“We would like to partner with the disability studies program at SFSU to ensure more leaders with developmental disabilities are highlighted in the lecture series, develop a plain language standard for all events and design programs with accessibility needs of our community in mind, so advocacy can travel outside the walls of academia.”
“The impact that I envision this minor will have on the broader scene of disability awareness on campus is that it will be a massive victory for the disability advocacy community on campus, as it would cement disability advocacy in a permanent way through the academy,” Gallei said.
This semester, I took an “Activism and Disability” course and I’m glad I did. Classes like these bring us closer to eradicating the idea that there is a normal body type, a normal mental aptitude or a normal well-being. Take a class in disability studies. I promise you have a lot to learn.
“Disability is such a facet of human life, and it’s so misunderstood and stigmatized by society,” Benish said. “It’s really exciting that some people are going to use their undergraduate time to become experts in that and hopefully influence the world for the better based on the perspectives they get.”
Reynolds said the disability studies major came out of student advocacy. “One of the really exciting things about disability studies at Georgetown is how student-led everything has been,” Reynolds said. “There was student demand that led to the creation of a minor and a graduate certificate.”
The course modules explore distinctions between the social and physical models of disability, the historical and contemporary landscape of disability activism, the evolution of disability history, the representation of disability in art and culture and the intersections of disability with other identities like race, gender and sexuality.
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