Disabled Academic Collective
@DisabledAcadem
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We're a group of disabled undergrads, grad students, faculty, and independent scholars. If you'd like to join, DM us or see our website! @Nicole_Lee_Sch hosts
Joined August 2020
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Are you a
#Disabled
individual in
#HigherEd
? Are you looking for a mutual aid structured community? Join the DAC! Check out our website, subscribe to our blog, and contact us (here or on our website) for an invite to our Discord server.
#DisabledAcademic
#AcademicChatter
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Swallowing down angry tears after a student admitted that they're scared to come to campus. They have multiple vulnerable family members, all of whom are sheltering in place and have been this whole time. 1/4
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3K
Just me, a disabled scholar, spending another night crying after learning that there are no meaningful remote options for yet another conference I was accepted to. How can I make it in academia when you slam every single door right in my fucking face? 1/8
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When students email their accommodation letters (per our school's policy) I don't just say "ok thanks." I take time to explain how their accommodations will work in practice in our classroom. 1/8
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A reminder - if you're an educator please don't trust that Disability Services is fully serving your students. It's not. You don't need to go through the super medicalized, hierarchical, "you should feel lucky we gave you anything at all" accommodations system. 1/8
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Event organizers keep saying that accessibility would drive costs up SO HIGH that it would just be IMPOSSIBLE to hold hybrid conferences. Like please I've been paying for everyone else to drink and have shitty appetizers for years. 1/6
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1K
Ok so someone has asked me to prove how remote access pull backs are a disability rights issue. And I am so tired y'all. Please post studies/articles/evidence below. I can't believe I have to defend my health, wellbeing, and inclusion by taking on this kind of labor.
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Many students and staff with disabilities simply do not apply for accommodations. So when claims are made like "well no one else has ever needed this" or "this seems excessive, another student only needed x" they are way off the mark. 1/5
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I'm tired of disability orgs upholding the idea that every student should learn to advocate for themselves. Self advocacy is only good in TANDEM with systemic change. These orgs are setting students up for failure bc they cannot shoulder this alone. 1/5
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1K
I'm so tired of watching people plan inaccessible events. When you choose to ignore accessible event planning guidelines you basically tell me... 1/6
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I thought I was already facing a eugenics nightmare with existing COVID policies. I cried for hours today after seeing new CDC guidelines. No matter what I do to protect myself, no matter what sacrifices I make, capitalism will negate all the measures I take to protect myself.
15
224
1K
If you're in disability studies and you:
- challenge students on their accommodation requests
- don't speak up when you hear colleagues badmouthing disabled students
- don't design your courses using Universal Design
You're exploiting the community you pretend to teach. 1/4
4
230
1K
Holding space for all disabled students who:
- should be graduating, but had to put studies on hold bc of inequitable COVID policies
- have experienced the negative effects of access pull-backs
- cannot celebrate meaningfully bc graduation ceremonies have not prioritized access
3
262
1K
Working WITH disabled people - as an educator, a medical professional, etc. - does not mean you understand the needs of disabled people. I'm really tired of people substituting proximity for lived experience. They're not the same. 1/5
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1K
Today was my first day back teaching after break. I introduced myself as a disabled instructor and talked about the fact that I'm high risk for covid. I explained how I can help students design informal accommodations for our class, and how I can help them pursue formal ones. 1/3
9
122
1K
I'm watching so many non-disabled academics fail disabled communities right now. It hurts to see colleagues going to in-person conferences, telling their students they just can't teach hybrid, and ignoring the facts. 1/2
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They told me they couldn't handle it if they were the one to bring home a disease that could kill their family members. I just sat with them in defeat. My classes are hybrid and accessible, but I can't change campus policies or overarching insistence on in-person classes. 2/4
2
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I will no longer be participating in conferences that do not offer hybrid engagement. I will also not be spending any money purchasing memberships for associations who have/are planning to disregard remote access. 1/2
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I'm so weary of being scared every day of teaching
#DisHist
and trying to build solidarity with students who are scared every day. Telling disabled students/staff/faculty they need to just leave higher ed is inexcusable. 3/4
2
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I cried in my office today. Because of a lot of things. But mostly because I have to go back to being around able bodied people, and I didn't realize how upsetting, dismaying, and demanding it would be after a year in disabled communities.
