The UMD Disability Summit
Do you conduct research or teach courses related to disability?
Are you interested in learning about the research and teaching related to disability going on at the University of Maryland?
Do you want to help build a cross-disciplinary network of scholars of disability at University of Maryland?
On April 8, 2016, join us at the first UMD Disability Summit: Activism and Advocacy in the Academy. There is an impressive group of scholars of disability issues and many innovative courses related to disability across the university, but there previously has not been a forum to share these ideas and build new collaborations across disciplines.
This event will bring together members of the University of Maryland community – faculty members, staff members, and students – interested in the ways in which academic research and education can improve the lives of people with disabilities. Whether you study the education of students with disabilities, build new technologies for people with disabilities, promote more inclusive laws and policies for people with disabilities, or deconstruct representations of disability in film, please join us and share your perspectives.
The UMD Disability Summit will be from 12:30-4:30 on April 8th at the University of Maryland College Park. The summit will feature a keynote address, presentations of innovative scholarship and education related to disability, and a chance to talk and network. Representatives of government organizations, advocacy groups, and funding agencies interested in disability issues will also be invited to attend.
The keynote will be given by Dr. Gregg Vanderheiden of the University of Wisconsin, the TRACE Center, and Raising the Floor, who will share how he has used his research on accessible technologies to influence the design of the Internet and public policies in many countries, as well as building an influential teaching and research agenda.
Attendees are encouraged to submit a proposal to present. Much of the event will be time for a series of presentations of innovative research, teaching, and other educational or scholarly activities related to disability going on across campus. Please consider presenting on some of your work that the rest of campus should be aware of. These presentations will be central to sharing what we are doing, building new collaborations, creating a broader sense of the University’s contributions in terms of disability, and identifying larger contributions that we can make collectively.
If you want to attend, please register at: http://go.umd.edu/DS2016Registration
