Next EDI Summer Book Club meets on June 27, at 3 pm Eastern
Wayde Oshiro
Hi CCCOER Community,
The first book club of the summer met on June 13 to discuss the Introduction and Chapter 1 of this year’s community-driven selection, Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education by Jay T. Dolmage (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
In the Introduction, Dolmage states:
The title of this book focuses on the term ableism not because disablism isn’t present in higher education and academia— it absolutely is— and disablism can never be fully disconnected from ableism. But academia powerfully mandates able-bodiedness and able-mindedness, as well as other forms of social and communicative hyperability, and this demand can best be defined as ableism. What we also learn from higher education is that disablism is almost always wrapped into, and sometimes hidden within, ableism. That is, to value ability through something like the demand to overcome disability, or a research study to cure disability, there is also an implicit belief that being disabled is negative and to be avoided at all costs. (p.7)
Chelsea James (Pima Community College) and Muhammad Hassan (Kean University) were the facilitators of this session. They led the 26 participants through discussions on various topics, including higher education as an exclusionary institution, the history of eugenics in higher education, the corrosive effects of ableism, and the intersection of rhetoric and disability studies. Some comments from book club participants:
- It is so valuable to listen to people from all over. I enjoy the opportunity to listen to others.
- I really appreciated the diversity of the group: different geographic regions and origins, different positions and institutions, etc.
- I like the combo of breakout rooms plus larger group discussion.
- Fascinating book and great discussion. I also enjoyed the combination of breakout room and group discussion.
The next book club will meet on Thursday, June 27, at 3 PM Eastern/2 PM Central/1 PM Mountain/12 PM Pacific/9 AM Hawaii-Aleutian Time. Registration is required for these meetings.
Upcoming Sessions
- June 27 2. The Retrofit
- July 11 3. Imaginary College Student
- July 25 4. Universal Design
- August 8 5. Disability on Campus, on Film: Framing the Failures of Higher Education
Register today for the next Summer Book Club session.
The EDI Committee invites you to join this year’s book club to engage in thoughtful and purposeful discussion to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion in Open Education. We look forward to seeing and hearing from you soon!
Sincerely,
Andrea, Ted, Lauren, and Wayde
CCCOER EDI Committee
