The PhD/RMA workshop on January 27/28 is fully booked!
But you can still register for the public lecture on January 26: nog@uu.nl
Ableism in Academia – lecture and workshop
January 2022
Lecture “Disclosure dances in doctoral education” by dr. Nicole Brown
Where did all the disabled academics go? From statistics we know that disclosure of (dis)ability rates amongst academic staff and postgraduate research students are much lower than in the general population or amongst undergraduate students. However, there is no evidence that invisible disabilities are less prevalent in higher education. In this presentation, dr. Nicole Brown draws on her extensive research into the lived experience of ableism in academia to explore disclosure. Brown commences with a brief introduction to the Embodied Inquiry employing creative research methods for data collection. She then discusses how individuals are struggling to reconcile working and studying in what appears to be an inclusive academia with the realities of negotiating structural barriers, attitudinal challenges and managing symptoms of their conditions. Brown concludes with some suggestions on what we can do as individuals to improve practices within academia and thereby support those with disabilities, chronic illnesses and/or neurodivergences. After Brown’s lecture, writer and literary theorist Piet Devos will give a first response to the lecture. Afterwards, there will be room for questions and discussion from the audience.
Date: Wednesday January 26, 2022
Time: 15.00-16.00 hrs
Location: Online
Target audience: Everyone is welcome to this lecture! We especially welcome students, PhDs, teaching & support staff and student deans. Please let us know your accessibility needs: a speech-to-text interpreter can be arranged.
Registration is needed for the lecture; to register please email nog@uu.nl before January 21, 2022.
Speaker: Dr. Nicole Brown is Associate Professor at the University College London, Institute of Education and Director of Social Research & Practice and Education Ltd. Nicole’s research interests relate to physical and material representations of experiences, the generation of knowledge and use of metaphors to express what is difficult to express, and more generally, research methods and approaches to explore identity and body work. She has edited Lived Experiences of Ableism in Academia: Strategies for Inclusion in Higher Education and Ableism in Academia: Theorising Experiences of Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses in Higher Education, co-authored Embodied Inquiry: Research Methods, and authored Making the Most of Your Research Journal. She tweets as @ncjbrown and @AbleismAcademia
Discussant: Dr. Piet Devos (Kortrijk, 1983) is a Belgian writer and literary theorist. He himself went blind at the age of five, an experience which triggered his interest in sensory perception and disability. He has a PhD in Modern Romance Literature from the University of Groningen. He was also a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Sensory Studies of Concordia University in Montreal (Canada). In his book Talend lichaam: de visuele en haptische waarneming in de avant-gardepoëzie van Huidobro en Péret (2013), Piet developed a cultural-historical method for analyzing literary texts through the lens of contemporaneous sensory practices and discourses. Since 2016, he has conducted research for a new project on the multisensory aesthetics of disability. Piet also works as a translator of French and Latin American literature. See for more information: https://pietdevos.be/
Organizers: NOG PhD Council, Accessible Academia
Workshop: “Ableism in Academia: being disabled, chronically ill and/or neurodivergent in higher education” by dr. Nicole Brown
Academia as an environment is often difficult to navigate for staff and students who have disabilities, chronic illnesses and/or neurodivergence. In this workshop, students will take an autoethnographic, reflexive approach to exploring disabilities, chronic illnesses and neurodivergence in academia. Students engage with theoretical approaches from disability studies, sociology and education and connect these with representations of academics and academia in popular culture, film, media, and literature. Through these conceptualisations along with practical examples and strategies students develop an insight into the reality and lived experience of those in academia with disabilities, chronic illnesses and/or neurodivergence and how to make academia more accessible.
Date: Thursday January 27 & Friday January 28
Time: 10.30-14.00 hrs
Location: Online
Target audience: PhD candidates, master students. People with and without disabilities are welcome. For these workshops, participants will have needed to attend the lecture “Disclosure dances in doctoral
education” on the 26th of January.
ECTS: for RMA and PhD students: 1 ECTS can be awarded for participating in the lecture and workshop and an additional 1 ECTS can be awarded by handing in an assignment.
Registration is needed for the workshop (max 20); to register please email nog@uu.nl before January 21, 2022. Please let us know your accessibility needs: a speech-to-text interpreter can be arranged.
Organizers: NOG PhD Council, Accessible Academia