During the summer of 2025, we hosted a Summer Speaker Series in collaboration with the Diverse and In(ter)dependent Student Alliance of Bodyminds: Leaders Educators Dreamers (D.I.S.A.B.L.E.D.) at Teachers College, and the course I was teaching, Disability, Exclusion, and Schooling. For this series, we invited four disabled, disability activists, artists, and scholars to speak and facilitate workshops with our class and the community.
Through the funding from a Grant for Community & Initiatives from the Office of Community Affairs at Teachers College, each event included food, live CART captioning, Zoom access, and an ongoing commitment to access needs raised throughout the summer. Student from our class introduced each speaker, and we engaged in care-ful, artistic dialogues as we learned disability theory throughout the summer.
[This is a bright blue flyer with a photo of a part of the D.I.S.A.B.L.E.D. Manifesto- a floating piece of folded brown Kraft paper. On it is an ink and marker illustration by D.I.S.A.B.L.E.D. co-leader Olivia of a stenograph machine on a tripod with disembodied hands working at the keys. Around the hands and machine are star shapes and bubbles, and an energizing pattern of lavender, magenta, blue, and purple. On top of the paper is the following information: Diverse & In(ter)dependent Student Alliance of Bodyminds: Leaders Educators Dreamers D.I.S.A.B.L.E.D. Summer Speaker Series. D.J.Savarese 7.15. Jeremy Dubs 7.17. Lena Swirczek 7.29 Rachel Mintz 8.12.][This is a magenta flyer with a photo of a part of the D.I.S.A.B.L.E.D. Manifesto- a sun print crated by D.I.S.A.B.L.E.D. co-leader Maria of lace and violet flowers. On top of the print is the following information: Diverse & In(ter)dependent Student Alliance of Bodyminds: Leaders Educators Dreamers D.I.S.A.B.L.E.D. Summer Speaker Series. David James “DJ” Savarese Day: Tuesday, July 15 Time: 5:00-6:30PM Location: Smith Learning Theater, Teachers College, Columbia University & Zoom. At the bottom right corner of the paper is a close up of a DJ, a close-up of a young white male with short, wavy reddish brown hair, a goatee, and dark sunglasses, wearing a mottled grayish black shirt. Five cement steps rise in the background. His image merges with the print.][This is a magenta flyer with a sunprint of a heart-shaped cookie cutter. On top is white text that reads: David James “DJ” Savarese is an artful activist, multi-genre writer, teacher, and public scholar. A 2022-23 Iowa Arts Fellow and Zoeglossia Fellow, he is the author of Swoon (2022), including 2 poems nominated for Pushcart Prizes. In addition to a co-authored chapbook Studies in Brotherly Love (PromptPress, 2021) and a poetic series A Doorknob for the Eye (2017), his poems have been published by Poetry Foundation, Poem-a-Day, Split This Rock, A Hole in the Wall, The Red Wheelbarrow, Seneca Review, Bellingham Review, Nine Mile Magazine, Stone Canoe, Prospect, wordgatherings, and The Art of Autism. His lyric essay “Passive Plants,” published in the Iowa Review, was a Pushcart Prize nominee and a notable essay in Best American Essays (2018).[This is an orange flyer with a photo of a part of the D.I.S.A.B.L.E.D. Manifesto- a sun print crated by D.I.S.A.B.L.E.D. co-leader Maria of lace and violet flowers. On top of the print is the following information: Diverse & In(ter)dependent Student Alliance of Bodyminds: Leaders Educators Dreamers D.I.S.A.B.L.E.D. Summer Speaker Series. Jeremy Dubs When: Tuesday, July 17 Time: 5:00-6:30PM Where: Thompson Hall 227, Teachers College, Columbia University & Zoom At the bottom right corner of the paper is the upper body of a red-haired disabled man with Osteogenesis Imperfecta wearing a red velvet blazer. Underneath, a navy blue t-shirt with cat hair on it. Behind him, an antique analog ARP 2600 synthesizer with many knobs on it. His image merges with the print.][This is an orange flyer with a blue sun print. On top is white text that reads: Jeremy Dubs is a musician, actor, disabled activist and City Councilor who has been flying by the seat of his wheelchair his entire life, learning how to navigate inaccessible and ableist environments since childhood. In 2004, at the age of 27, he moved from central Pennsylvania to western Massachusetts to dedicate his time to performing with his rock band. His creative pursuits throughout the years led him to singing on the first new Pixies album in 20 years (Indie Cindy, 2014), and acting in the lead role of “Aleister Budd” in the new independent comedy film Tallywacker, loosely based on his life as a touring musician with a disability. Recently, Jeremy released a new album called Horror Spectrum with his psychedelic-prog band Bunnies. ][ This is an orange flyer with a blue sun print. On top is white text that reads: As an activist, he co-founded the anti-ableist organization called the Disableist Movement