By Darren Walker, President – Ford Foundation
Judy Heumann taught me—and the world—a 75-year lesson in the power of humanity and dignity. She taught us how to live and lead with it, how to fight for it, how to embody and represent it fully and completely.
Judy’s time with us was defined by joy, purpose, and consequence—not despite the fact that she had a disability but because, as she famously declared, “I never wished I didn’t.” She was unafraid, unbowed, and unapologetic. She demanded respect for the rights of her community and marshaled a movement to secure them.
When I first met Judy, I had much to learn, far more than I knew. She was among the courageous advocates who, in 2014, rightly called me out for the Ford Foundation’s omission of people with disabilities from our strategy to address inequalities of all kinds—an unintended, but damning, embarrassing reification of the very inequalities we aspired to disrupt and dismantle.
The way Judy engaged then was both remarkable and remarkably characteristic. I remember her justifiable frustration, vividly, but also her grace and her kindness. Indeed, she was far more generous than I had any right to expect, ultimately agreeing to give her time, testimony, and tenacity as a Ford Foundation Senior Fellow, and bringing insight and nuance to our institution’s approach to one of the most significant (and ongoing) civil rights and human rights issues of our time.
Judy was at once relentless and compassionate, full of urgency and full of patience—a transcendent figure. She was somehow capable of recognizing the best, even in those of us unaware of our ignorance, focused always on our potential for transformation. Read more…
Abigail Kessler, Arizona Daily Sun
Northern Arizona University (NAU) recently joined a nationwide initiative meant to raise the number of people involved in STEM education and careers who have disabilities, developing a mentorship program and research to support students entering the field.
Part of the NSF INCLUDES alliance (Inclusion Across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science) and launched in 2021, The Alliance of Students with Disabilities for Inclusion, Networking and Transition Opportunities in STEM (TAPDINTO-STEM) is funded through a $10 million NSF grant awarded to Auburn University.
The alliance, divided into six regional hubs, now includes 28 colleges and universities across the United States. Through mentorship, its goal is to increase the number of students with disabilities who complete STEM degrees in higher education and enter the STEM workforce.
Opinion by
The basic outline is this: According to an article in the New York Times, Maitland Jones Jr. is one of the nation’s top organic chemistry professors. He was tenured at Princeton, wrote an influential textbook, retired and went on to teach at NYU on an annual contract basis, where he won awards for his teaching.
This year, though, he was sacked – after 82 of the 350 students in his course signed a petition because, they said, their low scores demonstrated that his class was too hard. A spokesman for the university told the Times in defense of their decision to terminate Jones’s contract that the professor had been the target of complaints about “dismissiveness, unresponsiveness, condescension and opacity about grading. It’s worth noting that according to the Times, students expressed surprise that Jones was fired, which their petition did not call for. (Full disclosure: I was an adjunct in the NYU journalism department in the Spring 2022 semester). Read more…
By Tracee Friess, NIAR
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced today will award $51.4 million to Wichita State University to aid in the rapid development and adoption of emerging smart manufacturing technologies for South Kansas.
The funding, provided through the American Rescue Plan Build Back Better Regional Challenge, is the largest single award the university has received from the EDA.
“The Economic Development Administration is proud to support Wichita State University as it leads this coalition,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Alejandra Y. Castillo, who visited the university for a tour and industry roundtable this summer. “This EDA investment brings together world-class expertise from academic institutions, leading industry players, and the public sector to strengthen the southern Kansas regional economy.”
The South Kansas coalition’s effort, led by WSU’s National Institute for Aviation Research, are referred to as “Driving Adoption: Smart Manufacturing Technologies.” The program focuses on advancing regional efforts in the effective implementation of sustainable, smart and additive manufacturing technologies, increasing competitiveness and profitability for small and mid-sized businesses, and increasing the region’s global market share. Read more…
As the nation celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month, the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program has awarded 48 grants to Hispanic-serving institutions in Fiscal Year 2022 to support various projects.