10
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Disabled students deserve disabled mentors and advisors. It is so incredibly stressful to ask an able bodied mentor for advice when you're worried that said discussion might be grounds for dismissal from the program. 1/8
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How many high risk students had to decide to drop classes or leave school entirely because we refuse to protect our most vulnerable How many lost fellowships and state funding? How many lost insurance? 1/3
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I can't keep them safe. And that is crushing. I can't control what happens outside of my few classrooms. I can't make sure they have access and safety. And I don't know how to stay doing this. Feeling so so defeated and powerless. 4/4
#AcademicTwitter
#AcademicChatter
4
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As we head into the fourth year of the pandemic, I have to admit I've never felt so much dismay regarding our collective unwillingness to mitigate COVID harms. Study after study comes out, each with worse data, and nothing happens. 1/3
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This is why you hire disabled faculty members. Because for many of them, this was the first time they've ever spoken to an openly disabled educator. And that matters. 3/3
#AcademicTwitter
#DisabilityTwitter
#AcademicChatter
3
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4 out of 15 people came up to me after classes to talk accommodation strategies, accountability measures, and other classroom supports. I am so elated that they felt safe enough to do so. And so happy that I could share my own experiences. 2/3
1
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For everyone teaching this term: do you recommend students to go to the Accommodations Office at your uni? If you do, are you aware of what that process looks like? Hint - the process is not good. It is not empowering. It is costly, time consuming, and demoralizing. 1/10
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The fact that disabled/chronically ill/immunocompromised students have to choose every term between:
1. Dropping out of school
Or
2. Taking in-person classes that ignore our public health realities
Feels more and more every day like a dystopian reality. This is discrimination.
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623
Disability Studies is a field. Its not adjacent to English or Sociology or History. It's a thing. It deserves whole departments and dedicated faculty members. It deserves to be treated as an interdisciplinary field rather than a cross listed posting.
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In the past year I've watched high risk students, staff, and faculty:
- fight endlessly for accommodations for remote work
- weigh the risks of losing healthcare vs being exposed
- beg their communities to keep them safe 1/7
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Academic ableism is so wildly pervasive it is built into everything in the academy. And yet, once again, I've been asked to a meeting to describe its direct impacts and offer solutions. Ones that I know admin will not take. 1/5
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I've had ten years of accommodations for my mobility issues and I have to reapply again and get a Dr to reassess. For a lifelong, chronic, genetic, forever lasting disability. And I'll have to in every job I ever get from here on out. Bc no one trusts disabled people. 1/4
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How are you networking with scholars who cannot attend in-person conferences? Are you seeking out their work, offering to have virtual coffee to connect, or inviting them to published in collections you're putting together? 1/2
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If you're a non-disabled scholar in
#DisabilityStudies
and you're
- participation in in-person only conferencing
- teaching only in person
- going to in-person networking events 1/4
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To every disabled academic advocating for safety and the continuation of distanced learning this fall: I'm sorry you have to be scared of
- losing your job
- losing your career
- teaching in an unsafe space
- sacrificing your health for a pretense of normalcy 1/3
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I've been paying for YOU to have the conference experience YOU enjoy. I have never enjoyed the same benefits. Now when I ask you to make a sacrifice you claim it's impossible. This isn't about the $ it's about who makes the sacrifice. 6/6
#AcademicChatter
#DisabilityTwitter
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If you're hiring disabled faculty, staff, postdocs, VAPs, or adjuncts you need to remember that cost of living is so much higher for us than it is for able bodied individuals. 1/8
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What is the reality of living on a PhD stipend for disabled/chronically ill students?
