Book-Talk: Disability Activism and Parents of Children with Disabilities

Live event was February 10, 2021.

Video and transcript now available, below.

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Book talk video recorded 2/10/21

View or download transcript for both panels

Author's Panel

Activism Panel

10 AM: Author's Panel

Allison C. Carey is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at Shippensburg University. Her work focuses on the social construction of intellectual disability, disability rights, and activism. Along with Allies and Obstacles, she is author of On the Margins of Citizenship: Intellectual Disability and Civil Rights in 20th Century America, and co-editor of Disability Alliances and Allies, Disability Incarcerated: Disability and Imprisonment in the United States and Canada, and Disability and Community.

Pamela Block is a Professor of Anthropology at Western University. She researches disability experience on individual, organizational and community levels, focusing on socio-environmental barriers, empowerment/capacity-building, and health promotion. Along with Allies and Obstacles, she has published widely in a range of journals and co-edited the 2016 book Occupying Disability: Critical Approaches to Community, Justice, and Decolonizing Disability.

Richard K. Scotch is Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at the University of Texas, Dallas. His research interests include social policy reform and social movements in disability, health care, education, and human services, and he has published numerous articles and book chapters on disability politics, policy, and law. In addition to Allies and Obstacles, he authored From Good Will to Civil Rights: Transforming Federal Disability Policy, co-authored Disability Protests Contentious Politics 1970-1999, and co-edited Disability and Community.

11 AM: Disability Activism Panel

Debra Robinson is an administrator of Speaking for Ourselves (SFO). She has led SFO to become a nationally recognized organization. She was present at the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, appointed to the National Council of Disabilities by President Clinton in 1995, and served the American Association of People with Disabilities. Representing the disability community, Debbie works tirelessly to advocate for others and to help others advocate for themselves.

Mrs. Kerima Çevik is a parent activist, blogger (theautismwars.blogspot.com), and writer. She advocates disability rights, autistic inclusion, communication rights, representation, intersectionality, and social justice. An independent researcher, her work shines a light on disparities in quality of life for marginalized intersected disabled populations and their families through grassroots community building activities and pay it forward activism models.

Dr. Mark Friedman teaches Disability Studies as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the City University of New York. His primary work has been helping people with disabilities gain a voice in their lives through self-advocacy and policy making and helping people move from large state institutions into community programs. His current projects include training stakeholders in Person Centered Planning and directing a project to fully include people with developmental disabilities on organizations' Boards of Directors.

About the Book

Allies and Obstacles: Disability Activism and Parents of Children with Disabilities addresses an understudied aspect of disability advocacy, the nature and history of activism by parents of people with disabilities, and its relationship to the Disability Rights Movement. The authors have received the 2021 Scholarly Achievement Award of the North Central Sociological Association for this work.

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