“Ableism in Academia”. Click here, for event details and registration.

Academia prides itself on productivity, innovation and rigour. It also purports to promote inclusivity and diversity. However, as disabled, chronically ill, and neurodiverse staff members know, ableism – discrimination in favour of able-bodied people – is endemic in academia.

Against this background, this interactive symposium provides a forum to discuss the pressures and challenges faced by disabled, chronically ill, and neurodiverse staff in HE and FE. By engaging in debate around academic ableism, including how it intersects with gender, race, class, age, and sexuality, we aim to create a policy-facing manifesto that will challenge academia’s existing notions of able-bodied perfection and provide impetus for change. The event will be live-streamed to ensure wide accessibility, and we plan to share contributions through a website. 

Confirmed keynote speaker: Fiona Kumari Campbell (University of Dundee), author of Contours of Ableism.

Presentations will be a maximum of five minutes, and we encourage a variety of formats that reflect different ways of working and communicating scholarship and experience; creativity is encouraged. 

Symposium: 23rd March 2018 in the Drama Studio at UCL Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AL.

Submissions are now closed.