Disability justice is a movement in response to the lived realities and material impacts of ableism on disabled and chronically ill people.  This session will bring principles of disability justice – including intersectionality and the connectedness of all forms of liberation – into our thinking about physics education.  In this brief (10 minute) talk, I will outline the session, introducing our speakers and sharing key terms and premises, including what is disability justice and how ableism has shaped law and higher education policy.  This session will include pre-recorded talks from speakers and a live Q & A, as well as workshopping time for participants.  Masks are required for in-person participants, with medical exceptions.

In this 10 minute, pre-recorded Q&A, we will start with the basics. Through first-hand experience as a disabled woman and training in disability studies, I will answer questions about ableism, disability justice, and my hopes for a future that abides by the principles of disability justice. Participants will have the chance to do paired/team work and engage in a share out and Q&A at the end of the session.

In this 10 minute, pre-recorded Q&A, I draw from intersectionality as conceptualized by Black feminst theorists,I will discuss the intersections of racism and ableism as it relates to P-12 schooling. WIth a disruptive examination of the P-12 to PhD pipeline, I will examine the various ways special education and inclusive education are implicated in the marginilization of youth with disabilities and their lack of representation in Physics and STEM fields. 

In this 10 minute, pre-recorded Q&A, I will explain how fatphobia and ableism are often co-constructed and how they so often intersect with other social locations, such as race, gender, and class in ways that further marginalize people who are already vulnerable in U.S. society.  At its heart, this session will use a Disability Studies framework and a criticism of neo-liberalism to help participants understand the harmful–and often hidden– ideologies that underpin and support discrimination by suggesting that people can and should control their bodies and “health.”

Beginning with a pre-recorded Q&A session, this discussion will attempt to bridge the conversation between disability and queerness. Both social identities involve the critical analysis of the body and its function, but differ in how the analysis occurs. As a Queer Dis. student, I will share my experiences, highlighting the connections between disability and queerness, such as those suggested by Butler and and answer questions about the intersectionality of Queer and Dis. identities.