Pac Rim 2025
Pre-Conference Events
Disability Studies: International Forum
Monday, April 14, 2025
9:00 AM – 2:15 PM HST
Virtual via Zoom
Overview
Join us to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Pac Rim International Conference on Disability and Diversity. This year’s theme is “By Us and For Us: Legacy and Future of Our Movement”. This pre-conference meeting will explore the importance of this slogan for the growing field of Disability Studies.
Disability Studies is an interdisciplinary field which invites us to question our assumptions about disability, impairment, access, and accountability by considering the categories race, class, gender, and sexuality in our analysis.
From a Disability Studies lens, the pre-conference will explore topics such as disability access and accountability, university policies, and ways to deepen our conversations about the factors that shape our individual and collective experiences of disability in our teaching and activism. Join us on Monday, April 14th (9:00 am – 2:15 pm) for the free, virtual, pre-conference featuring the following events:
- A keynote by Disability Studies scholar Margaret Price, author of, Crip Spacetime:
Access, Failure, and Accountability in Academic Life. Dr. Price will present new research
on the experiences of disabled academics. - A presentation by Pamela Cushing on “Disability Studies: State of the Field”
- A teaching and pedagogy panel featuring University of Hawai’i faculty sharing the ways
they include Disability Studies materials, approaches, and pedagogy in their classes. - A graduate student panel showcasing how students from diverse disciplines integrate
Disability Studies into their scholarship and professional fields. - An open forum with Directors of Disability Studies Programs.
If you plan to join us, please register for the pre-conference day under the “click here to learn more” tab.
At the end of this event, participants will be able to:
- Identify innovation and disability activism in the field of Disability Studies.
- Increase understanding of the impact of Disability Studies from the perspective of students, scholars, and community members’ experience.
- Be knowledgeable on how to support accessible and inclusive academic environments.
Hosted by DSI - The Disability Studies Initiative
A joint initiative between the Hawai’i State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Center on Disability Studies, and the College of Social Sciences, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Disability Studies Initiative (DSI) seeks to increase awareness and cultivate excitement and conversation around disability across the arts and sciences, throughout the University of Hawai’i system, from students to faculty, staff, and administration. Furthermore, we believe this work is critical to the communities UH serves, as the development of such programing and expansion of awareness improves the state of Hawai’i.
Intended Audience
We welcome self advocates, Directors of Disability Studies (DS) programs, researchers and scholars in the DS field, students in Disability Studies programs and others interested in exploring current issues that the academic field of Disability Studies can help us explore and address.
Contact
Dr. Holly Manaseri
hmanaser@hawaii.edu