Disability Studies and Action Collaborative

Disability Culture, Scholarship, and Community

Announcements

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Join us for the DSI’s first event of the academic year!

 

The Disability Intersections Roundtable. 

This virtual roundtable — to be held from 1:30-3:00 p.m. PST on Saturday, October 16 — marks the Western Washington University Institute for Critical Disability Studies’ first event of the academic year, and we will be joined by Dr. Nirmala Erevelles, Dr. Margaret Price, Dr. Ellen Samuels, and Dr. Rana Yaghmaian, who will offer brief 7–10-minute presentations about their research related to disability and intersectionality. This will be followed by an open-ended conversation in which presenters and members of the audience will be invited to participate. We aim to create a space for difficult conversations, particularly about the ways that disability, race, and health status interact.

This event is sponsored by the Chuckanut Health Foundation and the WWU Institute for Critical Disability Studies.

Use this Zoom link to join the webinar: https://wwu-edu.zoom.us/j/94952448140?pwd=K0tpcjlJWGpmczVkVXNGTnhwUG1OZz09

Attendees on campus wishing to view the roundtable can do so in CV 207. All in-person attendees must be in compliance with WWU’s COVID-19 policy and remain masked and socially distanced during the event.

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DSSC Schedule for 2021-22

Members of the Disability Studies Steering Committee (DSSC) are looking forward to an exciting academic year. We hope you will make room in your schedule for one, several, or all of the following:  

 

  • The schedule for the DSSC, its working subcommittees, and the Interim Advisory Council is now available on the Events page. The calendar offers several options for adding events to a personal calendar, and we look forward to seeing you in the fall.

 

 

  • Do you know of an event that should be featured on the DSSC’s calendar? Email Kathleen Brian (briank@wwu.edu) to share the news. 

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2021 Listening Sessions – Disability Studies Institute Formation

Disability Studies Institute at Western: Listening Sessions

From February 23 to March 4th, the Disability Studies Steering Committee is holding virtual “listening sessions” with Western Community Members. These sessions are sponsored by students, faculty, and staff working on issues related to disability and access at Western, and now we are currently forming an Institute on Disability Studies.

Read more on our process here: https://wp.wwu.edu/disabilitycollaborative/proposing-the-disability-studies-institute/

 

Topics for discussion will include:

  • Establishing a new cross-department institute in Disability Studies
    • Feedback on the pre-proposal document that was approved by the Provost’s Office
    • Mission and focus of an institute
    • Leadership structure
  • Additional topics for discussion can also include:
    • Building a new interdisciplinary minor in Disability Studies
    • Creating new courses across the majors that address issues of disability culture, access, and ableism
    • Addressing issues of ableism and unfair treatment of students and faculty with disabilities
    • Building networks between Western and the surrounding community on issues of disability

 

We are holding listening sessions for both students and faculty at these:

 

If you cannot make these listening sessions, or if you would like to also provide feedback in another way, you are invited to respond to this survey, which will be open during the months of February and March 2021:
https://wwu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_09xQCMZl8PNK50O?Source=wppost

 

Image gives the impression of a colorful board game path made steps in how the Disability Studies Institute is forming. We started with discussions and brainstorming years ago, followed by the Disability Studies and Action Collaborative organizing an UnConference in Fall of 2019. Shortly thereafter, the Disability Studies Steering Committee was formed, and began listening sessions in Winter Quarter of 2020 to gather ideas and concerns from WWU community members to draft a Disability Studies Institute pre-proposal document. In Summer 2020, the pre-proposal was submitted to the Provost's office, and was reviewed favorably, inviting us to submit a full institute proposal. We are here! Now, in Winter quarter 2021, we'll begin a second set of Listening Sessions and collecting surveys to solicit feedback from the WWU communty. Our goal is to refine the ideas, valus, and priorities that matter to us as a community. In the future, we plan to draft the full proposal from our listening sessions, survey feedback, and steering committee members, solicit additional community feedback, and finally submit the revised full proposal in Summer of 2021.

We are here! En route to the formation of a Disability Studies Institute at Western, we are soliciting feedback from the Western community via a second round of Listening Sessions and a survey. There are still more steps ahead of us, but we are excited to share this journey with you!

For more information, please contact disabilitystudies.wwu@gmail.com

 

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Future Events Pending

We are in the process of scheduling events for the 2020/21 academic year. However, the COVID pandemic has but a hold on many of our activities. To get updates on future events, please contact us at wwu.disabilitystudies@gmail.com

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Listening Sessions – Disability Studies and Action Collaborative

Disability at Western Listening Sessions

From February 14th to March 3rd, the Disability Studies and Action Collaborative is holding “listening sessions” with faculty and students from around campus. These sessions are sponsored by students, faculty, and staff who are working on issues related to disability and access at Western.

Advertising poster for listening sessions. All text on poster is included

Click here to enlarge and download poster

Topics for discussion will include:

  • Building a new interdisciplinary minor in Disability Studies
  • Creating new courses across the majors that address issues of disability culture, access, and ableism
  • Establishing a new cross-department institute in Disability Studies
  • Discussing campus accessibility issues
  • Addressing issues of ableism and unfair treatment of students and faculty with disabilities
  • Building networks between Western and the surrounding community on issues of disability

We are holding listening sessions for both students and faculty:

Listening Sessions for Students

  • Tue, Feb 18, 2pm in VU 552
  • Thu, Feb 27, 12pm in SL 150
  • Mon, Mar 2, 3pm in HH 153

Listening Sessions for Faculty

  • Fri, Feb 14, 4pm in CV 103
  • Fri, Feb 21, 1pm in HU 107
  • Thu, Feb 27, 5pm in CV 103
  • Tue, Mar 3, 3pm in CV 104

For more information, please contact disabilitystudies.wwu@gmail.com