What is the APSA Committee on the Status of Disability in the Profession?
Status Committees are important vehicles for members of underrepresented groups to gain representation and much-needed visibility and voice to make positive change within the discipline. The Status Committee on Disability has already begun the hard work of addressing issues related to disability in the profession. The committee charge is as follows: To monitor the status of political scientists with disability at all levels; advance research on disability as well as on issues of particular relevance to disability; develop and promote curriculum materials on disability; and work to ensure fair and equal treatment of disabled people throughout the profession.
What is the composition of the Committee?
In composing and defining the Status Committee, the APSA and the Committee members themselves elected to ensure the representation of disability in multiple ways. To this end, the committee, in its composition and in its mission statement, has defined disability broadly. Disability can be a porous and flexible category that nearly all humans enter in and out of in different ways throughout their lives, even though some people experience permanent impairments as well. Like other types of identity categories, disability identity is neither fixed nor is it static. The Committee itself will evolve, grow, and change over time as members are replaced and new members enter; indeed, the APSA tries to stagger members of new committees and the committee will add new members so that a rotating system can be achieved. The APSA invites nominations, including self-nominations, for status committees, and the call for nominations will be going out soon.
All of the members of the committee have a public relationship to disability and disability identity. We have many different types of representation on the committee, including individuals with: multiple disabilities, among them visible/invisible disabilities, congenital disabilities and those acquired later in life, lived experience with disability and ableism, and caregivers for those with disabilities (and people with disabilities who are often caregivers as well). Reflective of the discipline, members of the committee include a diverse set of people who vary in their disability identity. All of the committee members have conducted high quality research on disability, some of whom for their entire careers, and, as a collective, have published many articles and multiple books related to disability. Committee members’ experience also includes mentorship and teaching on disability. Crucially, the committee members demonstrate a record of commitment to the work of disability justice. All members of the committee have a public record in this regard, leaving them well-positioned–through their lived experiences, advocacy efforts, scholarship, teaching and mentoring –to make positive changes in the discipline by furthering the advancement of disabled scholars as well as promoting research and teaching on disability.
The committee is committed to the disability justice mantra “Nothing About Us Without Us” to ensure that decisions about disability should be decided with the full and direct input of people with disabilities themselves. Yet, the committee is concerned with any call that would require any current or future members to be subject to a disability litmus test to serve. The disability rights movement has always fought for the rights of people to disclose their disability (or not) as they see fit and has fought against onerous medical documentation to ‘prove’ disability. While we want to create a world where people feel empowered to identify as disabled, we also recognize that we aren’t there yet. As disability scholars who study higher education acknowledge, “disability disclosure is a complex calculus” in a non-ideal world that makes the disability justice movement necessary in the first place (Kershbaum, Eisenman, Jones 2017).
What are the committee’s next steps and how can everyone contribute?
The vision statement authored by the committee is aspirational and future-thinking. The first specific goal towards this vision is to conduct a survey and focus groups of political scientists to better understand their needs, priorities, experiences, and observations with respect to disability. We will invite input from a broad base of faculty and students at all ranks and career stages (even those who may have left academia) to understand the experience of disabled political scientists. We hope to hear from people who may not see themselves as disabled but who might have a disabling condition or may have experienced ableist discrimination in some form. The more input the better to help us define specific next steps, goals, and priorities.
Is the committee focusing on research and teaching about disability?
Like other status committees, the committee’s charge extends to scholarship and teaching and learning–specifically, to advance the topic of disability in research and teaching. While this is a lot to take on, in addition to the focus on disabled political scientists, it is necessary given that there is no organized section yet for disability research and there is room to advance teaching on topics related to disability. Eventually, the structure may change so that these goals are advanced by different groups. But, for right now, the committee, like others, wants to set an ambitious goal to make progress on all of these fronts.
What are some other ways I can get involved?
The APSA invites nominations, including self-nominations, for status committees, and the nominations are now open. Please send all suggestions to nominations@apsanet.org.
The Status Committee is just one of many vehicles for change in the discipline. We welcome partnerships of all kinds. We have put a preliminary list of like-minded organizations on our website; many of these are organizations of which we are a part. We certainly hope to grow this list and to work together with the many political scientists who share our passion for these issues.
We have set up a mechanism where anyone can write in with suggestions. We welcome everyone who wants to be involved to reach out and participate. The committee believes in creating an open tent to invite all political scientists to consider disability.