Moving Forward with Disability Studies

In May, 2009 we will once again host a disability studies strand at the Pacific Rim conference in Honolulu. Now if contributing to the further development of the disability studies field doesn't grab you, how about sitting on the beach in 80 degree weather with a Mai Tai? The 2008 conference was a great start to our new strand. You can read several papers that emerged from that strand by checking out our latest issue of RDS. It's a good mix of articles, covering the development of disability studies programs, sexuality, media representations, and a thought provoking keynote by Steven Gilson and Elizabeth DePoy from the University of Maine on disjuncture/juncture theory (wow!)

In 2009, we're hoping to build on the success of 2008 by encouraging innovative papers that help to futher the theoretical foundations of DS as a discipline. Not only that, but we want to continue to draw in people from all over the world so that DS is truly an international, multidimensional field of study.

So how is the Pacific Rim conference different from other disability/disability studies conferences (besides being in Paradise)? Well, for one thing, it is a "disability general" conference with a number of strands that appeal to different kinds of people - not only people with disabilities and DS folks but teachers, support service-types, parents of children with disabilities, the independent living crowd, international disability rights people - you've got it, it's broad. Being out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, we also tend to get a good group of attendees from the outer pacific, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

So, enjoy the latest issue of RDS, and see you at Pac Rim 2009!