with his friend Olivia Marshall. On April 23, 2022, the two of them led a march through the streets of the city of Northampton, chanting messages demanding more accessibility such as “ADA is not enough. Reasonable access now!” and “Why are we in the streets? Because the sidewalks suck!” On November 7th, 2023, Jeremy Dubs was elected to be the first wheelchair user in the history of Northampton’s City Council. Jeremy has remained a constant vocal advocate raising awareness to the rights and freedoms of all disabled people. He is currently finishing up his first term and is running for re-election this November, which coincidentally is also the month that Tallywacker will be released on digital streaming services across the world.][This is a light flyer with a blue sun print one one side. On top of the flyer is the following information: Diverse & In(ter)dependent Student Alliance of Bodyminds: Leaders Educators Dreamers D.I.S.A.B.L.E.D. Summer Speaker Series. Rachel Mintz When: Tuesday, August 12. Time: 5:30-6:30PM Where: Thompson Hall 227, Teachers College, Columbia University & Zoom. At the bottom right corner of the flyer is a photo of Rachel Mintz. She is a smiling, disabled, Latina woman with curly dark hair and dark red lipstick. At the top right corner is a floating ostomy bag, decorated by Rachel. It has a drawing of a flower and the word BIOHAZARD on it, attached to an IV hookup, with roots growing from it. ][This is a light blue flyer with a blue sun print. On top is black text that reads: Rachel Mintz finished her masters and initial teaching certification in social studies education at Teachers College, Columbia University, earlier this summer. She will be teaching at NYC lab school for collaborative studies in the fall. Rachel graduated from Tufts University in 2022 with a degree in American Studies and Education. She wrote her senior honors thesis detailing the ways in which western epistemology functions as a system of oppression, and the liberatory potential of centering knowledge produced within communities of care. After graduating college, she moved to Madrid, Spain, where she taught English at a public elementary school.][ This is a light blue flyer with a blue sun print. On top is black text that reads: As a disabled latina, Rachel is particularly passionate about disability justice and centering the embodied knowledge of queer, disabled people of color in order to work towards healing and collective liberation.][image 1: This is a green flyer with a blue sun print framing both sides. On top of the flyer is the following information: Diverse & In(ter)dependent Student Alliance of Bodyminds: Leaders Educators Dreamers D.I.S.A.B.L.E.D. Summer Speaker Series. Lena Swirczek. When: Tuesday, July 29 Time: 5:30-6:30PM Where: Thompson Hall 227, Teachers College, Columbia University & Zoom At the bottom right corner of the flyer is a photo of Lena Swirczek. She is a smiling white woman with long dark hair wearing a cute blazer with gemstones on it.][This is a green flyer with a blue sun print. On top is white text that reads: Lena Swirczek is currently a rising third year law student at Columbia Law School. Before law school, she earned a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Michigan in Global Environment and Health. During her undergraduate years, she became involved in environmental organizing. She worked on a variety of issues at the local and federal level, including university fossil fuel divestment, an Ann Arbor public power campaign, and a federal lobby effort for a carbon fee and dividend program. After graduating, she took this experience to the Michigan League of Conservation Voters where she worked as a community organizer for a year in the metro-Detroit area. She organized for lead pipe replacement, a 100% renewable energy plan for Michigan, and energy justice through lowered utility rates and improved service. ][This is a green flyer with a blue sun print. On top is white text that reads: While in law school, she has explored public defender work while externing at the Michigan State Appellate Defender’s Office and the Neighborhood Defender Services of Harlem. She also spent 10 weeks during her first law school summer working for ALL RISE, an all-women environmental law firm defending land and water rights on behalf of community clients in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. This combination of experiences has made her passionate in the intersection of abolition, environmental justice, and disability justice. Her presentation on Tuesday is largely based on her experience taking Disability Law at Columbia with Maria Guarino. She is excited to share some of what she learned in that class with as well as to give her original research presentation on the intersection of ableism and criminal procedure that she developed as part of the class.]
Body Tricks 