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So I've been informally/formally researching #disability cultural centers and desperately want to find a way to engage more in discussions about them. So here's a thread and some logorrhea for your feed. Enjoy!
So a disability cultural center is what it sounds like. Which confuses a surprising number of people. It has similarities to centers for other marginalized and oppressed students (you know, a confined space for existing as ones full self within a campus where one still exist)
The confusion seems to arise because of the existence of disability services offices. "We already have one box for disabled students, why add another? Don't they already do all the same work?" It comes down to a difference in models of disability (and the culture of the office)
Disability service offices operate in a space dictated by medical and legal verifications of disability. Disabled students are supported according to the ADA (except when they aren't) if they have the necessary documentation.
Don't have the money for a test? Don't know how to approach the diagnosis or verification process? Don't meet the expected diagnostic criteria? Tough. With some exceptions, there is very little a disability services office can do in support.
So what's different about a disability cultural center? Well, first off, it functions in a completely different model of disability; it's in the name. These centers understand the value and importance of disability culture (or disabled existence, period)
This cultural model invites an exploration of disabled identity for students that is VERY rare (tragically so). Students can, without a diagnosis, explore their connection to disabled identity, community, and culture with lowered barriers - including no need to disclose!
That plausible deniability, "Oh, I'm not here because I'm disabled. I'm just curious" helps those only just starting to think they may have a place with disabled community (or at least it helped me). Acceptance and pride in disabled identity takes time and goes through stages
The space to safely explore that is so rarely afforded to disabled students that it takes all the way up until a burnout or crash for students to realize they may be disabled (again, happened to me this year). I think this is especially prominent in grad school/doc programs
So disability cultural centers (DCCs) (I need more characters!) Support disabled student well being, development, and support - BUT THERE'S MORE. Disability services offices (DSOs) are tasked with supporting students with disabilities - one at a time, in isolation.
Individualized support is valuable and necessary, but this type of isolated approach prevents students from learning about the lovely ways in which disabled identity and life requires, supports, and celebrates interdependency. More evidence to this point: who isn't supported
Graduate students for one, are not supported (or provided with incongruent support), but the true transgression is the non-existence of support for disabled faculty and staff. With no formal support or accommodations, disabled faculty and staff make do and hide their identities
This is often necessary just to survive as a disabled professional. But then where do disabled students look to for role models? How do they learn to survive? In many cases, they don't and they leave (see #whydisabledstudentsdropout).
DCCs can make space (ideally within their leadership and employees) for disabled mentors in the form of faculty and staff in a way that DSOs so often can't. Most importantly, they give disabled faculty and staff space to explore their own disabled identities and journeys
A tl;dr up to this point: DCCs support the success and well-being of disabled students AND faculty and staff by creating space for the development of disabled identity and community
So why aren't there disability cultural centers at all campuses? Well, there aren't yet. The first of them was founded at the University of Minnesota the year after the ADA was passed in 1991. Today, there are a dozen or so. Here's a quick list of those of which I know
University of Minnesota, Syracuse University, University of North Carolina - Asheville, University of Illinois - Chicago, University of Washington -Seattle, Miami University, University of Arizona, UC Berkeley, San Francisco University
That's not a comprehensive list. They're popping up more and more quickly and have been since 2010; five we're founded in the last five years alone. Many of the newer and developing ones are student groups or larger coalitions like @DisCultureUM
Why are they popping up in rapid succession? I have some theories. Theory 1) Many disabled folx now in grad school grew up in a world where the ADA was the minimum. And, as they have no doubt learned, this is not enough.
Theory 2) The Internet exists - and, more importantly, young disabled people who are internet savvy are in college. With online disabled communities (shout-out to @DisInGradSchool @DisabledAcadem @DREAMdisability @DisInHigherEd ), disabled students can learn what is possible
Theory 3) A domino effect. Upon finding out the DCCs are even a thing, so many disabled folx and non-disabled allies I've chatted with immediately start working towards one. With the number of centers having quadrupled (ish) in the last decade the secret's out
Theory 4) History of disabled activism on a campus. This is the factor I believe is a key decider in whether/how quickly a disability cultural center comes to exist on a campus. Syracuse had Beyond Compliance; UIC had the first PH.D. in disability studies in the US
In all truth, it's probably a combination of all these factors and theories There's so much we don't know about disability cultural centers and their development, which is why they're so exciting! They're the next evolution in disabled student support in higher ed
That's where Ill end off for now, along with an open and eager invitation to those interested in researching, supporting, and developing DCCs. Reply to, share, or otherwise engage in this thread Or send me an email at jedelstein (I have a UMass email) and let's talk about it!
