We are excited to host keynote presentations on each day of the conference. On Thursday, October 11, student disability activists Zina Jawadi from Stanford University, Jay Pande from Duke University, and Megan Zahneis from Miami University in Ohio will share the work they’ve done on their campuses, from realizing a years’ long desire by students to have a campus disability center to developing an eventful Disability Pride Week celebrating the art and activism of people with disabilities on campus and in the community.
On Friday, October 12, activist/organizer, speaker/trainer, policy advocate, and writer Lydia X. Z. Brown will present. Their work has largely focused on violence against multiply-marginalized disabled people, especially institutionalization, incarceration, and policing. They have worked to advance transformative change through organizing in the streets, writing legislation, conducting anti-ableism workshops, testifying at regulatory and policy hearings, and disrupting institutional complacency everywhere from the academy to state agencies and the nonprofit-industrial complex. Lydia recently graduated from Northeastern University School of Law, where they were a Public Interest Law Scholar and served as an active member of the Committee Against Institutional Racism (representing the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association), the Transgender Justice Task Force, and the Faculty Appointments Committee, and are a founding core collective member of the Disability Justice Caucus. At present, they serve as founding board member of the Alliance for Citizen-Directed Services, stakeholder representative to the Massachusetts One Care Implementation Council overseeing health care for Medicaid/Medicare dually-eligible individuals, and board member of the Autism Women’s Network. In collaboration with E. Ashkenazy and Morénike Giwa-Onaiwu, Lydia is the lead editor and visionary behind All the Weight of Our Dreams, the first-ever anthology of writings and artwork by autistic people of color, published by the Autism Women’s Network in June 2017. Most recently, Lydia has designed and teaches a course on critical disability theory, public policy, and intersectional social movements as a Visiting Lecturer at Tufts University’s Experimental College since Fall 2016.
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Storm Smith — a “storm of all trades”, in which her roles change as whimsically as the weather — will speak on Saturday, October 13. Currently, she is a Art Director at BBDO Worldwide, an award winning top advertising agency, Filmmaker, an Advocate and dynamic Motivational Speaker. Prior to BBDO, Storm served as Media Specialist, Video Producer/Director for the University Communications department, and lastly Creative Video Producer solely for President Roberta J. Cordano of Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. Storm’s endless contributions and appearances have earned her numerous awards, including a prestigious award from the City of Los Angeles, presented by the mayor and city council members, for her dedication and contribution to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. Storm is featured in Popsugar, Billboard, Campaign and her recent BBDO’s influential campaign ad “It’s Time to Redefine” (where she produced with her team) is featured in AdAge, Adweek, Creativity, PR News Wire, The Drum and more.
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We're putting together a conference agenda with a variety of student, staff, faculty, and professional speakers. Here's the current list of speakers we are fortunate to have joining us with a few more to come:
- Richard Allegra, Director of Outreach, National Center for College Students with Disabilities
- Elijah Armstrong, Student, Penn State University; Founder, Equal Opportunities for Students Project; and DREAM Board member
- Adie Baez, Program Analyst, Healthcare Ready
- Lydia X. Z. Brown, activist/organizer, speaker/trainer, policy advocate, and writer
- Angela Carter, Ph.D. candidate, University of Minnesota
- Patrick Cokley, Disability Policy Engagement Manager, Anthem, Inc
- Courtney Cole, Creative Production Assistant, Rooted in Rights, and Student, Seattle Central College
- Kathleen Downes, Recent MSW, University of Illinois, blogger, The Squeaky Wheelchair
- endever* corbin, Student, Portland State University, and co-moderator, #AutChat
- Dan Darkow, Coordinator, Miller Center for Student Disability Services, Miami University, and past DREAM Board member
- Kim Elmore, Coordinator, DREAM, and Ph.D. candidate, Texas Tech University
- Cole Eskridge, Universal Design Consultant, University of Arizona
- Alec Frazier, Director, Autistic Reality
- Carolyn Grawi, Executive Director, Center for Independent Living Disability Resources Center in Pensacola
- Keri Gray, Director for NextGen Initiatives, Disability:IN
- Wendy Harbour, Director, National Center for College Students with Disabilities
- Alyssa Hillary, Graduate Student Instructor, University of Rhode Island, and blogger, Yes, That Too
- Xian Horn, Co-founder, Changeblazer
- Zina Jawadi, Graduate Student, Stanford University
- Lauren Kinast, Technical Assistance Specialist, The National Deaf Center, and Graduate Student, Texas Tech University
- Rachel Kolb, Ph.D. candidate, Emory University
- Nell Konieczny, Graduate Student, University of Illinois at Chicago
- Catherine Kudlick, Professor of History and Director, Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability, San Francisco State University
- Megan Larson, Recent Graduate, UCLA; mental health advocate, Active Minds; and past DREAM Board member
- Cara Leibowitz, Development Coordinator, National Council on Independent Living, and DREAM founding member
- Scott Lissner, The Ohio State University
- Clark Matthews, Lead Producer, Rooted in Rights
- Maddie O’Meara, Professional Student, University of Minnesota Law School, and DREAM Board member
- Jay Pande, Student, Duke University
- Katherine Perez, Director, Coelho Center for Disability Law; Co-founder, National Coalition for Latinx with Disabilities (CNLD); and Ph.D. candidate, University of Illinois
- Kate Pollack, Graduate Student Coordinator, Disability Cultural Center, Syracuse University
- Jessica Queener, Senior Program Associate, Center for Workforce Development, Institute for Educational Leadership
- Toni Saia, Ph.D. candidate, Disability Cultural Center, University of Arizona
- Zoie Sheets, Graduate Student and Medical Student, University of Illinois at Chicago
- Derek Shields, Director, National Disability Mentoring Coalition, and President, ForwardWorks Consulting
- Storm Smith, Art Director, BBDO Worldwide
- liz thomson, Ph.D. candidate, University of Illinois at Chicago
- K Wheeler, Recent Graduate, University of Washington; Office Assistant, Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology (DO-IT); and DREAM Board member
- Dr. Diane Wiener, Director, Disability Cultural Center, Syracuse University
- Stephanie Woodward, Director of Advocacy, Center for Disability Rights, and organizer, ADAPT
- Megan Zahneis, Student and Co-President, Students with Disabilities Advisory Council, Miami University, and DREAM Board member