SOCIETY FOR DISABILITY STUDIES CONFERENCE, EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION is
available through 4/15/2006
~ Society for Disability Studies 19th Annual Conference ~
Disability Goes Public: Re-Imagining Policy/Protest/Possibilities
June 14th – 17th, 2006
Hyatt Bethesda, Washington, DC.
Co-sponsored by Gallaudet University and Gallaudet University Press Institute
SDS: The Society for Disability Studies (SDS) is an
international non-profit organization that promotes the exploration of
disability through research, artistic production, and teaching. Disability
Studies encourages perspectives that place disability in social, cultural,
and political contexts. Through our work we seek to augment understanding
of disability in all cultures and historical periods, to promote greater
awareness of the experiences of disabled people, and to contribute to
social change
Conference Theme: At the beginning of the twenty-first century,
Washington, DC, is a quintessentially divided space. As the nation’s
capital, this city supposedly represents a unified national collectivity,
but the city itself is sharply divided by differences of race, class,
language, national origin, age, gender, sexuality, and disability. This
city’s stark contradictions are reflected in its demographic inequities:
the elected officials who congregate in Washington, DC, are largely wealthy
non-disabled white men, while the majority of those who live within the
borders of the District of Columbia are people of color, many of them
living in extreme poverty. Further, while Washington, DC, is a beautiful
city with expansive public spaces, it is also a city under surveillance,
circumscribed by police barricades and checkpoints. Indeed, while it is one
of the most physically accessible cities in the United States, it is also a
site where access and democracy have been circumscribed for far too many,
including other sovereign nation states whose public spaces have been
dramatically affected by imperialist economic, political, and social
policies shaped and enacted here. This complicated context makes Washington
DC an ideal location for a re-imagination of policy, protest, and future
possibilities. In order to affirm the possibility of more expansive,
diverse, and just “public” cultures, “Disability Goes Public” in
2006. Washington, DC, has been a vital meeting ground for the public
expression of ideas and aspirations, where people have gathered to publicly
protest injustice and to help formulate empowering public policy. At
Gallaudet University, the Deaf community has “gone public” by expressing
its place in the civil rights struggle and demanding the full realization
of its aspirations and abilities. Likewise, grassroots activists in the
Disability Rights Movement have clambered up the steps of the Capitol to
protest inaccessible and inhospitable social structures. Feminists have
protested to claim sovereignty over their own bodies, contesting the
public/private dichotomy. AIDS activists have covered the grounds of the
Mall with quilts in commemoration and to demand assistance for those who
have died from, and those who are living with, this epidemic. People of
Color and their allies have also often marched to Washington, DC to protest
the historical legacy of disenfranchisement and discrimination. Meeting in
Washington, DC, allows us to redefine and re-appropriate the term “public”
in transformative and transgressive ways. SDS encourages community
activists, artists, and scholars to engage in this idea of the “public” in
a lively, critical, rigorous, and provocative manner.
The 2006 Conference, “Disability Goes Public,” will be held at the Hyatt
Bethesda, MD, from June 14-17, and features:
- a preconference Institute on Race, Ethnicity, and Disability on 6/14,
including a keynote from Dr. M. Gerlene Ross, Director of the Center on
Disability and Socioeconomic Policy Studies at Howard University.
-plenaries on the impact of global policies on people with disabilities and
their participation in society, the connections and divergences between
Deaf studies and disability studies, and the intersectionality of
disability with race, gender, age, and class.
-over 150 presentations in the form of papers and posters highlighting a
range of international Disability Studies scholarship, activism and art
-interactive round tables to discuss disability education, research, and
policy, and to action plan future initiatives
- disability performance art and cultural events at the Smithsonian and at
the Kennedy Center, including as part of conference registration
ONLINE REGISTRATION is now available! Early bird discounts are available
through 4/15/2006. With just a few mouse clicks, you will be registered
for five days of stimulating discussions:
<http://www.uic.edu/orgs/sds/annualmeetings.html>http://www.uic.edu/orgs/sds/annualmeetings.html
.
HOTEL REGISTRATION and discount rates for the Hyatt Bethesda, the
conference hotel, are available online through:
https://resweb.passkey.com/Resweb.do?mode=welcome_ei_new&eventID=29301.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SOCIETY FOR DISABILITY STUDIES AND THE ANNUAL
CONFERENCE PROGRAM, AND TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR JOURNAL, DISABILITY STUDIES
QUARTERLY, PLEASE GO TO: http://www.uic.edu/orgs/sds/generalinfo.html
Joy Hammel, Executive Officer, Society for Disability Studies
University of Illinois at Chicago
Joint Doctoral Program in Disability Studies
1919 W. Taylor Street, Rm. 311
Chicago, IL 60612
312-996-3513; 312-413-0256 (fax); [log in to unmask]
________________End of message______________________
This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies). Enquiries about the list administratione should be sent to [log in to unmask]
Archives and tools are located at:
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html
You can JOIN or LEAVE the list from this web page.
|