Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Staff-Faculty Accessibility Group

Nothing About Us Without Us

Who We Are

The Staff-Faculty Accessibility at Brandeis group includes staff and faculty who identify as disabled along with peers who support them.

Focused on accessibility-related issues that arise at work and the workplace, the Staff-Faculty Accessibility Group may help develop resources related to accessibility and disability-at-work, organize disability-related events, and engage in other activities as members determine, while also providing support and advocacy where needed.

View Staff and Faculty Campus Disability And Accessibility Resources

Events

In honor of the upcoming Neurodiversity Celebration Week (March 18–24, 2024), we're talking about neurodivergent staff and faculty! We welcome your comments on how we might support and include neurodivergent people in our workplaces and work processes. All comments published will be made anonymous, displaying only campus role (e.g., staff, faculty, student, colleague). Our comment section begins with the comment below by a staff member.

We have been receiving submissions and will continue to post them throughout the month (extended into April):

It's Neurodiversity Celebration Week 2024: We're Talking About Supporting and Including Neurodivergent Staff & Faculty

It's Neurodiversity Celebration Week 2024: We're Talking About Supporting and Including Neurodivergent Staff & Faculty. Comment 1 from a Staff Member

Neurodiversity Celebration Week: Comment by Staff MemberNeurodiversity Celebration Week: Comment by Staff-Ally-Family MemberNeurodiversity Celebration Week: Comment by Staff Member

Neurodiversity Celebration Week: Comment by Faculty Member

Neurodiversity Celebration Week: Comment by Staff Member

Neurodiversity Celebration Week: Comment by Staff MemberIf you'd like to submit a comment, please email us at Staff-Faculty Accessibility Group. Please note that submission does not guarantee publication—we will select those comments most appropriate for the theme of supporting and including neurodivergent staff and faculty and may edit for length and other needs.

Thank you for supporting neurodivergent staff and faculty!


Last year, we partnered with the Rose Art Museum to host an event focused on disability as creativity. In the artist's studio, in the workplace, at home, and in public: everywhere.

On March 8, Gannit Ankori, the director of the Rose Museum, gave a public online lecture on Frida Kahlo as a disabled artist. Kahlo is often discussed in other ways due to her wide-ranging resonance, but her disabilities were also part of her life and work.

Phantom Limbs: Frida Kahlo, disability and art

Phantom Limbs: Frida Kahlo, disability and art. March 8 at 12:30 pm via Zoom. Learn how the life and work of Frida Kahlo are a potent rejection of ableist discourse and affirm an alternative way of being. The program is co-sponsored by the Brandeis Staff-Faculty Accessibility Group and the Rose Art Museum, with additional support from The Brandeis Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the Brandeis University Staff Advisory Committee. Registration required: https://brandeis.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XLUjg0xGRGWC2qcn0Y6BKw#/registration. Text is set over a background photo by Nickolas Muray, Frida Kahlo Doubled, 1941 (detail).

March 8 | 12:30 p.m. | Online, with ASL interpretation

Access the Recording

In this program, Dr. Gannit Ankori, Henry and Lois Foster Director and Chief Curator of the Rose Museum at Brandeis University, details how the life and work of Frida Kahlo are a potent rejection of ableist discourse and affirm an alternative way of being.

Co-sponsored by the Staff-Faculty Accessibility Group and the Rose Art Museum, with additional support from the Brandeis Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion and the Brandeis University Staff Advisory Committee.

See photographs of Frida Kahlo's house in the sidebar.

From the Archives

What may have been the first event at Brandeis to call attention to the demand for disability rights was held in 1983. Based on archival holdings, it is likely that the play "You Can't Turn Off the Stars," performed by a theater company composed of both disabled and non-disabled actors, was performed on campus on what was called Disability Awareness Day. The events seem to have been organized by Professor Irv Zola, renowned disability studies scholar who taught in the Sociology Department at Brandeis and was the first editor-in-chief of Disability Studies Quarterly.

Disability Awareness Day 1983 photo, showing Irv Zola with member of the theater company

Disability Awareness Day 1983 photo showing man holding up poster for the You Can't Turn Off the Stars play


Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department, Brandeis University.

The first photograph shows Irv Zola, who is at a podium, with a member of the theater company nearby; the theater-company member may be signing in ASL. The second photograph shows a man holding a poster for the play.

How to Contact Us

Email: staff-faculty-disability-group@brandeis.edu

Get Involved

To become a group member, please attend an upcoming meeting or contact us at the email address above.

Brandeis Resources Related to Disability and Accessibility at Work and the Workplace

One of the Accessibility Group's main activities is to help develop accessibility resources related to work and the workplace. The following are examples of what should be a growing list:

Campus Resources for Staff and Faculty

A non-exhaustive list of resources that may be helpful:

Resources for Students

If you are looking for accessibility resources for students, several of the resources listed above may be helpful. Also see: