Center for Disability Studies

NYU Center for Disability Studies

Founded	2017
Founders	Mara Mills [1] Faye Ginsburg
Type	501(c)(3) Nonprofit organization
Location	New York, New York, U.S.
Website	disabilitystudies.nyu.edu

The Center for Disability Studies (CDS) at New York University (NYU) is a United States-based institute that promotes disability scholarship, artistic works, and activism.

History

The Center for Disability Studies was founded in 2017 by Mara Mills and Faye Ginsburg.

Shortly after its founding, the center hosted Disability/Arts/NYC (DANT), an advocacy organization that contributed to the 2017 CreateNYC cultural plan for New York City. ^[2]

Research and Publications

The center sponsors research on the cultural, historical, legal, and ethical contexts of disability through grant-funded and collaborative projects. ^[3] Research partnerships run by the center include a collaboration between AI Now and CDS on the 2019 report, Disability, Bias, and AI. ^[4]

With Film Quarterly, CDS published a special issue and series of events on disability film and media in 2022–2023. ^[5] Further publications facilitated by the center include How to be Disabled in a Pandemic, an edited volume documenting the experiences of disabled New Yorkers during the COVID-19 pandemic, selected by Ms. Magazine as one of the “Most Anticipated Books of 2025”, and Crip Authorship: Disability as Method, a book that presented the multidisciplinary methods advanced by disability studies, arts, and activism. ^{[6] [7]} Crip Authorship was selected as a 2024 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title. ^[8]

Community Initiatives

The Center for Disability Studies runs a series of artist talks and events. ^{[9] [10]} It has also partnered with a number of arts organizations including The Whitney Museum of American Art, ^[11] Electronic Arts Intermix, ^[12] The Guggenheim Museum, ^[13] the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, ^[14] EFA Project Space, ^[15] and the New York ReelAbilities Film Festival to support disability-justice informed events and digital accessibility projects. ^[16]

In addition, the center helped pilot the Cooke School and Institute SKILLS Transition Program through a community collaboration. ^[17]

On the NYU campus, CDS coordinates an undergraduate Disability Studies Minor and co-sponsored a Disability Student Union and a Provostial Working Group addressing disability, infrastructure, and access. ^{[18] [19]}

References

1. "Mara Mills". Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
2. "Disability Equity in NYC's Arts & Culture Landscape". Disability Arts NYC. Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
3. "Disability Expertise and Design Justice for Post-COVID Equity". U.S. National Science Foundation. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
4. "Disability, Bias, and AI – Report". AI Now Institute. 20 November 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
5. "Film Quarterly Dossier: The New Disability Media". NYU Center for Disability Studies. March 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
6. "Look Inside How to Be Disabled in a Pandemic". New York University Press. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
7. Strand, Karla J. (21 January 2025). "Reads for the Rest of Us: The Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2025". Ms. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
8. "Crip Authorship: Disability as Method". New York University Press. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
9. Lopez Cassell, Dessane (5 May 2020). "What to Do (Online) This Week: A Filmmaker Examines Debt, Dependency, and Disability". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
10. Sparks, Keagan (9 June 2020). "BONDED DEBT Kaegan Sparks on the films of Jordan Lord". Artforum. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
11. ""All Day All Night"". Whitney Museum of American Art. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
12. "Radical Accessibility: Making Media Art Collections Truly Accessible". Electronic Arts Intermix. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
13. "Guggenheim Museum and Converse Form Global Partnership to Empower Next Generation of Creators". Guggenheim New York. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
14. "One Must Live It: Day-Long Gathering in conversation with Lorenza Böttner". Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
15. "Collective Strategies for Reparative Care: A Panel Discussion". Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts. 2 March 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
16. "Gurrumul". ReelAbilities New York. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
17. "SKILLs is Changing its Name to Cooke Transitions in September!". Cooke. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
18. "Minor: Disability Studies". NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
19. "About". NYU Disabilities, Inclusion and Accessibility Working Group (DIA). Retrieved 10 March 2025.