The goals of NSF’s HSI program are to enhance the quality of undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and to increase the recruitment, retention and graduation rates of students pursuing an associate or bachelor’s degree in STEM. Achieving these goals, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires additional strategies that support building capacity through innovative approaches. Intended outcomes of the HSI program include broadening participation of students who are historically underrepresented in STEM and expanding students’ pathways to continued STEM education and integration into the STEM workforce. Read more…
By Jason Bates
The world’s oceans play a critical role in supporting life on Earth, but they are under threat from human activities. Single-use plastic waste is one of the six major contaminants identified by researchers as a primary threat to our oceans.
Despite society’s best efforts, most plastic materials are too complex to be efficiently recycled with existing technologies. A single piece of plastic waste may contain a variety of polymers, additives, dyes or even other materials such as metals and adhesives.
Researchers across multiple scientific disciplines are working on innovative ways to address this issue, with multiple directorates in the U.S. National Science Foundation powering both basic and applied research efforts. Read below to learn about just a few NSF-supported efforts. Read more…
Author: Skye Vanlanduyt
In her article, writer, Liann Herder discusses several students’ worries in regard to the return of in-person learning for students with disabilities. Though devastating, the Covid-19 Pandemic, according to Herder “presented a strange silver lining-classes, conferences, meetings, and socialization moved online. This sudden adjustment to asynchronous, virtual learning allowed many physical or mental disabilities open access to their education.” Thus, the shift to virtual learning made education more inclusive and readily available to more populations of individuals, especially those with disabilities wanting to further their career and education
As the Pandemic reaches its second year, past mandates have lifted and a new normal has emerged. Herder stated, “in August of this year”, “the CDC released its newest guidance-which included no longer encouraging schools and other similar institutions to run tests on asymptomatic individuals.” This new guideline has resulted in a negative consequence for some with disabilities. Herder says, “with academia’s push to return to in-person, often at the expense of online flexibility that benefitted many in the disabled community, many worry asynchronous learning options will disappear even while Covid continues to spread.” Although an online option is available for students who go to UMKC, many universities do not have this accommodation, nor is it guaranteed for universities such as UMKC who still offer the asynchronous option.
Many students from the disability community are sharing their beliefs, frustrations, and opinions about the new measure which is greatly affecting the disability community. In Herder’s article, Doctoral Student in Disability Studies, Helen Rottier says the guidelines have “enabled institutions, especially colleges and universities to make rules based on their own motivators, whether that’s campus culture or politics-what they think will get students to enroll and pay for classes.” These University motives and decisions do not always have the disabled community in mind. Rottier goes on to say she believes “removing the remote option that we have demonstrated is possible, is just a slap in the face to disabled people, who were for the first time able to attend big disability events to engage in educational events.” If universities chose to remove the asynchronous option, many students with disabilities and chronic illness will be once more excluded from educational opportunities.
Javin D’Souza, another student from UIC’s Disability Cultural Center says with the lifted masked mandate, “individual choice is a very bad public health policy.” Mask enforcement is dwindling, especially as D’Souza says it now “depends on the institution.” The risk that comes with making health decisions an individual choice is that it still puts students with disabilities and chronic illness at risk if they are to choose to eliminate asynchronous learning.
Herder’s article only gives one solution for those who share anxiety about in person learning.
For students with disabilities, the fight to keep asynchronous an option may serve as an opportunity for students in and outside of the disability community to band together to speak out and advocate for their needs to continue being accommodated.
Tiffany Yu, CEO and founder of Diversability and Arrielle Dance has written an article on how to make events more accessible for those with disabilities, which has been featured in the World Institute on Disabilities. In conjunction with students returning to the classroom and fears of asynchronous learning disappearing, some of Yu’s tips and insight may be helpful for educators and students. Much like Herder’s article, Yu also believes “with heightened awareness of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), accessibility needs should be centered in those considerations.” The considerations Yu provides in her article are simple but may make a huge difference for those who need certain accommodations. One option she suggests, is to include “a written form so students and participants of a gathering can share what would make them most comfortable” on in-person days.
