A conference to highlight, understand and address barriers faced by disabled and neurodivergent people, and featuring two of the leading voices in disability studies, will take place at Cal State San Bernardino in February.

Registration is now open online for the Neurodiversity and Disability Studies Mini-Symposium, set for 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Feb. 9 at CSUSB’s Faculty Center for Excellence in the John M. Pfau Library and on Zoom. Cost is $29 per person for the first-of-its-kind conference in the Inland Empire, which is open to practitioners, parents, self-advocates, scholars, educators, providers and more.

The event aims to understand and address the societal and institutional barriers faced by disabled people, while simultaneously elevating the voices of lived experience of disabled and/or neurodivergent people in these critical conversations.

Included among the highlights will be presentations by two world-renown disability studies speakers, Jay Timothy Dolmage, author of “Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education,” and Cathy Kudlick, director emeritus of the Longmore Institute on Disability.

Dolmage is a professor and chair of the English Department at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canad. He also is the founding editor of the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies who is committed to disability rights in his scholarship, service and teaching.

Neurodiversity and Disability Studies Mini-Symposium event flyer

Kudlick is a professor of history, emeritus, who served as director of the Longmore Institute at San Francisco State from 2012-22. In addition, she is the former co-director and judge of the Superfest Disability Film Festival, a juried event held in the San Francisco Bay Area that provides a platform for disabled filmmakers, actors, creators and visionaries to share their stories with the world.

Rounding out the planned events are a neurodivergent poetry reading, neurodivergent-made snacks and refreshments, and a custom-curated film screening of disability short films with a panel to follow.

Schedule:

  • 8:30-9 a.m. – Opening ceremony with neurodivergent poet to open event
  • 9-10:45 a.m. – Superfest Disability Film showcase with faculty panel
  • 11 a.m.-noon – Speaker Jay Timothy Dolmage
  • Noon-1 p.m. – Lunch, DJ, and therapy dogs
  • 1-2 p.m. – Speaker Cathy Kudlick
  • 2:15-3:15 p.m. – Neurodiversity Student Poetry Showcase
  • 3:15 p.m. – Closing

Parking at CSUSB is $10 for the day. Parking passes can be purchased online via ParkMobile or at one of the kiosks on campus.

The most recent estimates by the CDC estimate that 25% of the population is disabled at any given time. The most recent community estimates are that around 30% of the population is neurodivergent. For the CSUSB campus of 20,000 students, these numbers mean that over 4,000 students are estimated to be disabled and over 6,000 students estimated to be neurodivergent.

The Neurodiversity and Disability Studies Mini-Symposium is sponsored by CSUSB Intellectual Life, CSUSB Services to Students with Disabilities, CSUSB Office of Academic Research, CSUSB Disability Studies Lecture Series, the CSUSB Disability Studies Minor, and the Cognitive Collective.

About Services to Students with Disabilities
Services to Students with Disabilities empowers students with disabilities by fostering skills of self-advocacy, resourcefulness and independence. The office works collaboratively with the campus community to remove barriers and promote an enriched learning environment where students with disabilities can utilize their skills and pursue their academic and personal development goals. 

About Intellectual Life
The CSUSB Intellectual Life Fund is designed to enhance the intellectual vitality of the university by bringing guest presenters to campus. 

About the Disability Studies Minor
The Minor in Disability Studies provides an introduction to the fast-growing field of Disability Studies, an interdisciplinary field that centers the knowledge, contributions, experiences, histories, and cultures of people with disabilities. People from all majors are welcome. 

About Office of Academic Research
The Office of Academic Research provides strategic guidance and assistance to support faculty and student research, scholarship, and creative activities in meeting the educational and service mission of the university. 

About the Cognitive Collective
“The Cog” is a 1,000-square-foot neurodiversity space that advocates for neurodiversity, promotes inclusive education, resources and champion the phenomenal strengths of every individual.