The Society for Disability Studies board announced June 22, 2004 that Joy Hammel has been hired to replace Carol Gill as SDS's executive officer. Carol Gill stepped down after seven years as executive officer to devote more time to her own research and teaching, as well as other projects at University of Illinois at Chicago.

Joy is an associate professor in the Doctoral Program in Disability Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, within the Departments of Occupational Therapy and Disability & Human Development. She has taught and been actively involved in the creation of the disability studies curriculum for the past eight years, and serves as chair of the Disability Studies Curriculum Committee.

Joy has also been involved in disability and community activism for more than 20 years. She has served as principal investigator on many federal research, demonstration and training grants. Her scholarship focuses on participatory action research related to community living choice, control and systems change; social justice and social policy; and access to supportive resources, including design, financing and use of technologies and access-ready environments and communities. This scholarship centers on an active partnership with the disability and aging activism communities to effect systems change and to build power and critical consciousness.

Joy brings her own experience with disability, community activism and research to her work and this position, and is very invested in sustaining the growth of SDS and its role in representing and building disability studies scholarship. Currently, Joy and Carol are working together to achieve a smooth transition of the executive officers duties. Joy's official start date is expected to be August 1, 2004. Her email address is hammel@uic.edu.

2004 Inaugural Disability Pride Parade in July

The 2004 Inaugural Disability Pride Parade will be Sunday, July 18, 2004 in Chicago. It will feature Yoshiko Dart, disability rights and human rights activist Justin Dart's widow, as Parade Grand Marshal. She played a key role in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) alongside her husband

The overall mission of the Parade is: to change the way people think about and define "disability"; to break down the internalized shame among people with disabilities; and to promote the belief in society that disability is a natural and beautiful part of human diversity that people living with disabilities can
take pride in.

The parade objectives are to: organize a fully inclusive, annual event that will celebrate and strengthen the pride, power, and unity of people with disabilities, their families, and allies; and generate national visibility of the disability community.

The parade is trying to carry on the spirit of disability rights leader Justin Dart, whose final message was: "I die in the beautiful belief that the revolution of empowerment will go on. I love you. I'm with you always. LEAD ON! LEAD ON!".

Mrs. Dart, the Grand Marshal, will lead the parade bearing some of the most important historical icons of the disability rights movement: Justin's trademark cowboy hat and boots.

The cut-off date for registration is Friday, July 9, 2004 or until all 250 parade positions are filled, whichever comes first. All groups wishing to participate in the parade must submit the required registration form NO LATER THAN Friday, July 9, 2004. There are no registration fees required to participate in the parade this year, but organizers are asking all participants to make a suggested donation if they can. Parade registration forms are available at: http://www.disabledandproud.com/forms.htm

The parade co-sponsors are Illinois Office of Rehabilitation Services, Progress Center for Independent Living, Mouth Magazine, Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago, Chicago ADAPT, Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership, Kids As Self-Advocates, Family Voices, National Disabled Students Union, Open Doors, Inc., Not Dead Yet, Forest Park Chapter of the Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities of Illinois, United Cerebral Palsy Detroit, National Conference for Community and Justice Detroit, American Association of People with Disabilities, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago LIFE Center, University of Illinois at Chicago Disabled Students Union, and the University of Florida Union of Students with Disabilities.

For more information, visit www.disabledandproud.com/parade.htm or call: Disability Pride Parade Information Hotline toll free at 800-840-8844 (v/tty) and mention the Disability Pride Parade.

To formally become a co-sponsor of the Disability Pride Parade, contact Laura Obara, Parade Finance Chair, at lalaot@yahoo.com (email), or call 711 and give the relay operator the following phone number: 847-545-1807 (TTY).

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Fourth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities and Nations, July 6-9, 2004

The conference will be at UCLA in Los Angeles and will traverse in a multidisciplinary way a broad range of themes relating to diversity and difference, including: Diversity Of Cultures, Representing Diversity - The Globalising Media, and Governing Diversity In A Globalising World.

The conference will include both major keynote addresses by internationally renowned speakers and numerous small-group workshop and paper presentation sessions. Papers from the conference will be published in print and electronic formats in the International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations. For those unable to attend the conference, virtual registrations are also available allowing access to the electronic versions of the conference proceedings, as well as virtual presentations.

Visit the conference website at: http://www.Diversity-Conference.com

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Employment conference for Latinos with disabilities

The Bridges to Employment conference/training will be July 14-16, 2004 in Chicago at Courtyard By Marriott Hotel downtown. The conference is organized
by Proyecto Visión - a National Technical Assistance Center established to
connect disabled Latinos to employment opportunities

The conference will provide a national forum about issues concerning disabled Latinos and employment, and offer a variety of employment and technology training opportunities. Conference sponsors are the World Institute on Disability (WID), through Proyecto Visión, its National Technical Assistance Center for Latinos with Disabilities, and the Chicago-based Committee for the Integration of Latinos with Disabilities.

