The NYU Center for Disability Studies (CDS) is a key DIA partner and shares its co- chairs, Faye Ginsburg and Mara Mills. Below are some their 2019 highlights:
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- Expanded public presence by launching the CDS website, new mail system, as well as CDS Facebook and CDS Twitter accounts. These resources promote the CDS’s many events and seminars, while modeling best practices in digital accessibility and serving as a hub for NYU resources related to disability (from public safety to event accessibility).
- Expanded community partnerships in NYC. CDS hosted Alice Sheppard, a leading figure in the disability dance world, as a visiting artist/scholar this spring. CDS continued to partner with Disability Arts NYC (DAN) (working with the Mayor’s office and many groups throughout the city), run by Kevin Gotkin (MCC) and the well-known disability scholar/activist Simi Linton. CDS designated a space for them in its NYC office, enabling them to organize several “Boot Camps”—intensive trainings in advocacy and policy development for disability arts—funded by the New York Community Trust’s Cultural Agenda Fund, in order to prepare cultural workers, advocates and artists to serve on grant review boards, work in city agencies, non-profits, to advance disability arts in NYC. Their efforts contributed to the groundbreaking CreateNYC Disability Forward Fund, providing $640,000 to 22 NYC arts organizations for programs that deepen engagement in the arts for people with disabilities.
- As a result of expanded community partnerships, online visibility and thus increased public presence CDS has attracted international attention, some of which has led to collaborations with similar groups in other countries. This year, CDS co-Chairs Ginsburg and Mills met with disability academics and activists from Japan (Prof. Alisa Sugiyama, Teikyo University School of Law) and Nadia Dib (Fundacion Jazmin, Uruguay) who requested to visit the NYU CDS office in New York. CDS has also continued its longstanding collaboration with Instituto 17 (Mexico City); this February, they conducted a Skype interview with Mills about the work of CDS as part of their “Diverse University” conference.
- Participated in a workshop held on Disability, Bias, and Artificial Intelligence at the NYU AI Now Institute. The workshop included 20 people from engineering, design, arts and academia, including CDS directors Mara Mills (who gave a short opening talk), Faye Ginsburg and assistant Emily Rogers. CDS is now working on a collaborative white paper based on the workshop with AI Now director Kate Crawford.
- Through space-sharing, CDS additionally supported the work of Positive Exposure. Director Rick Guidotti uses photography to present the humanity and dignity of individuals living with genetic, physical, behavioral and intellectual differences. Four short films—on autism, transgender, Familial Dysautonomia, and Down Syndrome—were shot in the CDS space.
- Co-sponsored a disability-related art exhibit and panel on Collective Strategies for Reparative Care at EFA Project Space (Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts), with funding and moderation by Kevin Gotkin (MCC).
- Helped fund and advertise Crip Imponderabilia, a Gallatin disability art exhibit curated by M.A. student and artist living with low vision, Bojana Coklyat.
