Community Discussion (Parts I & II)
Friday, June 16, 2017
3:45 - 4:45 p.m.
Saturday, June 17, 2017
3:15 – 4:45 p.m.
Friday, June 16, 2017
3:45 - 4:45 p.m.
Saturday, June 17, 2017
3:15 – 4:45 p.m.
Michelle Garcia | Community Organizer, Access Living
Michelle has served as Access Living's Latino Community Organizer since 2009. Michelle is the coordinator of Cambiando Vidas, a Latinos with disabilities advocacy group, whose mission is to create social change within the Latino Community for disability rights. Michelle's work is highly personal and she is passionate about educating and collaborating with the Latino community about disability rights and services. Michelle recently participated in an international exchange with disability rights activists from Colombia. Michelle is also a certified Spanish translator. Prior to coming to Chicago, Michelle had been very active in disability rights in her hometown of El Paso, Texas.
Michelle is a Co-Founder of the National Coalition for Latinxs with Disabilities.
Michelle has served as Access Living's Latino Community Organizer since 2009. Michelle is the coordinator of Cambiando Vidas, a Latinos with disabilities advocacy group, whose mission is to create social change within the Latino Community for disability rights. Michelle's work is highly personal and she is passionate about educating and collaborating with the Latino community about disability rights and services. Michelle recently participated in an international exchange with disability rights activists from Colombia. Michelle is also a certified Spanish translator. Prior to coming to Chicago, Michelle had been very active in disability rights in her hometown of El Paso, Texas.
Michelle is a Co-Founder of the National Coalition for Latinxs with Disabilities.
Lisette Torres-Gerald | PhD Candidate, Nebraska Wesleyan University
Lisette Torres-Gerald is a trained scientist, educator, and scholar-activist whose work focuses on addressing racial and gender inequity in science, specifically, and higher education, generally. She is interested in how power and privilege influence the social dynamics of the scientific community as well as the experiences of women of color in science. As a doctoral candidate in the School of Education at Iowa State University, she is currently examining how scientist bloggers of color disrupt or maintain master narratives surrounding knowledge production and dissemination. She also works full-time as the Assistant Director of the Cooper Foundation for Academic Resources and Supplemental Instruction Supervisor at Nebraska Wesleyan University (NWU). At NWU, she coordinates the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program collaboratively with colleagues to recruit and retain students of color in science disciplines.
Her relationship to the mission and vision of the National Coalition for Latinxs with Disabilities (NCLD) is both personal and professional. She identifies as a Latinx with a non-apparent disability, has siblings with non-apparent disabilities, and has a parent who is visually impaired. Her interest in scholar activism, intersectionality, and Critical Race Theory as well as her lived experience as a Latinx with a disability in the academy has inspired her to work in collaboration with colleagues nationwide to found NCLD. The strengths that she brings to NCLD include connections Dis/ability critical race studies (DisCrit) scholars, familiarity with DisCrit theory, editorial/writing experience, experience with building academic/educational organizations and programs, workshop development and implementation, and conference planning.
Lisette Torres-Gerald is a trained scientist, educator, and scholar-activist whose work focuses on addressing racial and gender inequity in science, specifically, and higher education, generally. She is interested in how power and privilege influence the social dynamics of the scientific community as well as the experiences of women of color in science. As a doctoral candidate in the School of Education at Iowa State University, she is currently examining how scientist bloggers of color disrupt or maintain master narratives surrounding knowledge production and dissemination. She also works full-time as the Assistant Director of the Cooper Foundation for Academic Resources and Supplemental Instruction Supervisor at Nebraska Wesleyan University (NWU). At NWU, she coordinates the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program collaboratively with colleagues to recruit and retain students of color in science disciplines.
Her relationship to the mission and vision of the National Coalition for Latinxs with Disabilities (NCLD) is both personal and professional. She identifies as a Latinx with a non-apparent disability, has siblings with non-apparent disabilities, and has a parent who is visually impaired. Her interest in scholar activism, intersectionality, and Critical Race Theory as well as her lived experience as a Latinx with a disability in the academy has inspired her to work in collaboration with colleagues nationwide to found NCLD. The strengths that she brings to NCLD include connections Dis/ability critical race studies (DisCrit) scholars, familiarity with DisCrit theory, editorial/writing experience, experience with building academic/educational organizations and programs, workshop development and implementation, and conference planning.
Jorge Matos | Librarian/Assistant Professor, Hostos Community College-CUNY
Jorge Matos Valldejuli is an Assistant Professor and Reference Librarian at Hostos Community College at The City University of New York (CUNY). He specializes in reference service and also provides support to the Accessibility Resource Center serving disabled students on campus. A former recipient of disability services within CUNY, his past experiences in Special Education as well as personal struggles with emotional health have influenced his interests in (not within) Disability Studies. Specifically, the intersections between race, gender and class within the field. But his work in the library field has also been crucial to his thinking on race and disabilities.
Formerly serving as reference librarian at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies Library & Archives at Hunter College, exposed him to historical materials linking Africana Studies and Latin American & Latin@ Studies. As such, his concerns lie in addressing the silences and neglect of disabled people within both fields. His current research project looks at the disregarded topic of race historically at the infamous mental institution, the Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, NY. He holds a BA in Political Science from Hunter College-CUNY, an MLS from Queens College-CUNY and an MA in Modern European & Latin American History from The Graduate Center-CUNY. In addition, he’s a member of the Puerto Rican Studies Association, the Latina/o Studies Association, the Library Association of CUNY and the Association of College & Research Libraries. He is also involved with likeminded faculty in the CUNY Disability Scholars network.
Jorge Matos Valldejuli is an Assistant Professor and Reference Librarian at Hostos Community College at The City University of New York (CUNY). He specializes in reference service and also provides support to the Accessibility Resource Center serving disabled students on campus. A former recipient of disability services within CUNY, his past experiences in Special Education as well as personal struggles with emotional health have influenced his interests in (not within) Disability Studies. Specifically, the intersections between race, gender and class within the field. But his work in the library field has also been crucial to his thinking on race and disabilities.
Formerly serving as reference librarian at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies Library & Archives at Hunter College, exposed him to historical materials linking Africana Studies and Latin American & Latin@ Studies. As such, his concerns lie in addressing the silences and neglect of disabled people within both fields. His current research project looks at the disregarded topic of race historically at the infamous mental institution, the Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, NY. He holds a BA in Political Science from Hunter College-CUNY, an MLS from Queens College-CUNY and an MA in Modern European & Latin American History from The Graduate Center-CUNY. In addition, he’s a member of the Puerto Rican Studies Association, the Latina/o Studies Association, the Library Association of CUNY and the Association of College & Research Libraries. He is also involved with likeminded faculty in the CUNY Disability Scholars network.