Join us for the February Disability Studies Program brown bag seminar!

Presenters: Stephen Meyers and Megan McCloskey

Friday, February 21, 12:00-1:00 pm

HUB 327 (The UW D Center)

All DS brown bag events are free and open to the public.

 

Megan’s talk: “Disability Inclusion at the UN: An Update on the Disability Inclusion Strategy”

Stephen's talk: Faculty-Student Research in Disability Inclusive Development

Abstract:

This past year, two undergraduate students and a DSP faculty member sought to learn whether or not local, Seattle-based non-governmental organizations doing mainstream human rights, humanitarian assistance, and international development work to actively include persons with disabilities in their policies and project implementation. They found that such organizations overwhelmingly fail to do so. Depth interviews revealed four major barriers to inclusion on the part of mainstream development NGOs: 1.) lack of awareness, 2.) belief that persons with disabilities constitute a separate focus area, 3.) assumption that the costs of inclusion are too high, and 4.) believing that others, such as governments or families, are responsible for ensuring access and accommodations, rather than the NGO itself.

 

Accessibility information:

The D Center (HUB 327) is mobility-aid accessible and a low-scent space. We will have CART captioning and we have requested ASL interpretation for this event.


Bios:

Stephen Meyers, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Law, Societies, and Justice and at the Jackson School of International Studies. Professor Meyers is also Core Faculty in the Disability Studies Program. His research focuses on associations of persons with disabilities working at the local level and their interactions with international organizations promoting the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was passed in 2006.

Megan McCloskey is completing a PhD in law at UW. She is Senior Fellow with the Disability Inclusive Development Initiative at the International Policy Institute in the Jackson School of International Studies, and Fellow at the Comparative Law and Society Studies (CLASS) Center. Her Harlan Hahn award supported her attendance at the Gender, Disability and Development Institute hosted by Mobility International USA July 22-25, 2019 in Eugene, Oregon. The GDDI brings together senior development professionals and participants in MIUSA’s Women’s Institute for Leadership and Development (WILD) to engage in dialogue about including women and girls with disabilities in development and humanitarian projects around the world.  In addition to contributing to the development of an international collaborative research network of women working in the nexus of feminist advocacy and disability rights, the trip helped Megan to draft syllabi for proposed seminars on Feminist Theory, Disability and Law and Human Rights and Development.