New Directions in Disability Studies Conference
2025 marks the 35th year since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Though ADA advances have often been celebrated in mainstream media and the rights they support taken as secured, it has come under attack through rollbacks since 2016, and most recently by removing DEIA initiatives within the Department of Education. At the same time, national and international discourse community efforts through conferences and other open forums have grown more diffuse. With this in mind, this conference, “New Directions in Disability Studies,” will reflect on where disability studies has come from and what it will be in the future.