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September 23-24, 2011 saw Chapman University’s College of Education Studies team up with the School of Law and local non-Profit, Team Up for Down Syndrome to host the Emerging Scholars Conference. The event invited emerging scholars to explore issues of disability, diversity, and human rights in education, the social sciences, humanities and law. Participants included doctoral students, law students, and researchers from all parts of the United States and as far as Iceland, Norway, New Zealand and Japan.
The agenda for the conference was three-fold: to promote understanding of the social model of disability in various contexts such as culture, history, architecture, and education; examine issues of diversity in education and law; and consider human rights perspectives in education and law. The two-day event began at the Law School, with distinguished University of Louisville Law Professor Laura Rothstein.
Rothstein presented a discussion of the voucher system, comparing it to the complicated U.S. highway system. She was followed by a panel group discussion of legal scholars Dr. Anne Bloom, Professor Wendy Hensel, and Professor Julie Waterstone who continued with this conceptual way of thinking, citing issues associated with disability law and how they affect current educational practices. Professor Rothstein’s presentation along with the panel discussion is available to view on Chapman’s media site.
Following a brief reception, the group moved to Memorial Hall for a screening of director Geraldine Wurzburg’s Wretches and Jabberers. The film follows the lives of two men with autism, Tracy Thresher, 42, and Larry Bissonnette, 52, who traveled to Sri Lanka, Japan and Finland with their companions, as they traveled the globe in an effort to change attitudes about disability and intelligence. The film inspires viewers to reconsider competency for future support service and education practices in dealing with individuals with autism. The audience was invited to ask questions of the film’s stars, which they did with intelligence, grace, humor and courage. Thresher and Bissonnette were at the screening and responded to questions following the film.
Saturday’s session began with speaker, Dr. Alfredo Artiles of Arizona State University. He engaged the audience in a discussion of his work in multi-cultural education and international multi-lingual practices and this is available to view at Chapman’s media site. The conference then broke into concurrent sessions. Presenters’ discussions ranged from issues including multi-cultural attitudes toward disability services to the portrayal of individuals with disabilities in the mainstream media. After lunch, conference attendees returned for three additional break-out sessions.
At 4:00 PM participants attended a plenary session for concluding comments from Chapman University professors and conference planners Drs. Joel Colbert and Phil Ferguson. Both commended participants and presenters for their work and attention. A “Wordle” presentation was projected displaying the words most commonly heard throughout the two-day event: The most common being “education.” To the surprise of most, the word “Special” was rarely heard. Overall, participants believed that the conference was enjoyable and informative. Feedback from participants has been positive ranging from location, quality of presenters and refreshments. The organizers of this event were pleased by the collaborative efforts between the College of Education and Law School and look forward to hosting such events again in the future.
To see proceedings from the conference please visit the Emerging Scholars 2011 webpage.
Write up by Jon Levin, Ph.D. in Education Student
