The Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University will be holding a virtual discussion tonight with a distinguished panel of guests well-versed in disability culture, education, advocacy and innovation.
The event reflects back on the 30th Anniversary year of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Associate Director of Interdisciplinary Programs and Outreach Professor Diane Wiener says the US has made progress on accommodations for people with disabilities, but is nowhere near the what she would have liked to achieve by 2021. She says pepople should be taught about able-ism to counter existing misperceptions about people with disabilities.
“To think about non-disabled people as superior to disabled people, and how ethically fraught and challenging that is, and what it means to either intentionally or unintentionally be oppressive and discriminatory against disabled people, as if we are less capable, less innovative, less interesting, less intelligent. None of which is true, of course.”
PANELISTS FOR 'A CRIP RECKONING' INCLUDE:
- LeDerick Horne
- Naomi Ortiz
- Pratik Patel
- David James (“DJ”) Savarese
- Alice Wong
Moderator: Prof. Stephen Kuusisto
Wiener says people also don’t necessarily think about disability in the context of difference and diversity, or in the context of equity and inclusion in higher education. She says improved planning for in-person presentations also needs to be revisited when the time comes.
“What are we doing to think about, if we are meeting in person again -- and some day we will -- food and scent and people having a lowered seizure threshold because of flashing lights?"
The professor thinks the ADA will come of age more under the Biden and Harris Administration.
The event, “A Crip Reckoning: Reflections on the ADA@30” includes a panel of people who come from diverse communities, using poetry, art, media and other lenses through which to view and present the experiences of people with disabilities.
“A Crip Reckoning” is tonight from 7:30 to 9:30 via Zoom. Pre-register here.
