Zara Bedella
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Kaci Messeder
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Detroit Disability Power / NonUM
Program: UROP
Session: Session 7 (4:40pm – 5:30pm)
Authors: Zara Bedella, Kaci Messeder
Abstract
Intersectional social justice includes many important aspects of identity: race, gender, sexual orientation, and many more. One of these aspects that is often glossed over or forgotten about is disability status. The fight for inclusivity and disability justice is tied to many other social justice efforts, and true inclusivity benefits everyone. Detroit Disability Power (DDP) is an organization that advocates for such inclusivity. DDP is a membership-based organization whose mission is to leverage and build the organizing and political power of the disability community, in order to ensure the full inclusion of people with disabilities in Metro Detroit. DDP is committed to advocacy in areas such as housing, education, healthcare, and more. Through a variety of projects and strategies, DDP works to make Metro Detroit a truly inclusive community. Such projects include an anti-ableism training video aimed at higher-education faculty. This anti-ableism training aims to educate professors and other faculty on how to make their classrooms more accessible and inclusive. It achieves this through 1) an introduction to what disability is and how to discuss disability, 2) a description of the social and medical models of disability, 3) a discussion of accommodations with student perspectives, and 4) suggestions and strategies for the classroom. The training, and other political and organizational efforts, aim to champion disability justice with an intersectional lens.
