Disability Studies and Action Collaborative

Disability Culture, Scholarship, and Community

Archived October 2019 UnConference

Archived October 2019 UnConference

Inaugural DSAC UnConference – Saturday, October 19th 2019

Find further materials from the UnConference at:

Western Washington University is pleased to host the inaugural event for the Disability Studies and Action Collaborative, the DSAC UnConference. This one day event will provide a venue for scholars, students, nonprofit workers, advocates, activists, artists, and other community members can gather to discuss issues of disability, access, and equity. Our focus will be local to the needs, concerns, and opportunities of Bellingham, WA and the surrounding region.

This event is planned in the ethos of Universal Design. All materials and activities will be designed to accommodate all participants through audio interpreters, downloadable documents, and other accommodations participants request in the application form.

Support the UnConference and future DSAC events through our Viking Funder crowdfunding page

Architect's rendering of Carver hall after a major renovation. The hall is three stories tall and very broad, with glass walls across the whole facade.

What is the UnConference?

An UnConference is a collaborative event where experts of various kinds get together to learn from one another and solve problems. So, while traditional conferences usually involve experts on a stage giving pre-written presentations, UnConferences focus more on workshops and problem-solving sessions, where participants work together to understand complex problems and devise new solutions.

The DSAC UnConference has aspects of both traditional conferences and UnConferences. Everyone who participates in the event will be assigned to a working group based on their interests and skills. Participants in these working groups will identify a particular disability-related question, problem, project, or idea, and they will work together throughout the day to find a way to solve that problem or push that idea forward.

In addition to the working group sessions, the UnConference will also feature “seminar sessions,” where participants will give pre-prepared talks on topics related to disability studies, disability arts, public advocacy, or other subjects relevant to issues of disability, access, and equality. Talks can vary in length from 30 minute presentations to 5 minute micro-talks, and can be presented in a range of formats.