Go to http://www.proyectovision.net for more information.

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Job Accommodation Network Symposium

The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) will host its annual symposium in Orlando, Fla., September 20 and 21, 2004. JAN's annual symposium offers learning opportunities for human resource managers, supervisors, and other management professionals to enhance their organization's ability to accommodate and employ people with disabilities. The Symposium will offer three training tracks addressing accommodation issues, best practices, and ADA/legal issues.

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Institute marks 30 years helping people with disabilities

Temple University's Institute on Disabilities marked its 30th anniversary on May 19, 2004. The people-first celebration honored current and emerging leaders in the disability rights movement from throughout Pennsylvania.

The goal of the celebration was to acknowledge the achievements the Institute has attained through its work locally, nationally and internationally, but also to pass the torch to a new generation of disability rights leaders. Student, professional and inclusive education leaders were honored, as well as those prominent in areas of self-advocacy, family supports, assistive technology and augmentative communication.

Among those honored were:

Dr. Deborah Spitalnik, who turned her student assistantship at the institute more than 25 years ago into a career as a professor of pediatrics working with people who have developmental disabilities and their families;

Carolyn Morgan, past president of Speaking for Ourselves and the first person with a developmental disability to serve as co-chair of the Office of Mental Retardation Planning Advisory Committee in Philadelphia;

Pittsburgh-area resident Kyle Glozier, 18, a graduate of the institute's ACES (Augmentative Communication and Empowerment Supports) program who is bound for Temple this fall and who addressed the 2000 Democratic National Convention using his assistive technology device;

Eleanor S. Elkins, a founding member of the Bucks County Association for Retarded Children, who was the first vice president of Inclusion International, a campaign for human rights and inclusion in 67 countries;

And Bob Williams, an ACES graduate who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Disability, Aging and Long Term Care Policy and as the Commissioner of Developmental Disabilities in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the Clinton administration. Williams, a poet and political activist, will recite his poetry at the celebration using his assistive technology device.

Temple University's Institute on Disabilities covers policy and advocacy, education and research, access and civil rights, and leadership and justice.

But, at its core, the work of Temple's Institute on Disabilities "is about people," said executive director Diane Nelson Bryen, a special education professor who, in 1991, took on a one-year stint as acting director of the institute—and never left.

"All of our work, all of our research is grounded in policy that has an impact on people's lives," she said, noting that the institute's programs include initiatives on advocacy, assistive technology, criminal justice/victims' rights, disability studies, leadership training, inclusive education and research.

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UIC presents eugenics program

The Ph.D. Program in Disability Studies at the University of Illinois, Chicago presented the program "A World Without Bodies: Commemorating the Victims of Eugenics and Medical Murder," at the Chicago Cultural Center on May 11, 2004.

After a screening of the award-winning documentary, "A World Without Bodies", the program featured a series of brief talks from leaders in Chicago's disability community.

The film, created and produced by David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder, looks at how the mechanism of the Holocaust came to be tested on an estimated 300,000 children and adults with disabilities in Nazi Germany. Mitchell directed the Ph.D. in Disability Studies Program at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Snyder is assistant professor in disability studies at UIC.

SDS Executive Director Carol Gill presented "Crying hands and solemn voices: The first public mourning of the deaf/disability holocaust." Diane Coleman and Stephen Drake of Not Dead Yet presented "Recent history of the grassroots disability rights struggle against legalized medical killing."

Nura Ally, a sophomore at Evanston Township High School and a member of the National Disabled Students' Union and the Young Activists' Task Force for the American Association of People with Disabilities, spoke about "Older Chicago's place in eugenic history: segregation, sterilization, and "mercy" murders." Sharon Lamp, a graduate student in UIC's Ph.D. Program in Disability Studies presented "On Chicago's watch: the publicized medical killing of Allen Bollinger." Mark Sherry, chair of the disability studies program at the University of Toledo, spoke about contemporary implications of eugenics.

SDS Board member Snyder led the audience discussion with panelists and the program director.

Eugenics is an international and little-understood area of historical thought, research, and government practices that bears serious implications for policies on and about disabled persons today.  The Commemoration Event at the Chicago Cultural Center continued an ongoing series of efforts by the disability community to raise awareness about this critical -- yet mostly disregarded -- history. 

The program participants also discussed Chicago as a location, not only for some of the blueprints for Nazi eugenics and sterilization policies, but also as the launching pad for an educational seminar and human rights commission that will further delve into the legacies of eugenics.

Beginning July 5, 2004, a commission of 20 university faculty in disability studies from across the U.S. and Canada, from a home-base at the Einstein Forum in Potsdam, Germany, will undertake research visits to the hospitals, clinics, and institutions -- many still open as functioning state hospitals -- where the technology of the gas chamber was first developed and then used to its full capacity on Germany's wide-ranging disability populations.

