Disability Studies and Action Collaborative

Disability Culture, Scholarship, and Community

Proposing a New Disability Studies Institute

Proposing a New Disability Studies Institute

From the Archives
Feb 11, 2021

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Proposing the Institute

Seeking Feedback

The biggest step to creating a new Institute for Critical Disability Studies at Western is to write a formal proposal to the WWU administration. Our plan is to develop the proposal over three stages:

  1. Get feedback on the big ideas and concerns to be included in the full proposal from the WWU Disability Studies Steering Committee and other members of the WWU community
  2. Drafting the full proposal itself
  3. Seeking feedback on the proposal draft from members of the WWU community and members of the broader community

How you can help: Provide feedback on the Pre-Proposal

Earlier in 2020, we submitted a pre-proposal to the Provost’s office for an initial determination. Essentially, this pre-proposal stage told us that the administration was agreeable to the idea of the institute in broad strokes. They then sent us away to write a more detailed, full proposal.

We need feedback from members of the Steering Committee and other WWU community members to help us move from the pre-proposal to the full proposal. We have created a survey, which you can use to let us know what you think of the ideas and details in the pre-proposal. Note that everything is up for grabs, and we don’t necessarily expect anything from the pre-proposal to be included in the full proposal.

Our goal here is to discover what ideas, values, and priorities matter to us as a community. Some of these may already be represented in the pre-proposal, while some may not. We need you to tell us what you feel strongly about–what you think needs to be included in these documents if we are going to truly represent who we are as an organization.

Read the Pre-Proposal

A) Institute Name

Disability Studies Institute

B) Statement of purpose as it relates to the functions of the institute

The Disability Studies Institute (DSI) was developed by a group of students, faculty, and staff who are committed to promoting the interdisciplinary field of Critical Disability Studies (CDS) at Western Washington University. CDS combines the activism and commitments to social justice characteristic of the Disability Rights Movement with the academic study of disability as a key topic of inquiry in such diverse fields as literature, anthropology, chemistry, education, engineering, recreations, computer science, philosophy, and the fine arts. CDS has emerged as an important and influential field within the academy.

It is globally established in academic journals, conferences, institutes, departments, and programs. Many institutions in our region, including Eastern Washington University and the University of British Columbia, have already developed robust programs in this area. Rooted in a field committed to elaborating the significance of disability for understanding human experience, the DSI will help Western realize its commitments to promoting equity and social justice in our community. In addition, the Institute will provide students with opportunities to engage with aspects of diversity and community not currently widely taught on Western’s campus.

To promote the development of CDS scholarship, programs, and activities at Western, our institute is committed to these core functions:

  • To provide students with opportunities to study disability-related topics in courses across multiple departments, including in the context of an interdisciplinary minor
  • To provide students with guidance and support for their studies in CDS, for example, by providing faculty advising and scholarship opportunities
  • To create a place where students, faculty, and interdisciplinary research groups can work together, share ideas, and receive advisement and direct support
  • To support faculty to develop new CDS courses, conduct and share CDS research, and develop digital humanities projects
  • To establish Western as a regional hub for CDS programs and events, such as visiting speaker series and the Pacific & West Disability Studies Consortium
  • To promote an atmosphere of positivity and pride around issues of disability at Western and the inclusion of disabled students, faculty, and staff in all aspects of university life
  • To expand infrastructure for disability-related scholarship and programming across Western’s campuses, in collaboration with the library and special collections, the Disability Access Center, and various departments that already have interests in these topics, such as SMATE, HHD, and SPED
  • To build community partnerships through events like the UnConference, brown bag discussions, and internship programs and conduct outreach to sectors of the community not traditionally included in academic conversations about CDS, including carceral institutions, public transit, and homelessness resources

C) Brief justification and expected impact/benefits

Western Washington University will benefit from the establishment of the Disability Studies Institute (DSI) in three main respects.

  • 1. Western students will be able to study an important aspect of diversity and participate in exciting programs. The DSI first began because students demanded more courses focused on disability and desired a minor in Critical Disability Studies (CDS). Members of the DSI Steering Committee, which is nearly one quarter students, have already begun proposing new courses that could serve as the basis for such a minor. The DSI aims to develop courses across fields including business, design, the physical sciences, and the liberal arts.
  • All DSI programs will be designed with students in mind. The October 2019 UnConference included students at every level— planning, reviewing proposals, presenting, and co-facilitating the working groups. We have worked closely with the Associated Students Disability Outreach Center (DOC) and will continue to seek opportunities to mentor and support student advocacy groups.
  • 2 .The Disability Studies Institute will support Western’s stated commitments to diversity, equity, and justice. Critical Disability Studies teaches all students to critically examine such important social concepts as accessibility, ableism, and accommodation. This increased awareness of disability within our society and culture will empower all students to be better critical thinkers and civic participants . CDS courses will provide students with disabilities the opportunity to learn about their own history and traditions within an academic setting. These courses and the DSI’s public events will contribute to an atmosphere of inclusion and pride that will benefit students with disabilities in terms of connection to campus culture and motivation to persist and achieve at Western. These courses will also recruit faculty who specialize in this area of study, who are often disabled themselves and thus bring new, vital aspects of diversity to the Western community.
  • 3. The Disability Studies Institute will make Western a regional leader in Critical Disability Studies. Over the past thirty years, CDS programs and departments have sprung up around the nation, ranging from small certificate programs to doctoral programs. Regionally, Eastern Washington University has developed a set of certificate programs, and the University of Washington offers a major and minor in Disability Studies. The University of British Columbia boasts the Wingspan Dis/Ability Arts, Culture, and Public Pedagogy Center, which hosts performance series that draw artists and academics from the world over. Western is one of the few major institutions in region that does not have such a program or public presence.
  • Yet Western has the potential to be a regional leader. The DSI is needed, in part, because Western has seen an influx of faculty across all disciplines with doctoral degrees and professional expertise in areas of disability and accessibility. Many of these faculty are already involved in the various interdisciplinary institutes and programs Western fosters, including the Honors Program, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program, the Institute for Energy Studies, the Center for Canadian American Studies, the Ray Wolpow Institute, and the Salish Sea Institute, among others. These institutes, centers, and programs are characteristic of Western’s interdisciplinary, place-based approach to public intellectual engagement. The DSI will build on these strengths through partnerships with local organizations and experts to develop events, courses, and programs that will distinguish Western as a unique intellectual hub for CDS in the region.

