Events

Events for Academic Year 2023-2024

Segal Gallery event “Art, Access, and Well-Being”

Confirmed event details: Thur 9/28, 6 – 7:30 pm, George Segal Gallery
Tissue box workshop at 6 pm.
Discussion with artist, Finnegan Shannon, and a member of the Disability Caucus at 7 pm.

Event description: Design your own tissue box in this workshop with exhibiting artist Finnegan Shannon to draw attention to the simple and earnest ways comfort and hospitality can be fostered through gestures of generosity. Afterwards, join the artist for a discussion on disability, access, art and activism the Disability Caucus President, Alicia Broderick. Presented with the Department of Art and Design, co-sponsored by the Office for Social Justice & Diversity and the Disability Caucus. Please wear a mask for this event. [Per the artist’s request – we will provide masks if attendees need]

Access information: We believe in making our events accessible and inclusive for everyone in our community. If you require accommodations or have questions about accessibility, please don’t hesitate to contact Alyssa Leslie Villasenor at villasenora@montclair.edu or 973-655-3382. We want to ensure that every participant attending our programs can engage fully without barriers or limitations. The Segal Gallery is located on the fourth floor of the Red Hawk Deck and accessible via elevator. The gallery is wheelchair accessible. Accessible gendered bathrooms are located inside. ASL services are available by request.

***Stay tuned for more events this year; additional postings coming soon***

Previous events:

Academic Year 2021-2022

Montclair Disability Pride Parade

Walk, Roll, and Rally with Disability Activist, families, friends, and allies!

Date: **SAVE THE DATE*** May 20th (rain date May 21st)
Time: tba
Location:  Heningburg Field in Montclair
(Located at the cross street of Chestnut St. and Midland Ave.)

Click Here for Full Pride Parade Event Flyer

“Brown Bag” Series: Critical Conversations on Disability & Ableism

Join us monthly for Critical Conversations on Disability and Activism.
April Topic: TBA
Date: TBA
Time: 4:00pm-5:00pm
Zoom Link: https://montclair.zoom.us/j/82105242680


Forget Me Not….
(Film screening with panel discussion)
recording forthcoming


I Do! Commit To Disabled Marriage Equality

"I Do! Commit to Disabled Marriage Equality!" An evening of humor activism and love with Patrice Jetter, disabled artist and advocate from the Netflix, Worn Stories
Patrice Cordially Invites you to a Mass Commitment Ceremony. If disabled Americans marry, they lose their benefits… Wed Feb 15, 2023

Watch the Commitment Ceremony here! (forthcoming)

Media about the event:

“Couples with disabilities risk benefits with marriage”, PBS, NJ Spotlight (26 mins), 02/16/2023
https://www.pbs.org/video/nj-spotlight-news-february-16-2023-1676565110/

“Commitment ceremony held to draw attention to the rights of the disabled,” by Gene Myers, Feb 16, 2023
https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2023/02/16/commitment-ceremony-couples-with-disabilities-montclair-state-university-nj-patrice-jetter/69892097007/


Academic Year 2021-2022

Montclair Disability Pride Parade

Walk, Roll, and Rally with Disability Activist, families, friends, and allies!

Date: Sunday, May 1st (Rain Date: Saturday, May 7th)
Time:2:00-4:00pm
Location:  Heningburg Field in Montclair
(Located at the cross street of Chestnut St. and Midland Ave.)

Click Here for Full Pride Parade Event Flyer 

“Brown Bag” Series: Critical Conversations on Disability & Ableism

Join us monthly for Critical Conversations on Disability and Activism.

Disability – No Laughing Matter: A Night of Comedy and Conversation about Ableism
Featuring: Steve Way, Comedian/Disability activist

Hosted by the MSU Disability Caucus & ReelAbilities NJ Film Festival.
April 13, 2022

A young male with light skin using a wheelchair and wearing a blue shirt, a red tie, and sunglasses. Behind him is a tan wall.

Image of Comedian Steve Way
Close-up image of comedian Steve Way

 

“Committed: Remembering Native Kinship in and beyond Institutions”
Dr. Susan Burch, Middlebury College – lecture, November 15, 2021

Committed-Flyer-Final-2

Burch_Committed_Montclair State University 2021

 

A Semester of Audio Description

A semester of Audio Description is part of the CHSS Dean’s Office for Interdisciplinary Projects: Accessible Media Initiatives. Several events were offered, including a lecture by Sight Unseen author, Georgina Kleege, entitled, “What’s It To You?! Subjectivity in Audio Description” on Feb 24, 2022, and a “cultural translation” workshop by Nefertiti Matos Olivares, an expert on cultural accessibility and audio description.

Nefertiti Matos is a fervent advocate for accessible culture, tech, and transit. She currently works as the Partnership Development Coordinator for Dicapta, a provider of accessible media for people with sensory disabilities. Previously, Nefertiti worked as an Assistive Technology Educator for the New York Public Library, where she offered individual coaching, and created and facilitated group workshops on a range of tech topics for the blind and low vision community in both English and Spanish. Nefertiti strongly believes in doing her part to bring about a world in which universal access is the norm, not the exception. Follow her on Twitter: @NefMatOli

All events are free and open to the public.

For more information about each event, you can contact Dr. María José García-Vizcaíno at garciavizcam@montclair.edu or call 973 655 7507

 

Academic Year 2020-21

“Pursuing Disability Justice at Montclair State University”: 2020 Social Justice Conference at Montclair State University

Abstract: This workshop provides a brief critical historical overview of the institutional place of disability at MSU.  We will compare and contrast the institution’s historical and present stance toward disabled people as minoritized communities with the institution’s past and present stances toward other historically minoritized communities (e.g., women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, etc.).  In so doing, we briefly review the progressive initiatives and achievements of rights-based movements historically, and also explore the limitations of rights-based movements for systemic change. We propose justice movements (as opposed to rights-based movements) as more promising possibilities for structural institutional and cultural change moving forward. We close by introducing two new initiatives on campus (The Disability Caucus and a new student DREAM chapter), and invite the open discussion of ways that these two new fora might serve to work both together and with other justice initiatives on campus toward a more inclusive campus community.

People who attend the workshop may expect the first half to consist of a lecture overview of the information summarized above. The second half will include open discussion with people who attend, discussing and brainstorming initiatives that these new organizations and their affiliates may pursue on campus, including potential collaborations with other existing justice organizations.

Here is a recording of our presentation.