A long thread 1/18
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Here's what I've been paying for for years at conferences:
- food options with no ingredient lists and/or allergy alerts
- walking tours I can't ever take bc I use a cane and cobblestone is a nightmare 2/6
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I am so tired. Everyone wants my intellectual labor. Med schools want me to present on anti-ableist practice, but they won't build disability into their coursework or hire disabled people to design ethical coursework. 2/8
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A lot of people have complained these past three years that virtual conferences don't have meaningful networking moments. Which I find ridiculous. Because I've conducted my whole social life except work from my apt these 3 years. And surprise I still have friends. 1/6
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Just a reminder - we exist. If you are a disabled individual in higher ed, or you know a disabled individual in higher ed, we're here! We have this account, a website with resources, and a Discord server where we offer disabled academics collective support. 1/2
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This year is a good reminder that some students don't return to spring semester "refreshed" or ready to go. For students with complex chronic illnesses and disabilities, winter break is often a time to play catch up with their medical team or a time to try to secure a dx. 1/9
2
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Are you a high risk academic who's been denied hybrid access or remote accommodations for academic conferences? Have you had to turn down presenting or attending because conferences switched fully back to in-person modes or granted a select number of hybrid slots? 1/3
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I detail what access measures are built into the course design. I mention I'm a disabled educator. I talk about our respective responsibilities to make sure the accommodation is met. And I remind them that their needs can change and that's ok, I'll work with them. 2/8
2
9
430
I see a lot of discussions about giving students grace and care bc of pandemic conditions. Which - yes - we should be doing that all the time. But many also claim this is the "first" time students have experienced this level of precarity, anxiety, fear, etc. 1/3
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Conferences loooove panels on "disability" or "diversity" but organizers won't actually help disabled scholars network or present their research outside of in-person events. 3/8
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If you're posting a list of academic accomplishments in 2022 I hope you're also taking a moment to reflect on whether you were hyper productive, why that was, and what that means for others in the field. 1/4
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The job market loves a disabled diversity hire, but only when they've produced more than their peers and have proven that their disability "doesn't hold them back." 4/8
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If the only person on the committee/in the room/on the chat asking for increased access is also the only outwardly disabled person, then your committee/classroom/chat is not equitable. We desperately need allies to take some of the weight off of us. 1/6
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I get asked a lot for meetings about ableism in academia. And somehow I always go in telling myself "this person is going to commit to change." But every time I explain that change takes funding, time, commitment, research, and reflection, I watch their interest die out. 1/2
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Do you know how heart wrenching it is every time a student asks me if they can safely disclose their disability for a job/fellowship/school app? And I have to tell them "it's up to you but here are the risks." I really wish that discussion were unnecessary.
#AcademicChatter
10
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I (mistakenly) thought that I could make myself valuable enough to society by tacking on degree after degree, but the disappointing thing is that my accomplishments won't ever negate or dispel the overwhelming force of ableism and eugenics. 1/3
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As we shift into fall term, students who have never set foot on campus (incoming and second year students) are going to realize that perhaps they DO need accommodations now that in person classes have started again. Accommodations are time consuming, lengthy, and expensive. 1/10
2
95
396
It's job market season and my big question is: what are you doing to recruit and retain disabled faculty? Bc 1/5 of college students are disabled. And yet once again they will likely never get the opportunity to have a disabled mentor, educator, advisor, etc. 1/12
2
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389
When I began my PhD I found there was no training on disability justice, accommodations, or inclusive design for PhD students taking on TAships at my uni. So I did that labor and put together a guide. 1/8
4
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385
And this is not exemplary teaching. This is just what educators SHOULD be doing if they ever proclaim a commitment to DEI. Yet so many times I get students responding saying that this is the first time an educator took care to make sure they were supported. 6/8
3
17
386
Conference organizers planning inaccessible events - really hope you know what message you send by doing this. You send the message that ableism in the academy is permissible. And you send the message that disabled ppl are not welcome and will not be in the future. 1/9
5
119
385
I've been paying to watch everyone:
- stand and mill about networking while I sit at a table on the fringe somewhere bc I can't stand for an hour of small talk (or even 15 min)
- catch up with people they already know and treat the conference as some kind of reunion 3/6
2
27
376
How many disabled academics were forced out of higher ed because of a lack of accommodations throughout COVID-19? We'll never know bc no university collects data on disability and even when they do it's not safe to disclose. 1/2