By adding this extra step, educators and speakers will be able to better gage what accommodations such as “taking breaks, table placement, and seating” they may need to address beforehand. Yu also includes that requiring masks at events and making them outdoors as often as possible is another option. However, with the new regulations this recommendation may be more difficult to implement, especially as universities lift guidelines and return to in-person learning.
Although anxieties are high with the return to in-person learning, Herder and Yu indicate there are many ways universities can accommodate students with disabilities who must return to the classroom. That being said, both articles conclude it is up to the students and educators to ensure those accommodations are implemented and available.
Author: Skye Vanlanduyt
The University of Washington is developing an AccessISL (Access to Informal Science Learning) Project utilizing student interns to promote accessible informal STEM learning. ISL is funded by Washington University and the National Science Foundation (NSF). ISL is a student learning practice which refers to a students’ learning experience outside of the classroom. Washington’s AccessISL project is a two-year program that students with disabilities can take part in. The program actively developing “creative methods to help ensure ISL is welcoming and accessible to everyone, especially those with disabilities.” This program is significant because it is allowing students
with disabilities to partake in educational experiences that they otherwise would not be included in, in a traditional setting. Student interns from the Access to ISL Program created a video featured by the 2021 NSF Showcase explaining how individuals with disabilities can benefit from the ISL program’s accessibility and opportunities the program provides for STEM learners. The project was originally designed as a means to help the University of Washington with a “submission of a larger accessible ISL grant as collaborators develop and test model interventions, more fully develop replication steps, and gain insight from both people with disabilities and practitioners.” The University indicates this is an effort any stakeholder can join.
The Access ISL Project created a Replication Package: Facilitating Student Internships to Promote Accessible Informal STEM Learning. The Replication Package has been utilized as a study and is now a resource curated by the University of Washington to show how student interns interact with ISL. Fifteen students from the University of Washington took part in the study and were “recruited utilizing an internship announcement that was shared with the entire university, but primarily within the Museology Program, the Disability Resources for Students Office, the Disability Center, and the Disabilities, Opportunities, Interworking, and Technology Center.” The study was based in Washington State and sought out ideas and strategies to make STEM learning more accessible, accommodating, and welcoming to student’s needs, specifically University students enrolled in STEM programs.
Access ISL’s project has come up with strategies for how to include information on universal design in curriculum related to informal STEM Learning. Out of these strategies, the ISL program devised a set of resources to help university educators “include information about universal design curriculum related to informal STEM learning.” These resources are in conjunction with ‘Pedagogical and Content Design Practices that Support Accessibility and Inclusion in Museology Courses.’ The course, adopted by the University of Washington, highlights topics such as “Universal Design, STEM Learning Training Programs, Technology, and Information about how to interact with students with disabilities.” All of the programs serve in helping in the “creation and dissemination of resources” which aid in the development of accessibility in ISL.
An evaluation of the program has offered insight into not only the experiences of interns who took part in the project, but ways for how other universities and programs can adopt ISL in their education for students with disabilities. They recommend “forming partnerships with current university programs, and with local disability programs and organizations, as well as defining project expectations and goals at the beginning of the project.
ISL also provides stakeholders and members of the community a way for individuals interested in the topics discussed to join an online community, Access ISL Community Practice. The group includes stakeholders consisting of “faculty, students, disability service units, ISL programs, teaching and learning programs, diversity programs, and professional organizations.” However, anyone can join the group if they share a common interest in ISL and accessibility. Members in the group are able to take part in strategies such as “accessibility issues, forums, design topics for conferences and seminars, and future activities and training. To send a request to join, individuals should contact doit@uw.edu.
Author: Skye Vanlanduyt
As a membership organization, Detroit Disability Power is leading the way in ending policy disparities in housing, education, employment, and transportation by building political power of the disability community. The organization itself is a community composed of “visible and hidden disabilities, race, ethnicity, age, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship, and economic status.” This wide range of inclusivity is representative of the inclusivity of the organization and the people they serve.
