1 of 11

Racial and Disability Justice:

Critical Intersections and Dialogues

Drew Holladay

Sharon Tran

Kate Drabinski

Stephanie Lazarus

University of Maryland, Baltimore County

2 of 11

Theoretical Foundations

Core Ideas in Disability Studies

Disability Rights Movement: Social inclusion and access for people with disabilities
Recognition of disability as identity category, including invisible disabilities
Replacing medical model of disability with the social model

Crip-of-Color Critique

Draws from the insights of disability justice activism and women-of-color feminism
Invites us to attend to state-sanctioned forms of racialized disablement via resource deprivation, compromised public education systems, criminalization and police brutality, etc.
Presses us to imagine what liberation might look like if ablebodiedness is no longer centered

Research at the Intersection of Critical Race Studies &

Disability Studies

Emily Long, Sruti Vijaykumar, Serena Gyi and Foad Hamidi

Frontiers in Computer Science (February 2021)

Drew Holladay

Literatures of Madness: Disability and Mental Health (2018)

The Healthy Minority: On Neoliberal Wellness Culture and Asian American Literature

Sharon Tran

Contemporary Literature (forthcoming)

Teaching & Pedagogy

Thinking Broadly About Accessibility

What does it mean to have accessible classrooms? Who do we imagine are our students? How will we learn together?
Our classrooms can be sites of learning and liberation, but also sites of discipline, punishment, extraction, and violence.
Universal design is our horizon.

Nothing About Us Without Us: What Do Students Tell Us They Need?

Flexible deadlines
No--or flexible--attendance policies
Alternative assignments and course materials
To be believed
Structural changes to financial aid policies that recognize the lived realities of most students
To be seen as fully human

Transforming the Institutional Matrix

“Access is a form of love.”

Disability-inclusive leadership and partnerships matter to engage change with infrastructure, technology, and more to fully include the diversity of students with disabilities.

Sharing Disability-Informed Experience to Empower Change

When access is not enough, requesting accommodation is next. Engaging Disability Services is imperfect yet supports equity and reasonable accommodation as a civil right.

Disability Services draws upon the intersectional racialized experience of people with disabilities. Trends in accommodation inform future accessibility initiatives.

Disability has huge diversity - respect what is shared and do not make presumptions. If student support or an accommodation raises a question, reach out to Disability Services.