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Mission Statement

Disability on screen and behind the camera represents an oft-overlooked but vitally important part of the history of cultural studies. Further, disabled scholars of cinema are no new phenomenon: we have always been and will always be here. The Disability Caucus’s goal, then, is to work towards greater equity for disabled scholars and scholars of disability in all areas of cultural production. Disability includes the social and political barriers enforced around disabled bodyminds and constitutes a significant form of disenfranchisement that intersects with other forms of oppression (including race, class, gender, and sexuality among others) in complex and nuanced ways. The Disability Caucus’s goal is to create equitable spaces within SCMS for disabled scholars, and to develop pedagogical and scholarly models for members of the academic community who interact with disabled people--which is to say, all of us. In order to do so, this caucus will work to establish mentorship relationships for graduate and early career scholars, promote accessibility measures for online and in-person conference sessions, and collectively develop a library of research and teaching tools for scholars and instructors. Through these internal and external measures, this Caucus begins the difficult work of addressing ableism in academia broadly and the field of media studies specifically.

The Disability Caucus additionally sponsors panels and programming for SCMS around Disability Justice and Disability Studies. In this way we both promote the academic study of disability as it relates to media, and incorporate work in this area without necessitating disclosure from members.