Although disability studies has been at ASU for six years, the majority of the professors teaching the courses have backgrounds in other fields and are not specialized in disability studies. While this program is still relatively new to the University, the lack of expertise in an area of study focusing on the largest minority group in the United States has raised concerns.
“Right now, the culture is the medical model of disability, which assumed there was a flaw with disability, which I think it was also like that before the Trump era, but it was starting to move towards the social model … that shift back to the medical model of disability is happening,” Novotny said.
“I can’t wait to get out of the education system, because I’m absolutely terrified of how these policies are going to trickle down and impact money,” Lopez said. “A lot of students are going to be forced to drop out and I don’t think schools are going to attribute it to their failure to accommodate them, I think they’re going to continue to attribute it to personal failures.”
This is the third year of the Gary Corcoran Student Prize for Excellence in Reporting on Disability, which honors the advocacy of the late Gary Corcoran, a wheelchair user from the age of 19 who worked to improve accessibility of housing, transit and public venues across Phoenix.
Jessica Katzenstein, an assistant professor at ASU’s School of Social Transformation, said that although racism in policing has always existed, it has increased since the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
Groeninger was diagnosed with ADHD right before starting college, and the physician who diagnosed her helped her find resources in Arizona, including SAILS. She had an initial consultation with a representative from SAILS, but when they told her she would have to come up with her own ideas for accommodations, she declined to continue the process.
June 9, 2019. Ali Stroker wins Best Featured Actress in a Musical at the 73rd Annual Tony Awards. An actor, singer, and wheelchair user, Ali Stroker has been a trailblazer for disability representation on the stage. She was the first wheelchair user to graduate from the Tisch School of the Arts Drama Department at New York University. In 2015, she was the first wheelchair user to appear on Broadway, starring as Anna in the musical, Spring Awakening. For her performance as Ado Annie Carnes in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma!, Stroker became the first wheelchair user to win a Tony Award in 2019.
Being Young and Disabled
By Noah Griffth, Auburn University
I Was a "Student of Concern"
By Kate Jackson, Rutgers University
In My Moment of Distress
By Anonymous, Temple University