To join Detroit Disability Power, membership runs on a “pay what you can principle” to ensure anyone who wants to participate can do so without financial stress. Currently, the organization is comprised of 250+ activists with a hope of reaching 350 by next year. As a member, Detroit Disability Power highlights that members will “influence vaccine rollout policies which affect disabled individuals, ensure reproductive justice, raise city budget for disability services and programs, increase disability voter engagement, create better accessibility, and build a stronger network for the disabled.
Detroit Disability Power’s mission aligns with its members and community. The organization seeks to “leverage and build organizing and political power of the disability community to ensure the full inclusion of people with disabilities.” In action, the organization fulfills this through actively organizing and allying around local issues affecting disabled people and collaborates with other organizations engaging in work that affects people with disabilities.
In addition, the organization also works to facilitate Anti-Ableism Workshops for social justice organizations wishing to better understand the systemic oppression of disabled people and are committed to dismantling able-ism in their work.
The organization runs on five guiding principles in their work to provide disability awareness, policy, and education. First, they believe “disability is a normal/positive part of human diversity.” This allows for de-stigmatization and for disabilities to be viewed more positively.
Second, they stress “nothing about us, without us” meaning, their work sets out to “dismantle structural and cultural challenges” to accentuate the power and systems in people’s lives and their issues. Throughout its work, Detroit Disability Power emphasizes “organizing and serving people with diverse disabilities.” All disabilities no matter if their hidden or apparent are recognized and met with the same amount of care. The organization also recognizes “disabled people have other important identities, which affect our lived experiences and access to opportunity.” Their commitment to the identities of those they serve is solely focused on “intersectionalism” which allows for anyone no matter their race, class, gender, sexual orientation, citizenship status, religion, or other identities be recognized and met with the same equal concern and care. Lastly, the organization believes “true inclusion is revolutionary.” Meaning, not only are they improving and empowering the lives of disabled individuals but the community as a whole to be more “equitable. accountable, safe, and compassionate for all.”
Detroit Disability Power’s programs are vast and align directly with the organization’s mission. Its first program, Disability Access Consulting is part of their commitment to culture shifting. Access Consulting works as a fee-for-service program to help community members from different sectors develop skills and practices to create more accessibility in their offerings and operations. In the program, Detroit Disability Power works with organizations, cultural and academic institutions, business leaders, city officials, and policy makers to help make community practices more accessible. Their second program, Community Care Circles is a once-a-month support group for those with disabilities or chronic illness that need a safe place to heal, reflect, and feel supported in a group setting. This allows those who are struggling to also access resources, build community, and cope. The organization also has a dance ability group and a book club called “You Can’t Put Us Down!” Both groups serve as a way for members to connect, share interests, and network.
Detroit Disability Power also offers a wide array of resources including: COVID-19 issues, impact and vaccine access for disabled members and the community. This allows the organization to gain a better scope for how those affected by disabilities are impacted by the pandemic and whether or not they are receiving the right care and support. Detroit Disability Power also offers resources for voting, disability, ablism, and audism support, and social justice and campaign toolkits.
There are ways for the community to become involved with Detroit Disability Power’s work. The organization offers an Action Team which is a monthly group led by members of the organization that emphasizes accessibility and empowerment for participants wanting to advocate for affordable and accessible housing, education, health care, and voting rights. The organization also offers ways for members and the surrounding community to act by providing insight to other value aligned organizations in Metro Detroit, Michigan, and in other parts of the U.S. The organization also offers community events throughout the year that promotes conversations around intersectional disabilities, Queer Pride and disability, and health equity, and anti-ableism. To find out more information about Detroit Disability Power and their work, please contact: info@detroitdisabilitypower.org.
The number of students with disabilities in the nation’s public schools is growing, according to new federal data.
There were 7.2 million students ages 3 to 21 served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act during the 2020-2021 academic year, accounting for 15% of all students.
That’s up from the 2009-2010 school year when 6.5 million children were served under IDEA, representing 13% of public school students.