8
74
384
It is so hard to be disabled in the academy when the advice given to you is
1. Hide it.
2. Work harder than your peers so when people notice it's forgiveable.
3. Be disabled in the "right" way (aka continue to produce at rates that are impossible to maintain)
#AcademicChatter
0
98
375
I hope everyone is acknowledging how poorly universities handled, are handling, and will handle protections for disabled students throughout the pandemic. 1/6
3
97
374
Performative allyship is not activism. Just a reminder for everyone "celebrating" Disability Awareness Month without looking over their campus policies regarding faculty hiring, student recruitment, and retention of faculty, staff, or students. 1/5
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365
I never talk about individual accommodations in a class setting. I never "out" disabled students to their peers. I never implement classroom policies (like a laptop ban) that could "out" them. Instead I invite everyone to build access. 5/8
2
17
367
I've been paying to:
- watch panels that aren't captioned where no one brings a large print copy of their talk and I can't always follow for a number of reasons
- sit in an uncomfortable folding chair for hours until I get back to my hotel room and cry over a heating pad 4/6
1
29
357
Reach out to your students. Work with them on their accommodations. Dream bigger than whatever shoddy list was compiled like "time and a half" and "allowed a calculator." We can do better to support disabled students. 8/8
#AcademicChatter
#AcademicTwitter
4
26
359
I've been paying to:
- fight airlines to fly with the medications I need to take every day
- forego bulkier assistive devices bc I can't trust airlines not to damage or lose them
- debate between what conference clothes to pack vs what braces and supports 5/6
1
25
353
If you're asking disabled people to serve on academic committees regarding accessibility and accommodations, are you also protecting those people when they face workplace retaliation? 1/2
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I'm mourning every single day for what I could be and the career I could have if fellow academics just fucking followed the ADA and built basic access measures into Higher Ed. 8/8
#AcademicChatter
#DisabilityTwitter
#AcademicTwitter
0
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FYI it's actually a lot of work to explain when things are inaccessible for me, why that is, and what can be done. It's labor that takes away my time, enthusiasm, and patience. 1/7
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Just a reminder because I think far too many faculty members need this - denying a student accommodation is an illegal act. You are actively violating the ADA. And it is wildly unethical to teach in a space where you've committed to upholding these laws. 1/6
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1. Your time is more valuable than my potential inclusion
2. You don't follow disabled people who talk about this all the time
3. You don't want to take responsibility for doing the ethical and legal thing required of you 2/6
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333
And then I make a note on my calendar to follow up with them to ask them how their accommodations are working. I remind them how they can contact me (email, phone, office hours) and I explain that I'll email to check in with them after a few weeks. 4/8
1
7
330
Thinking about how much knowledge we lose every day from disabled colleagues forcibly pushed out of the academy. How many cool courses, excellent research, and phenomenal colleagues have we lost? How many more do we lose each day? 1/3
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That makes me sick to my stomach. This is not some kind of hardship. It's not time consuming or resource heavy. It's not burdensome. It's just the baseline respect I think they deserve. And they often feel thankful, becusse respect is so rarely given to them. 7/8
2
9
328
Non-disabled profs will happily send disabled students to the DAC for support. And then assume their job is done bc they made a connection. Your job isn't done. You need to keep supporting disabled academics. 5/8
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@TrishHerps4Life
Excessive work hours are explicitly ableist. Every time an academic pushes themselves or other to maintain those standards, they actively tell disabled people they don't belong in the same space as them. So no nothing's wrong.
3
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I hope all profs realize that your chronically ill students are not doing well right now. My hospital is so focused on vaccination and COVID that important tests (one to measure if I'm digesting food, the other to see if I'm getting proper blood flow to my brain) 1/4
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I tell them I'm committed to their success in the course. I explain communication options should they find that the accommodations they have in place aren't really working, or if they need something new. 3/8
1
7
316
Happy
#DisabilityPrideMonth
to all my fellow disabled academics out there. If you're a non-disabled person here are some tips for engaging in the celebration of disabled persistence, resistance, and existence in the face of unrelenting ableism.
