Happy birthday WWU Institute for Critical Disability Studies (ICDS)! Help us celebrate one year by supporting our future students and programs this WWU Give Day!
The ICDS is a new institute at Western Washington University that officially launched in Spring 2022! Since then, we haven't stopped making waves at Western. Over the last year, we have successfully launched our first DISA courses and a brand new interdisciplinary minor in Critical Disability Studies. Help us continue our mission by supporting us this Give Day!
In 2023, we launched our Minor in Critical Disability Studies and created our first DISA courses! The ICDS marked this milestone with a cake and celebration at the end of Winter quarter 2023.
WWU ICDS: Growing a Disability Studies and Action Collaborative
The ICDS represents a group of students, faculty, and staff committed to engaging with disability through an interdisciplinary, intersectional, and collaborative approach. Funding the ICDS will help us put on programs and initiatives around campus and beyond.
Our projects include:
- Building an academic program with:
- courses in Critical Disability Studies (DISA)
- a Minor in Critical Disability Studies (CDS)
- Hosting interdisciplinary events including UnConferences and workshops that bring together Western and the local community
- Bringing cutting-edge Disability Studies scholars and Disability Justice activists to Western for presentations and lectures
- Student scholarships
- Student mentorship
- Faculty development initiatives
- Fellows Program for faculty, staff, and community members to support disability scholarship and advocacy projects
- Cross-departmental collaborations centering intersectional inclusion, access, disability advocacy, and Universal Design
Many of our projects and initiatives directly benefit students, allowing them to bring together their academic interests to collaborate on topics relevant to the broader community. We hope to also grow our capacity to hire undergraduate and graduate students to participate in our initiatives as teaching assistants, committee members, and event and program support while gaining valuable experience engaging with disability, culture, and advocacy.
Two new ICDS Funds you can support!
This year, we have added two new funds that you can contribute to:
- ICDS General Scholarship Fund
- ICDS Special Events Fund
Contributing to the Scholarship Fund will allow us to grow our capacity to support our undergraduate and graduate students with scholarships.
Contributing to the Events Fund will help offset costs of events such as hiring sign interpreters so that we can offer accessible events that are free and open to the public.
Double your gift with the ICDS Scholarship Challenge!
For Give Day 2023, we are excited to announce a Give Day ICDS Scholarship Challenge! For every $100 donated to any ICDS fund on Give Day, an anonymous donor will contribute $100 to the ICDS General Scholarship Fund, up to $1000!
ICDS Impact: Western Students and Beyond
"Critical Disability Studies Institute became another space for me to honor my work of the past, present, and future in both the institute and my own timeline. From being a passive volunteer in the 2019 UnConference, to a re-imagined active participant running a workshop in 2022, and now a part of the first co-hort of the Fellows Program."
- JZY, WWU Alum ('22) & ICDS Fellow (2023 Cohort)
About the ICDS
The mission of the ICDS is to promote the academic field of Critical Disability Studies, to foster discourse around accessible teaching and scholarship, and to engage with the campus and local community around issues of disability, accessibility, and culture. The Institute’s core components include:
- Academic Programming
- Building Community
- Collective Action
Questions? Contact the Institute co-directors at: ICDS@wwu.edu
Visit our webpage and learn more here.