The commission, Disability Studies and the Legacies of Eugenics, is sponsored by the Einstein Forum in Potsdam, the University of Potsdam, DAAD (German Academic Exchange), the PhD Program in Disability Studies at UIC, the Center for Ethics at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, and the Humanities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In affiliation with the Society for Disability Studies, the Disability Studies Program at National-Louis University, Disability Studies at the University of Toledo, and the American Holocaust Museum, Washington, D.C.

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New online course for universal design careers

Interwork Institute of San Diego State University, in cooperation with Adaptive Environments, Boston, Mass., have developed a new online course, "Building Careers in Design," which will benefit vocational and career counselors. The course enables counselors to better serve the employment needs of people with disabilities through the development of quality careers in a range of design fields. The project intent is to encourage people with disabilities into careers in the design fields, including architecture, landscape design, web design, urban design, and industrial design. Design fields are often overlooked as career options for people with disabilities. This 6-week 30 CRC credit course began June 21, 2004. For more information, see www.careersindesign.org.

The course was developed through a contract with the RSA National Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center and is part of "Building Careers in Design," a web-based technical assistance project that includes extensive web resources for consumers, counselors, human resource personnel, and families.

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Berkeley sponsors Disability Studies lecture series

The University of California at Berkeley sponsored its first "Disability Studies Brown Bag Series" during its 2003-2004 school year. 

The genesis for the series was a response to an ongoing need for networking opportunities between graduate students interested in disability topics and disability community members. 

Professor Sue Schweik and community member Corbett Joan O'Toole developed the series, which had goals: to create a place for graduate students to present disability-related academic material in a critical, yet supportive, environment; to offer disability community members an opportunity to present their work in an academic environment with critical feedback; to further the thinking of presenters and audience; and to strengthen ties between graduate students and disability community members.

In all, 14 Brown Bag lectures were given. The lectures came from a mix of graduate students and academically oriented disability community presenters. UCB professors could attend but were not presenters, so the participants could hear from people other than faculty.

In the fall, four presentations were made. Graduate student Alison Kafer (Women's Studies/Religion), who was visiting from Claremont Graduate School, presented a chapter-in-progress on eugenics and cure from her dissertation; author Anne Finger presented selected sections from her new work; Corbett Joan O'Toole discussed the transgressive voices buried in disability history; and author Denise Sherer Jacobson examined the role of the individual narrative in disability studies.

Ten presentations were held in the spring semester.  Writers and artists John Killacky and Bob Guter, editors of "Queer Crips: Disabled Gay Men and Their Stories" (Haworth Press, 2004), presented diverse images of gay men and women with disabilities through various media.  Graduate student Judy Rohrer (Women's Studies) interrogated ableism and the absence of disability analysis in feminist theorizing.  Graduate student Ellen Samuels (English) presented dissertation research on representations of disability in 19th century African-American slave narratives.

Performance artist Seeley Quest performed selections from 'Crooked' looking at the intersections of disability (physical and psychological), sexuality and gender identity formation.  Ed Roberts Fellow Derek Coates discussed his dissertation research on communication among people with visual impairments.  Ed Roberts Fellow Steve Kurzman works from a disability studies perspective inside the medical model in his work on the experiences of amputees at prosthetics clinics.  Author Mariana Ruybalid reflected, through her writing, on disability in Costa Rica. 

Author and occupational therapist Judi Rogers brought the applied knowledge of adapting the environments of disabled parents with young children.  Ed Roberts Fellow Camilla Ryhl discussed her dissertation research on what housing accessibility means for people with sensory disabilities.  Retired professor and current community activist Peter Trier ended the series with a philosophical deconstruction of "disability community."

Organizers felt the lecture series was needed because at UCB, disability studies classes are offered but there is not yet any formal program (although an undergraduate minor in disability studies is imminent).  Graduate students in a variety of disciplines are pursuing disability themes within their discipline.  Because they are spread out across disciplines, the lecture series gave them some contact with other people also interested in disability.

Organizers also set up a listserve for the lecture series to better communicate with all interested participants. For the 2004-05 year, organizers are planning:  to maintain the DSUCB listserve; basic-level videotaping of all presentations; to find a broader cross-section of presenters; to have two separate lecture series: 1x/month Brown Bag from 12-2 on Tuesdays and 1x/month Lecture series from 5-7 on Tuesdays; to create a one-stop website for all UCB disability studies information; to continue the outreach; and to try to find funding to increase accessibility to events.

For more information about the lecture series, contact Corbett O'Toole at Corbett@disabledwomen.net.

