Disability Pride and Culture in Higher Ed and the Workplace

In honor of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in July of 1990, Disability Pride Month is celebrated each July to highlight disabled ways of being, knowing, and thriving in the past, present, and future. Disability Pride Month serves as an opportunity for organizations to celebrate disability culture, draw attention to the expertise and lived experience of disabled individuals, raise awareness around ableism – intentional or unintentional discrimination or prejudice against disabled people - and engage non-disabled individuals in thoughtful and meaningful dialogue around disability and ableism.

Disability Pride Month and the opportunities it presents challenge us to find ways to change ableist-based perspectives on disability and spotlight disability pride, emerging disability communities such as Disability Cultural Centers at colleges and universities, authentic and real disabled representation in media such as "As We See It," and disabled-authored works such as Care Work, Demystifying Disability, and Disability Visibility. In higher education, recent works such as Academic Ableism have challenged those of us working in higher education to consciously recognize and resist ableism in our institutions.

Join Senior Vice President Lisa Calise as she facilitates a conversation with Elizabeth (liz) Anh Thomson (they/them) and Jeff Edelstein (he/they) about why disability identity and culture matter and how to incorporate disability identity and culture into the workplace.

1. Person-first (person with a disability) and identity-first language (disabled person); understanding both language preferences in the workplace 
2. Ableism's impact in the workplace 
3. Understanding of disability identity, Disability Cultural Centers (DCCs), and affinity group roles 
4. Ways to amplify disabled voices in the workplace 
5. Takeaways for being in allyship