ENACTING DISABILITY JUSTICE

The Annual York Critical Disability Studies Conference is one of the few graduate conferences in Disability Studies. This year, it will be offered online for the first time over four weeks on April 7, 14, 21, and 28, 2020 via zoom. Registration will occur closer to the date of the conference and the times of all sessions will take place in the afternoon Eastern Standard Time.

The Annual Critical Disability Studies Conference is an invaluable conference experience for students, providing a collegial environment in which to present their original research and build academic contacts. Our dynamic graduate students and supportive faculty will be glad to welcome you, and to share their exciting research in the field of disability studies.

This year’s theme, “Enacting Disability Justice,” highlights the importance of mobilizing scholarly work in Critical Disability Studies within and outside of academia. The theme seeks to demonstrate how Critical Disability Studies contributes to social policy, human rights, and the development of a disability corpus.

• History of Disability
• Economics of disability
• Deaf Studies
• Mental Health Policies
• Care Work
• DisCrit Theory
• Writing Disability
• Performing Disability
• Disability in Film
• Philosophy, Disability and Change
• Accessibility
• COVID and disability
• Bed Activism
• Disability Methods

Submissions related to the theme are encouraged; however, we welcome submissions on any topic related to disability. The York Critical Disability Studies Conference strives to be an interdisciplinary forum where scholars from different fields can come together and share their scholarship.

This year we are trying an unconventional schedule to account for Zoom fatigue. In having the conference in four short blocks throughout April, we are pleased to announce that we will be welcoming keynote speakers and workshops each week following student presentations. We are delighted to announce that Shelley L. Tremain, author of Foucault and Feminist Philosophy of Disability, and La Marr Jurelle Bruce, author of the upcoming book How to Go Mad without Losing Your Mind: Madness and Black Radical Creativity, will both be delivering our keynote addresses. The other two sessions will have workshops, one from CreateBeing on personal care that leads to community care, and another workshop on disability justice.

Submissions must include a proposal of no more than 300 words, along with a brief biographical statement. Please send your submission to cdssa@yugsa.ca no later than February 28, 2021. Students whose proposals are accepted should prepare a 15-minute presentation. The student-chaired graduate panels will take place before each keynote speaker or workshop. We will also accept submissions in other formats (zines, films, creative writing, etc.).

Sincerely,

David Dyer Lawson and Kira Smith

Co-Chairs of the 2021 Annual Critical Disability Studies Graduate Conference

cdssa@yugsa.ca