syllabus: Using Crip Theory to Redefine Access and Accommodation
Thursday, October 31, 2024 | 11am – 12pm EST
This presentation demonstrates practical applications of crip theory in the classroom with the aim of cultivating a radically inclusive and accessible course environment. Seated at the intersection of queer theory and disability studies, crip theory positions itself as a critique of compulsory able-bodiedness and an interrogation of the compulsory systems which enforce upon students the expectations of a normatively abled body. Through examples from my own English 125 course syllabus, I will explore how crip theory can be used in the classroom to resist these compulsory systems, moving beyond individual accommodations toward redesigning the fundamental structure of our academic spaces.
Presenters
OCTOBER 31 | Disability Culture in Comics: Finding and Telling Our Own Stories Our Own Ways
Disability Culture in Comics: Finding and Telling Our Own Stories Our Own Ways
Thursday, October 31, 2024 | 1pm – 2pm EST
With the advent of graphic medicine and indie publishing, disability representation in comics has moved beyond Professor X, Oracle, Daredevil, and Doc Ock into the realm of #OwnVoices and #NothingAboutUs. People are telling their own stories about their own complicated messy intersectional lives with lived experiences that include a diversity of experiences — adaptive sports, autism, anxiety, bipolar, diabetes, epilepsy, spina bifida, wheelchair life, and much more. What do these small press and independently published disability comics look like, and how do you find them? How do they show disability culture and community? Are they just for kids? (Spoiler: NO! But some are.) Are they being used in academia? (Spoiler: YES! And in therapy, too!) These questions and more will be answered in this presentation.
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All conference sessions will have CART and ASL provided. If you will be using a screen reader or have other accessibility needs, please contact [email protected].