Institute for Critical Disability Studies Fellows Program

Hello, my name is Sharon Alfaro but I go by Chapi. My pronouns are she/her/ella. I have worked in the mental health industry for four years up to very recently and it is my biggest passion of all. This is why I decided to make my project mental health and illness related. I currently work as a phlebotomist at labcorp and am a full time mom to three fur babies. I am more than excited for this fellowship and hope I can wow everyone. My goal is not just to wow everyone, but also educate my community and fellow Latinx members

I’m an educator from Seattle, Washington, working in transition skills for students with disabilities at Edmonds College. I grew up in the Ballard area of Seattle and received my bachelor’s degree in history from Western Washington University in 2008. After college I started working as a Special Education paraprofessional in the Seattle School district. Eventually I went back to school and received a Washington State Teaching Certificate in Special Education and taught in the Seattle and Shoreline School districts before moving to Edmonds College in 2023. In my role at Edmonds College I work to support students developing self advocacy and workplace readiness skills as they transition from high school to college/work. I love working with my students and seeing them discover their strengths and passions!

In my free time I enjoy spending time outdoors in the Pacific Northwest, particularly the North Cascades. I love exploring new places and meeting new people along the way. In the ICDS Fellowship I’m excited to explore ways to expand disability services to historically underserved populations through outreach and education. Access to services should not depend on an individual’s income or circumstances and I’m passionate about finding ways to expand access to local and state resources for people with disabilities.

Alexander Jones, the Accessibility Specialist at Woodland Park Zoo focuses on all aspects of accessibility as it intersects with the guest, staff, and volunteer experience.  He implemented The Guest Inclusion Program, a grant funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services focused on creating inclusive informal programming across the zoo based on the principles of Universal Design for Learning.  Working in the field of accessibility for over 9 years he brings a diverse perspective with both lived experience identifying as an individual with disabilities, a background in ADA compliance, Web Accessibility, a human design-centered approach, and adaptive therapeutic recreation. Alexander currently serves on the Seattle Cultural Accessibility Consortium as a steering committee member. While much of his work has been in the space of accessibility he is excited to dig deeper into disability justice in the fellowship at Western Washington University. He hopes this work will help create a deeper impact amplifying more disabled voices.

I’m a philosophy PhD student at the University of Washington, and am working toward a graduate certificate in science, technology, and society studies. I hold a bachelor’s degree from Stonehill College in North Easton, MA, and a master’s degree from Miami University in Oxford, OH. I’m also a steward & organizer with UAW4121, and a philosopher-in-residence at Rainier Beach High school in Seattle. 

My academic interests are quite wide-reaching; they mostly lie at the crossroads of structural injustice, disability, social epistemology, feminist philosophies, affect, and applied ethics. Some of my current projects include an evaluation of the hermeneutical and phenomenological good that diagnosis can serve as, an examination of the ways that anger gets recapitulated as Madness and the unique harms that its bearer thus becomes subjected to, and, more recently, a paper exploring the harm perpetuated by characterizing the COVID-19 pandemic through militaristic metaphors. 

I received my Master’s degree in Counseling Education with a Rehabilitation specialty in 2014 from Portland State University. I have experience working in the vocational rehabilitation field, teaching assistive technology, and working with disabled college students which is what I currently do as an Access Manager at the WWU Disability Access Center.

One of the strongest messages disabled people receive from society is that we are broken. We are often viewed as less-than, as burdens. These judgments result in assumptions of what we can and cannot do, and thus what we are allowed and not allowed to do. As a totally blind woman, I believe the disabled body is something to be celebrated. We find ways to dance, to nurture, to create, to play sports, to make love, … And in our current climate where physical attacks on members of minority groups are increasing, we have the right to find ways to defend ourselves. The goal of my project is to provide general awareness and training to local self defense instructors on adapting their teaching techniques so that any disabled person can access training specific to their needs in an inclusive and accessible environment.

Erin is a genderqueer and neuroqueer disabled scientist working for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory at the University of Washington. They graduated from Western Washington University in June 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in physics and math/computer science, with minors in astronomy and statistics. Their time at Western was spent advocating for disabled students and working with the College of Science and Engineering through the Student Ambassadors Program to help make classrooms more accommodating to everyone. In their free time, Erin works with the University of Washington’s Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology (DO-IT) program as a panelist talking about the life of a disabled student and worker.

Z devised their concentration in Declaration of Interdependence: Reclamation, Remediation, and Creation, minoring in Chemistry. They exist and operate in scalars–broadening perspectives and inviting specifications into moments and cases. She is of the ocean, space, and the elements. He devotes himself to timelessness and presence.

Melina Juárez Pérez is an Assistant Professor in Political Science and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. They were born and raised in the Central Valley, California in a Mexican immigrant farmworker community. Their work focuses on the lives, health, and happiness of Latinx and BIPoC communities, particularly that of fat, disabled, queer, and women folk. Her time as a CDS Fellow will be spent on examining the ways disability functions within Latinidad and how it shapes relationships among Latinxs.