3
175
314
I'm a specialist in disability studies. I've advocated for myself in multiple medical offices. I have a whole goddamn PhD. I still find the accommodations process complicated, time consuming, and upsetting. How can we expect this of students?
#AcademicChatter
#DisabilityTwitter
9
67
310
I don't know how to stay here doing this when I have so few allies, and those allies are all disabled people with the least amount of resources. How many allies can I watch fail to make it? And how frequently can I sit back and take hit after hit? 7/8
2
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307
It's not. Disabled students live with pandemic-like conditions all the time. Disabled students are trying to sort out medical care and accommodations all the time. They're making vlaue judgements about what health risks they an take and what they can't all the time. 2/3
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49
302
Students love my coursework, and ask that more disability studies coursework be embedded into mainstream curriculum (especially programs like "Special Education") but schools won't establish disability studies programs. 6/8
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26
302
As we shift into fall term, students who have never set foot on campus (incoming and second year students) are going to realize that perhaps they DO need accommodations. So too might students who found the digital classroom more accessible than the physical one. 1/10
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You have to think about how you're benefitting (in terms of prestige, finances, job security) from career spaces that are inaccessible to most disabled academics right now. How are we supposed to tell our own stories when we aren't even in the room? 2/4
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298
Oftentimes we need far more than we ask for, and we ask for only the things we absolutely NEED in order to scrape by, rather the things we could use to thrive in the system. Why? 2/5
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Because the accommodations process is expensive, exploitative, degrading, and exhausting. We're asking for accommodations because our resources are stretched thin in an ableist system. 3/5
1
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What I need most in academia is for people to plan for me. To plan accessibility into events, classrooms, output expectations, and training modules. I need people to stop treating access as a piecemeal add on to do last minute. 1/2
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287
As a disabled scholar I'm just really really tired of watching people around me balk at the labor inherent to providing access. Access is labor. Disabled people peform labor all the time to match non-disabled norms. 1/2
2
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290
I'm tired of begging conferences for accessibility, esp when I've watched it happen in practice. Yes I know planning is hard, but its important - I want my money going towards improved access. I really hope those of you with power choose to do the same. 2/2
#AcademicChatter
0
37
286
Disabled students are making tough financial choices about medical care, testing, diagnostics, and therapeutics all the time. They're dealing with barriers to access all the time. For many, pandemic conditions are more familiar than you expect. This is not new for many of us. 3/3
0
45
276
I don't understand how medical professionals, academics, scientists - people who went to school for YEARS to study the body - cannot wholeheartedly commit to multifaceted mitigation strategies including testing, vaccinations, masking, and petitioning for clean air. 2/3
4
49
276
Tell your students you care about access and accessibility. Offer time and space to negotiate one on one accommodations for the course. Explain what measures your class already supports. Open the conversation for them, because they're nervous. 2/8
1
25
271
Maybe I would have the (mental, physical, emotional) energy to write about academic ableism for academic consumption if I weren't forced to combat ableism on a daily basis. Stop telling marginalized people to write about abuse to "draw attention to the issues."
4
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271
I've always doubted the worth of advanced degrees, but this pandemic has shown me that it doesnt matter what education you have. If your politics are shit and you dont care about other people, you will defy everything you intellectually know to be true in practice. 3/3
6
54
270
How do you build an inclusive community for disabled students?
Maybe stop forcing students to prove they deserve to be at college? Stop making them prove they are capable of success? Maybe tell them from the outset that they ARE capable and DO deserve to be there? 1/14
2
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266
Looking to wrap up your week with some critical discourse about being
#Disabled
in
#HigherEd
? Check out our new blog piece by
@semispeaking
on
#Autism
#AutismAwareness
#AAC
#Inclusion
and
#AcademicAbleism
1
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269
I really love advocating for disabled students. But also, I'm really tired of being brave. I keep entering into these discussions where I'm always going "is this going to be the statement that costs me my job?" I thought it'd get easier, but it just doesn't.
1
27
259
It also makes me wonder:
1. If you don't think it's your job to provide access to major events, how does that translate to your classroom and to your disabled students?
2. What would actually compel you to learn from the many streamlined resources we already have? 3/6
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