D) List of the Institute’s Goals

  • 1. The Disability Studies Institute will create a sustainable community that allows students, faculty, and staff with disabilities to cultivate and benefit from an atmosphere of dignity, belonging, and respect.
  • The Disability Studies Institute (DSI) will create opportunities for authentic engagement by advancing more complex and positive understandings of disability and people with disabilities. The DSI recognizes that students, staff, and faculty with disabilities often feel marginalized, stigmatized, and/or tokenized. To promote inclusivity, mutual respect, and resilience, the DSI will foster meaningful relationships and facilitate difficult conversations. The Institute’s programming will not only promote visibility, but also provide a way for students with disabilities to explore their own identities, histories, and traditions within an academic environment. In turn, this collective knowledge and expertise will be mobilized for the transformation of policies, structures, and practices that contribute to the misrecognition of people with disabilities at Western. The DSI understands the creation and maintenance of this community to be foundational to its other work.
  • 2. The Disability Studies Institute will draw on the expertise of people with disabilities situated in this place, as well as those who work in the academic field of Critical Disability Studies, to advance Western’s core educational mission.
  • The academic field of Critical Disability Studies (CDS) is inherently interdisciplinary, co-curricular, and transformative—characteristics that will structure the DSI’s educational initiatives. The Institute will advance its capacious, dynamic model of disability through the creation of an interdisciplinary minor in CDS, and through its commitment to advising and supporting students who seek to minor in CDS. The core coursework will be inquiry-based, problem-oriented, and collaboratively developed by faculty from a range of disciplines, each of whom offers expertise in CDS. To complement this curricular core, students will choose electives offered by departments and programs across campus. The DSI thus seeks not only to identify already-existing courses in which students might enroll, but also to empower faculty to establish new CDS courses. To support this curricular growth, the DSI will work to increase relevant holdings in the libraries and archives associated with Western, while also seeking greater navigability of these collections.
  • Alongside intentional curricular development, the DSI will advance pedagogical research initiatives for the broader campus community. It will foreground, in particular, the ways of learning and knowing that emerge from the experiential insights of people with disabilities. Although the DSI may offer input regarding best practices for direct interventions in the classroom, it will focus on fostering the work of faculty and students researching and writing in CDS pedagogy.
  • 3. The Disability Studies Institute will be a hub for Critical Disability Studies in the Pacific Northwest.
  • The DSI will be a space where the local, regional, national, and global converge. It will cultivate relationships with local communities, organizations, and institutions that hold especial salience for disability and people with disabilities. Of particular importance will be those in the areas of healthcare, housing, transportation, employment, and incarceration. To accomplish this, the programming initiative will foster more robust public discourse, bring cutting-edge research to the residents of Whatcom County, and create opportunities for campus-community collaborations.
  • In addition to hosting the annual UnConference and, rotationally with other universities, the biennial meeting of the Pacific & West Disability Studies Consortium (PWDSC), the DSI’s speaker series and working groups will showcase CDS’s relevance to campus and local communities. Students and community members alike will benefit, as well, from the DSI’s internship program. As public intellectuals who seek simultaneously to serve, teach, and learn, members of the DSI will model the creative, symbiotic potential of partnerships created across the traditional boundary between campus and community.

These programs, events, and relationships will function as a vibrant complement to the DSI’s curricular initiatives. It is one thing to teach problem-solving in the classroom; it is another thing entirely to invite students into the complex contingencies of creating change in the world. The DSI’s community-building, curriculum, and public engagement will be the powerful triad through which students grow, innovate, and create.

E) Leadership and Operating Plan

  • 2 – Co-Directors
  • 1 – Office Manager
  • 2 – Tenure-Track Faculty (new appointments / may be hired through existing departments)

Leadership of the Disability Studies Institute (DSI) will require two faculty Co-Directors. These individuals will be hired internally, and may be tenured, tenure-track, or non-tenure-track. At any given time, however, at least one position must be filled by a tenured or tenure-track faculty member. Each position will require, at least, a half-time (.5) release or equivalent for non-tenure-track compensation.

Although each will have a specific sphere of responsibility, the co-directors will maintain a close and actively collaborative relationship with one another. Together they will oversee a committee structure that includes a Curriculum Committee, an Events Committee, a Development Committee, and an Advisory Committee. Their work will be supported by an Office Manager, who will also interface with students and faculty, maintain institute facilities and web resources, and maintain the daily office functions.

The Co-Director-1 will be responsible for overseeing and directing the Critical Disability Studies (CDS) minor. This will include course scheduling; advising; working with other departments, college, and programs; curriculum development; and overseeing an annual scholarship award for student work in CDS. The Co-Director-1 will also be responsible for budget oversight; personnel recruitment, supervision, and retainment; and outcomes assessment.

The Co-Director-2 will be responsible for organizing and overseeing public events, including the speaker series, the annual UnConference, and internal brown-bag discussions and workshops. They will also develop alliances between Western and local organizations, groups, and institutions. Co-Director-2 will oversee all development efforts, including the pursuit of external funding sources, which will be undertaken in partnership with the Development Office and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.