For what it's worth, I did attend the conference and I thought it was terrific! I think we need to remind ourselves of the particular challenges diversifying such a conference faces. For one, if there aren't very many people of such-and-such group in philosophy in the first place, then it might be more difficult to recruit speakers representing that minority. It is my understanding that the committee made every effort to recruit and welcome speakers and participants of all walks of life. Second, the committee cannot control who actually shows up. I attended a session that was supposed to have 3 speakers--all discussing disability in one way or another--and only one speaker was present. I am not sure whether the other two decided not to attend or whether the committee was able to recruit two other speakers, but it was clear to me that the committee did aim to have more. This was not even the only panel addressing disability studies or concerns (by my
count, there were six talks specifically on disability).
I think that it is important for us to discuss these issues and I am grateful to the APA and conference committee for taking the initiative. I, for one, would like to see the conference repeated annually. Perhaps in time, the conference will receive the positive publicity and attention it deserves, and diversifying the diversity conference will be as easily done as said.
These thoughts are just my two cents, as someone who was actually there.
Best wishes,
Audrey
--- On Sat, 6/8/13, Andrea Nicki <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Andrea Nicki <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Disability, Accessibility, and the
Diversity Conference
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Saturday, June 8, 2013, 4:38 PM
Dear Peggy,
I don't think the comments made, apart from
Shelley's, were specifically criticizing "disability's role at the Diversity
Conference," though one doesn't have to actually attend a conference to assess
its program and other aspects, and judging from the conference program
there could have been more attention given to the vast issue of
disability. I understand there are a lot of issues to cover in a
program on diversity but of course ideas about which ones should
be covered, how they should be covered, and to what extent they should
be covered can be widely varying among feminist philosophers and informed
by one's social situatedness and life experience. You refer to
the importance of having accessible conferences. Yes, this is
important. But under the rubric of disability, there is a
wide variety of people. Apart from physical disability
there is also psychological disability. Are psychologically disabled
philosophers recruited as guest speakers and panel organizers
for conferences on diversity? There are a lot of psychologically
disabled philosophers judging from a blog for disabled philosophers,
though most of the people identifying as psychologically disabled
have posted anonymously because they fear,
understandably, professional exclusion.
Best, Andrea Nicki
________________________________________________
Faculty Lecturer , Narrative Medicine
and Applied Health Ethics
Simon Fraser University
www.andreanicki.com
Author of Welcoming and Noble Orphan
www.amazon.com
In a message dated 08/06/2013 7:54:08 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Hi All,
There has been quite a bit of criticism of disability's role at the
Diversity Conference, from people who were not actually
there.
I think it's very important to plan for accessible conferences and to
incorporate insights from those who are disabled before and during
conferences. There is a great list of ideas for how to do this
at http://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com/2011/08/29/accessible-conferences-where-to-start/
Some of what was done for the recent Diversity in Philosophy conference
held at University of Dayton and co-sponsored by the APA included:
Consulting, from the outset, with a member of the APA inclusiveness
committee familiar with and working on disability issues.
Inviting, from the outset, a disabled philosopher to arrange a panel on
disability and advertising this invited panel from the outset.
Making it clear in the original call for abstracts that disability was
one of the topics about which an abstract could be submitted.
Arranging for American Sign Language interpreting for every session of
the conference, breaks, and the banquet where such interpreting was needed.
Arranging for wheel-chair accessible transportation between room
accommodations and the conference location.
Asking about accommodation needs of any sort as part of online
registration and then making every requested
accommodation.
All my best,
Peggy
DesAutels
Professor
Department
of Philosophy
University of Dayton
http://www.peggydesautels.com
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