2018 SDS Membership Drive Overall Description View this Online at: http://disstudies.org/index.php/2018-membership-drive/2018-sds-membership-drive-overall-description/ Dear Disability Scholars and Advocates, The Society for Disability Studies is starting its fall membership drive. As you probably know, financial problems caused us to cancel our 2016 conference and to refrain from planning one for 2017. Fortunately, these problems are mostly behind us and we are excited to move forward. SDS continues to support our renowned journal Disability Studies Quarterly. We host a listserv for discussions and announcements, and we have remade our website (disstudies.org) in the most accessible format available. We have various benefits of Membership and NEW programming in the works for 2017-2018. We are planning on a strong official SDS presence at Ohio State University’s Multiple Perspectives conference in April 2018 with several SDS Membership events. Even sooner, we will make use of our electronic infrastructure to host virtual and multi-modal Membership events such as a DSQ Forum, disability studies training Mentoring, disability studies Syllabi Exchanges, special purpose Member web pages, and even a Virtual Dance. As a Member, you can be part of prioritizing and implementing this planning. We have worked out a group of **SPECIALS** we hope you find welcome. Our Membership year is the calendar year. 1) Current Individual Members can renew at any time between now and February 1, 2018 with no lapse in Member Benefits for the same dues as 2017. 2) Prior Individual Members, people who did not renew for our 2016-17 season, will receive an individual email inviting them to rejoin now and have their Membership active from now through 12/31/18. 3) We now have three kinds of “Group or Organizational Memberships." a. Disability Studies Organizational Members. New and renewing organizations can, for this year only, receive up to 5 extra bonus “Sponsored Memberships” covering from now through 12/31/18. This is a great way for disability studies academic faculty, programs, and advocacy organizations to support both their constituents (especially students) and SDS! Please help promote this opportunity with your school or organization directors. b. Affiliate Group Members. This new category of group membership is open to any organization that wants to strengthen its connections to SDS, such as disability studies or disability advocacy groups, research institutes, independent living centers, international groups, small disability industry entities, or governmental entities. Each group designates one Sponsored Member, and dues are negotiable according to your annual budget. c. Sustaining Group Members. Groups with large budgets and the capacity to help sustain SDS may, for this year only, negotiate up to 15 extra bonus designated Sponsored Memberships for individuals in your group. This is just an overview of the 2018 SDS membership categories. Details and membership forms and a payment portal can all be found on our website (disstudies.org). Please email us at sds@disstudies.org with any questions or requests. May we remind you that no one will be turned away for inability to pay dues? We look forward to your participation in revitalizing SDS’s advocacy and scholarly mission. Sincerely, Phil Smith, President Joanne Woiak, Vice President & Membership Chair Devva Kasnitz and Susan Fitzmaurice, Executive Office sds@disstudies.org, SDSKasnitz@gmail.com