Dr. Margaret Price, Exploring the Politics of Disability, Accompaniment, and Collective Accountability

In this talk, Dr. Margaret Price (Professor of English and Director of the Disability Studies Program at The Ohio State University) argues for a turn toward collective accountability in order to make academe more accessible for all marginalized persons, including those with disabilities. Drawing upon her award-winning books Mad at School and Crip Spacetime: Access, Failure, and Accountability in Academic Life, Price shares findings based on a survey and interview study conducted with more than 300 disabled faculty and staff members. Their talk focuses particularly on the concept of “accompaniment,” which refers to relations between humans, objects, technologies, spaces, and animals. She closes with a discussion of accountability and gathering, emphasizing the need for collectivity in order to find more sustainable and restorative ways of moving together.

Bio: Dr. Margaret Price (she/they) is Professor of English (Writing, Rhetoric & Literacy) at The Ohio State University, where she also serves as Director of the Disability Studies Program. She is the author of the award-winning books Crip Spacetime (Duke University Press, 2024) and Mad at School (University of Michigan Press, 2011). In 2022, they traveled to Gothenburg, Sweden on a Fulbright Grant focusing on critical interpretations of universal design. Margaret is now at work on a project focused on cognitive disability, gathering, and collective access. Their personal website can be found at http://margaretprice.wordpress.com.

We want to make our event accessible to all participants. CART services will be provided. If you need additional accommodations to participate, please contact Ann Heffernan (akheff@umich.edu) or Emmalon Davis (davisemm@umich.edu)

Funding for this talk was generously provided by the Provost's Disability Scholarhip Initiative