CLST Voicing Disability Conference
June 1, 2018 - 9:00am to 12:00pmCLST, with generous co-sponsorships from Pitt's Office of Health Sciences Diversity and Pitt’s Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department, proudly presents a major conference that will be a plenary session of the Cultural Studies Association Convention meeting at CMU: VOICING DISABILITY: Cultural Interventions, Ethical Dilemmas, and Methodological Possibilities. This event, free and open to the public, will be held 9:00 AM-noon in 125 Frick Fine Arts Building at the University of Pittsburgh, with a half-hour reception at noon in the Cloister immediately outside the venue. Bagels and beverages will be provided in the half-hour before the event begins.
CONFERENCE DESCRIPTION: Given the recent turn in cultural studies toward the ethics of envoicing minoritized personhood in dynamic tension with the contingencies of oppressive social structures, this conference proposes to address advances in cultural approaches toward understanding disability/diffability. The three speakers, all leading scholars in the field of disability studies, have been asked to reflect upon their experiences as examples of emerging “best practices” in opening spaces for too-often silenced people with disabilities, past and present, to be heard broadly beyond their communities. The conference participants will consider whether spotlighting disabled individuals’ agency resolves or highlights a longstanding contradiction in disability studies between, on the one hand, its history in medically-circumscribed concepts of impairment that underscore claims to public entitlements and other benefits, and, on the other hand, its embrace by people who emphasize disability as a sociocultural construction (and less a limiting condition) and hence seek cultural parity with “abled normals”–neither as a lesser nor constricted form of human existence, merely a different one.
Location and Address
Frick Fine Arts Building, Room 125
650 Schenley Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Directions and Parking Information
Directions and Parking Information
The Frick Fine Arts Building is at 650 Schenley Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Street parking is available nearby, including handicap spaces.
From Pittsburgh International Airport (From the West)
Take I-279 toward Pittsburgh. Pass through the Fort Pitt Tunnel, stay to the right, and bear right at the first ramp over the bridge onto I-376. Exit I-376 at the Oakland/Forbes Avenue Exit (2A). Merge onto Forbes Avenue toward Oakland. Continue on Forbes Avenue and make a right onto Bigelow Boulevard, then your first left onto Schenley Drive. The Frick Fine Arts Building will be on the right.
From the Pennsylvania Turnpike (From the East)
Take the Pittsburgh/Monroeville Exit (Exit 57). Follow I-376 toward Pittsburgh; Take the Oakland Exit (3B). Proceed up the hill through the first traffic light; Continue on Bates Street where you can reach Forbes Avenue by turning left on ANY of the following roads off of Bates: (in order of which you would drive by) McKee Place, Semple Street, Atwood Street, or S. Bouquet Street. Continue on road of your choice until you reach the intersection with Forbes Avenue. Continue on Forbes Avenue and make a right onto Bigelow Boulevard, then your first left onto Schenley Drive. The Frick Fine Arts Building will be on the right.
From the North
Take I-79 South to I-279 South to I-579 (Veterans Bridge – Exit 8A); Follow Signs to Oakland/376 East onto the Boulevard of the Allies exit. Follow the Boulevard of the Allies, staying in the left lane. After the Monroeville split, look for an immediate right onto the Forbes Avenue exit. Continue on Forbes Avenue and make a right onto Bigelow Boulevard, then your first left onto Schenley Drive. The Frick Fine Arts Building will be on the right.
Accommodations for People with Disabilities
A wheelchair accessible entrance is on the left side of Frick Fine Arts Building. Wheelchair accessible restrooms are on the same floor as the entrance, conference venue, and closing reception. The talks will be translated by an American Sign Language Interpreter.
For CSA attendees, a van with a wheelchair lift will be available to get to and from the conference. To make arrangements or for other accommodations, contact CLST Administrator Heidi Castaneda, hec59@pitt.edu / (412) 624-7232.
Directions from Carnegia Mellon University's Baker Hall (Cultural Studies Association Conference venue):