ʻIke Insider
42nd Annual Pacific Rim International Conference on Disability
Strength in Community
The Fourth Week of March 2027
Aloha kākou from Hawaiʻi!
Strength in Community
We are excited to welcome you to the Pacific Rim International Conference on Disability 2027, taking place in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, during the fourth week of March 2027.
Our theme, “Strength in Community,” celebrates the connections, experiences, and shared commitment that bring us together to advance inclusion, accessibility, and belonging.
Proposal Submission Is Now Open!
We invite researchers, educators, practitioners, advocates, individuals with disabilities, families, and community members to share their research, experiences, practices, and perspectives with our Pacific Rim community.
Your voice and contributions are an important part of creating a conference that reflects the diverse experiences and strengths of our communities.
More Information Coming Soon
Additional details regarding lodging, accommodations, conference events, and other important information will be shared as they become available.
Please continue to visit our conference website for the latest announcements, updates, important deadlines, and conference information.
Whova App
We will be using Whova as our conference platform. When the link is available, we encourage you to download the app to stay connected with conference schedules, announcements, networking opportunities, and other conference activities. More information about using Whova will be shared as we get closer to the conference.
We look forward to gathering with you in Honolulu and celebrating the strength we find in community.
On behalf of our entire conference planning committee, mahalo nui loa for being part of our Pacific Rim community. We look forward to welcoming you to Hawaiʻi!
With aloha,
Jared Galeaʻi
Conference Chair
Pacific Rim International Conference on Disability 2027
Conference Strands 2027
Strand #1
All Teach, All Learn: ECHO for Disability and Neurodiversity
Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) provides a powerful model for expanding access to specialized knowledge and strengthening the capacity of professionals and communities to support people with disabilities. Through virtual mentoring, case-based learning, and an “all teach, all learn” approach, ECHO connects local providers and community partners with subject-matter experts while creating communities of practice in which knowledge is shared, adapted, and applied to local contexts. Learn more on the website.
Strand #2
Building Strong Beginnings: Early Childhood and Early Intervention
Early childhood is a critical period for supporting children’s development, strengthening families, and building foundations for lifelong health, learning, participation, and inclusion. This strand will highlight innovative approaches to early identification, developmental monitoring, early intervention, and family-centered supports for young children with disabilities and children at risk for developmental delays or disabilities. It will explore how research, practice, and community partnerships can come together to ensure that children and families receive timely, high-quality, and culturally responsive supports when they need them most. Learn more on the website.
Strand #3
Centering ‘Ohana: Strengthening Families, Communities, and Systems
Families play a central role in supporting the health, development, well-being, and inclusion of individuals with disabilities across the lifespan. Yet families often navigate complex systems of health care, education, social services, and community supports that may be difficult to access, coordinate, or understand. Led by the Hawai‘i MCH-LEND program, this strand will center the experiences, priorities, and expertise of families of individuals with disabilities and explore approaches that strengthen families as partners in care, decision-making, advocacy, and systems change. Learn more on the website.
Strand #4
Disability Studies in Education
Disability Studies in Education (DSE) centers understanding of disability in a social model and draws on a wide range of disciplinary perspectives to critique and unsettle medical, colonial, and psychological models that historically and currently guide educational practices in schools and communities. This strand creates a space for teachers, scholars, and community members to share about DSE approaches to teaching and learning in K-12 schools and higher education, present research and scholarship on disabled experiences related to DSE, and tell stories that demonstrate how DSE approaches in classrooms and in the community lead to equity/justice, allyship, and growth. Learn more on the website.
Strand #5
Movement as a Right: Adapted Physical Activity, Health Equity, and Community Well-being
Access to physical activity is not a perk or a therapy. It is a right, and one that disabled people are still routinely denied. This strand examines why, and what it takes to change it. We invite work that names the environmental, attitudinal, economic, and policy barriers that keep disabled people on the sidelines of sport, recreation, physical education, and healthcare, and that documents the strategies communities are using to dismantle them. We welcome critical scholarship, participatory research, policy analysis, and accounts from practice, and we prioritize proposals authored or co-authored by disabled people. Work that interrogates ableism within our own fields, including how adapted physical activity itself has been practiced, is warmly encouraged. Learn more on the website.
Strand #6
Translating High-Quality Evidence-Based Autism Practices into Service Systems
This strand focuses on translating high-quality, evidence-based autism practices into real-world service systems. Bringing together expertise from the Autism Research Consortium in Behavioral Health, the strand will explore approaches such as AIM-HI, Project ImPACT, implementation science, community-based participatory research, and school-based leadership to address the challenges of moving effective practices from research into routine community, clinical, educational, and behavioral health settings. Learn more on the website.
Scholarship Opportunities
Scholarship applications will open on October 6 and close on October 30.
Welcome to #PacRim2027 ʻIke Insider eBlast!! You are receiving this email because you have or will participate as a presenter, attendee, sponsor or exhibitor at the Pac Rim Conference.
