To open more windows and clear more air, I thought it might help the discussion on diversity in disability studies to add some data. A review of this year’s program for the annual meeting of the Society for Disability Studies (SDS) indicates that at least 7 panels had presentations that specifically focused on race/ethnicity. Many other presentations considered race/ethnicity as a dimension or variable in research, among such variables as gender, age, etc. Related issues of poverty and class were also addressed. Because I am not personally acquainted with everyone who presented at SDS, it is hard for me to determine exactly how many presenters were from ethnic/racial minority communities. Just counting persons I knew, there were at least 10. The questions about diversity raised on this listserv are critical if we hope to address in our scholarship the status and experience of all disabled people, not just the “damaged” privileged. The facts above are by no means a defense of SDS. If anything, they demonstrate how much room for improvement there is. But SDS’s membership and Board program committee have at least evidenced some commitment to examining the intersection of race, ethnicity, culture and disability. I did an Internet exploration of programs, organizations, institutions and curricula in other area or minority cultural studies (e.g., African studies, African American studies, Latino studies, Asian American studies) and found virtually no evidence of disability or disabled people as a dimension of that scholarship. It appears that more work on diversity is needed all around. I am willing, however, to take the stance of defender against the charge that disability studies does not address "any issues of say, poverty and disability, the double impact of disability and minority status, or just plain cultural issues of disability and minorities.” True, traditional medical and rehabilitation approaches to disability research were certainly guilty of neglecting intragroup variation. But disability studies models have prodded researchers to attend to socially constructed boundaries, such as race and gender, and related oppression. Increasingly, disability studies scholars engage in self-criticism around issues of inclusion, representation, equity, diversity and privilege–as we should. The sources of minority under-representation in disability studies are complex, persistent and deep-seated. It will take concerted effort to understand and overturn them. Although it is good to know our colleagues from ethnic/racial/cultural minority communities will be “watching” to keep the rest of us honest, I hope some will not just watch us but will guide and work with us to make disability studies more just and encompassing of the human spectrum. Carol J. Gill, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Disability and Human Development Executive Officer Society for Disability Studies University of Illinois at Chicago (312) 355-0550 V [log in to unmask] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%