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Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Leadership Awards seek applicants

American leaders with disabilities are asked to apply for the 2004 Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Leadership Awards. Up to three people with disabilities who are emerging as leaders in their respective fields will each receive $10,000 to help them continue their progress as leaders.  They will also have an opportunity to meet and network with national disability leaders at the annual AAPD Leadership Gala in Washington, DC in early 2005. 

U.S. residents with any type of disability are eligible to apply.  Complete information on the awards program and the 2004 application are now available online at www.aapd-dc.org.  Application deadline is 5 p.m. Eastern Time on September 10, 2004.  For more information, please contact Tracey Murray, Leadership Awards Coordinator at murr9001@bellsouth.net.

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IBM receives Barbara Jordan Media Award for print advertising

IBM received the Barbara Jordan Media Award for its advertising campaign featuring images of people with disabilities succeeding in the workplace. This is the second award IBM has been honored with for the ad campaign. The Texas Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities, which sponsors the award, honored IBM with the award at a ceremony in Corpus Christi, Texas, on April 22, 2004.

The ad campaign, launched by Austin-based IBM Accessibility Center, portrays people with disabilities in empowered, productive work scenarios. The lead copy in the ad, "Today, access to information influences what people can or cannot do," is a key message that accessibility is about making information more accessible to more people. The ads also reinforce IBM's commitment to developing innovative technologies that advance the cause of accessibility.

Established in 1982 by the Texas Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities, the Barbara Jordan Media Awards recognize communicators for "accurately and progressively portraying people with disabilities." The committee grants the award annually to communicators in a variety of fields for increasing public understanding of the problems and potential of people with disabilities. The awards are named for the late Barbara Jordan, one of Texas' foremost spokeswomen for the rights of all people.

For the same ad campaign, IBM also won a 2004 award of honor from the National Business & Disability Council for Advertising Campaign of the Year.

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Temple University creates 'Total Technology Access'

Temple University launched a suite of networked software on more than 500 campus computers this spring that guarantees students with disabilities universal access to adaptive technologies. The project furthers the university's mission of making education accessible to all students.

Previously, adaptive technology software at Temple was available on only 10 public computers, but the more than 1,000 students with disabilities can now use the software in all Computer Services-sponsored labs on campus.

The implementation of the "Total Technology Access" project fortifies the University's position at the vanguard of accessibility for students with disabilities.

The package of software, linked to a single icon on computer desktops, is a portal to a gamut of programs. Low-vision students benefit from reader software that can enlarge print as well as speak text that is on the screen. Other programs cater to hearing-impaired students and those with learning disabilities.

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Disability literary journal launched by online newspaper

MONROE, ME (March 23, 2004) -- AbilityMaine.org, the online newspaper of news, resources, and activism information on disability in Maine and the world, has developed a publication to promote literary writing by people with disabilities.

AbilityMaine launched Breath & Shadow, an online literary journal with a focus on disability, in January 2004. The monthly publishes poetry, fiction, essays, interviews, drama, and other writing from the perspective of life with disability.

Award-winning poet and writer, Sharon Wachsler, whose humor columns
appeared in AbilityMaine since 2002, will be editor of the magazine.

Each issue touches on a theme. The inaugural edition focused on "Beginning";
the second theme was "Trust/Distrust."

Organizing and Social Change (ROSC), the grassroots, nonprofit organization of which AbilityMaine is a part, provided startup funding for Breath & Shadow. For more information, visit Breath & Shadow at www.abilitymaine.org/breath.

"The Hospital Poems," a book-length poetry collection by SDS Board
member Jim Ferris, has been named the winner of the 2004 Main Street
Rag Annual Poetry Book Award. Judged by noted poet Edward Hirsch and
chosen from several hundred submissions, "The Hospital Poems" will be
published in the fall.

Corinne Kirchner, Co-Editor of DSQ, received a commendation from the National Association of Rehabilitation Research & Training Centers "in recognition of research, teaching and advocacy that has advanced the field of disability." She also received the 2004 award for distinguished service from the New York Metropolitan Chapter of the American Association for Public Opinion Research in June.

Katie LeBesco, DSQ Book Review Editor (Humanities), was featured in an article in the May 1, 2004 New York Times called "Demonizing Fat in the War on Weight."

Scott Rains was appointed Resident Scholar at the Center for Cultural Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz to study Universal Design and the travel industry for 2004-2005.

British disability studies scholar Paul Abberley, University of Bristol, UK, died April 14, 2004. He was a UK editor for Disability & Society. His activism and commitment to a disability studies agenda were an inspiration to many, according to Colin Barnes, an executive editor at Disability & Society. Abberley's various contributions to the development of a truly comprehensive social oppression theory of disability have been enormously influential. Abberley was the author of the chapter, "Work, Disabled People and European Social Theory," in Barnes' book, Disability Studies Today published by Blackwell in 2002, and the chapter, "A Critique of Professional Support and Intervention" in Disabling Barrier, Enabling Environments, published by Sage in 2004.