Disability Justice @ Illinois
Friday & Saturday, October 13 & 14, 2023
In-person and streaming online!
The Disability Justice Gathering @ Illinois brings together community advocates, legal experts, students, and scholars for a series of conversations and activities with the goal of advancing equity, access, and inclusion around disability in higher education and beyond. This includes advancing such conversations as self-advocacy and disability rights, intersectionality, invisible disabilities, and encoding normalcy in digital ecologies.
Day 1 will include a series of talks and panels around disability justice, sharing stories, and organizational & infrastructural models for promoting justice moving forward.
Day 2 will feature a student-led design event, where students will get the chance to both explore and engage with their own ideas around Disability Justice. Students will have the opportunity to collaborate with one another to consider technology’s role in advancing Disability Rights & Disability Justice, as well as innovating new technology roles.
Visiting Speakers
Lydia X. Z. Brown
Lecturer & Advocate | Disability Studies, Women & Gender Studies | Georgetown University
Dr. Akemi Nishida
Associate Professor | Disability & Human Development, Gender & Women’s Studies | University of Illinois at Chicago
Dr. Rua Williams
Assistant Professor | Department of Computer Graphics Technology | Purdue University
Local Community Speakers
Day 1 Schedule (10/13)
Time Zone: Central Daylight Time (CDT)
Student Dining and Residential Programs (SDRP) Building, Room 2003
301 E Gregory Dr, Champaign, IL 61820
* Online and In-Person *
9:00 AM – 9:30 AM
Gathering & Light Food
9:30 AM – 9:45 AM
Welcome, Context, & Opening Remarks
9:45 AM – 10:45 AM
Talk: Disability Justice
Lydia X. Z. Brown, Georgetown University
10:45 AM – 11:00 AM
Break
11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
Panel: Community Stories
Tina Cowsert, DRES
Julie Duvall, CU Autism Network
Mary Griffith, PACE, Inc.
Dr. Talia Ringer, University of Illinois at UC
August Rayne Trepanier, Purdue University
Moderator: Dr. Emily Tarconish, University of Illinois at UC
12:15 PM – 1:15 PM
Lunch
1:15 PM – 2:15 PM
Panel: Models Moving Forward
RaeAnne Lindsay, Fisher High School
Dr. Akemi Nishida, University of Illinois at Chicago
Dr. Rua Williams, Purdue University
Moderator: Dr. Anita Chan, University of Illinois at UC
2:15 PM – 3:00 PM
Break
3:00 PM – 4:15 PM
Unconference & Share (not streamed)
4:15 PM – 4:30 PM
Closing Remarks
Day 2 Schedule (10/14)
Time Zone: Central Daylight Time (CDT)
Siebel Center for Computer Science, First Floor Atrium
201 N Goodwin Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
* In-Person *
9:00 AM – 9:30 AM
Gathering & Light Food
9:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Welcome & Context
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Design Event
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Lunch
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Design Discussion & Idea Aggregation
Student-Led Design Event
Overview
The student-led design event is aimed at empowering participants to tackle challenges related to disability justice using the principles of design thinking. This event invites students to collaborate, innovate, and advocate for a more inclusive and just world.
Objective
The primary objective of the design event is to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and mindset necessary to approach disability justice challenges through a creative and empathetic lens. Participants will work in small, diverse teams to design solutions that promote inclusivity, accessibility, and equality for individuals with disabilities. Participants are encouraged to think about solutions that matter to them!
Goals
By participating in the design event, students will not only enhance their design thinking skills but also contribute to a more inclusive society, fostering empathy and understanding toward the challenges faced by individuals with disabilities. Together, we can design a world that embraces and celebrates the diversity of all its members.
Participants will have the opportunity to network with event organizers, mentors, and fellow participants, with encouragement for ongoing collaboration and potential implementation to bring ideas to life!
Conduct Policy
- Respect diverse perspectives
- Use respectful language
- Respect preferred communication styles (e.g., pronouns, person-first language, identity-first language, etc.)
- Create a safe space
- Avoid stereotypes, euphemisms, and assumptions
- Respect confidentiality
- Allow for processing time
- Acknowledge intersectionality – people have many identities
- Be open to learning and growth
- Raise concerns respectfully
Sponsors
- Department of Computer Science
- School of Information Sciences (iSchool)
- Office of Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES)
- Networking Empathic Engineering Research in Disability (NE2RD)
- National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)
- Community Data Clinic
Supporting Partners
- American Indian Studies Program
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
- Cline Center for Advanced Social Research
- College of Applied Health Sciences
- College of Law
- Coordinated Science Laboratory (CSL)
- Department of Asian American Studies
- Department of Gender and Women’s Studies
- Department of Special Education (SPED)
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences (SHS)
- (dis)Ability Design Studio
- Health Care Engineering Systems Center (HCESC)
- School of Art & Design
- Siebel Center for Design (SCD)
Organizers
Faculty
Karrie Karahalios
Professor | Computer Science | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Anita Say Chan
Associate Professor | School of Information Sciences | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Rua Williams
Assistant Professor | Department of Computer Graphics Technology | Purdue University
Indranil Gupta (Indy)
Professor | Computer Science | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Students
Alex Atcheson
PhD Student | Computer Science | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
August Trepanier
Undergraduate Student | Purdue University
Omar Khan
PhD Student | Computer Science | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
A Special Thanks!
Annie Adams, Megan Best, Mary, Birnbaum, Adam Bleakney, Aaron Cohen, Shelley Engstrom-Kestel, Allison Frees-Williams, Dawn Frischer, Maureen Gilbert, Jason Hatton, Keith Hays, Elizabeth Hsiao-Wecksler, Heidi Johnson, Kari, Mattfolk, Kalen McGowan, Ricky Price, Isaiah Rigo, Diego Calderon Rivera, Laura Roed, Brian Siemann, Samantha Smith, Andrew Stengele, Heather Stout, Jean Yi, and Xinying Zheng