The Ninth Annual Second City Conference on Disability Studies in Education -- co-sponsored this year by Disability Studies in Education, the Syracuse University
Center on Human Policy, Law, and Disability Studies; the SU College of Law
Disability Law and Policy Program, and the SU School of Education -- will bring
together scholars in disability studies in education and disability law to explore both
the history of disability advocacy and continued struggles for disability rights in
educational contexts.
The conference will take place on the SU campus from May 1-3. Registration is
required. To register, visit
http://www.disabilitystudiesineducation.org/2009conference.htm.
The conference will give experts in the field of disability studies opportunities to share
their research, expertise and activism with an emphasis on histories of exclusion and
activism, discourses and practices that shift the conversation from inclusion to
belonging, critical and theoretical perspectives on disability studies, law and policy,
and global perspectives on disability studies in education and law.
Conference keynote speakers are Martha L. Minow, Jeremiah Smith Jr. Professor of
Law at Harvard Law School, and Tom Skrtic, professor of special education at the
University of Kansas.
Minow has taught at Harvard since 1981. Her subjects include constitutional law,
civil procedure, human rights and education law. She writes about human rights and
advocacy for members of racial and religious minorities and for women, children,
and persons with disabilities. Her books include "Just Schools: Pursuing Equality in
Societies of Difference" (with R. Shweder and H. Marcus, co-editors, Russell Sage
Foundation, 2008) and "Making all the Difference: Inclusion, Exclusion and
American Law" (Cornell University Press, 1990).
Skrtic's academic interests are American pragmatism, organization theory,
qualitative research and democratic social reform, which inform several of his
published works, including "Disability and Democracy: Reconstructing (Special)
Education for Postmodernity" (Teachers College Press, 1995) and "Behind Special
Education: A Critical Analysis of Professional Culture and School Organization"
(Love Publishing, 1991), and more recently his contributions to "Challenging
Orthodoxy in Special Education: Dissenting Voices" (Gallagher et al., Love
Publishing, 2004).
Conference highlights include a performance by disability rights activist Keith Jones.
A composer, producer and hip-hop artist, Jones was featured on the documentary
"Including Samuel."
The conference also features a panel discussion with Larry Bissonnette and Tracy
Thresher, two men from Vermont with autism on a road trip around the world. Their
travels are being chronicled on film by Academy Award-winning documentary film
director Gerardine Wurzburg, who will be on hand to record the session. Douglas
Biklen, dean of the SU School of Education and producer (with Wurzburg) of this
new road trip film, will moderate the panel.
Other panel discussions and seminars will cover the following topics related to
disability studies:
Disability Studies in Education is a special interest group of the American
Educational Research Association dedicated to seeking interdisciplinary approaches
to understanding disability through research, policy and action.
For more information on the conference, visit
http://www.disabilitystudiesineducation.org/2009conference.htm. Conference
organizers Christine Ashby, Beth A. Ferri, Alan Foley and Arlene Kanter can be
contacted by e-mail at
conference@disabilitystudiesineducation.org.
