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Disability Studies Beyond SDS

The Society for Disability Studies aspires to forge relationships and support networks, research centres, disabled people’s organizations, and other groups that contribute to the flourishing of disability-related epistemologies and praxis. This page includes a list of organisations and networks within and outside higher education. If you wish to suggest any other networks and groups that contribute to the advancement of Disability Studies and activism, please complete and submit this short form.

Disability Studies Organizations and networks beyond individual universities:

  1. American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD)
  2. Alter – European Society for Disability Research 
  3. Canadian Accessibility Network (CAN)
  4. Canadian Disability Studies Association (CDS), Canada
  5. Critical Design Lab (multiple universities represented), US
  6. Disability and Advocacy Research Network (DARN)
  7. Disability Health Equity Research Network (DHERN) (multiple universities), US
  8. Disability History Association (DHA)
  9. Disability Studies Austria (DSA)
  10. Disability Studies in Eastern Europe (DSEE)
  11. Disabled Archaeologists Network (DAN)
  12. Intersectional Neurodiversity and Disability Reading Groups (INDRG)
  13. Japan Society for Disability Studies (JSDS)
  14. Marxism and Disability Network (MDN)
  15. UK Disability History and Heritage Hub (DHHH)
  16. Disability Rights, Education, Activism, and Mentoring (DREAM)

Interest Groups within Larger Scholarly Organizations:

Australia 

  1. Critical Disability Studies Thematic Group (of The Australian Sociological Association), Australia

Canada

  1. Sociology of Disability Research Network/Cluster (of the Canadian Sociological Association), Canada
  2. ACM SIG ACCESS (Special Interest Group on Computing Access of the Association for Computing Machinery – ACM), international

United Kingdom

  1. Disability, Law, and Social Justice Stream (of the Socio-Legal Studies Association – SLSA), UK
  2. Disability Study Group (of the British Sociological Association – BSA), UK

United States

  1. APSA Committee on the Status of Disability in the Profession (of the American Political Science Association – APSA), US
  2. Critical Disability Studies Caucus (of the American Studies Association – ASA), US
  3. Disability Legal Studies Collaborative Research Network (of the Law & Society Association – LSA), US
  4. Disability Research Interest Group (of the American Anthropological Association – AAA), US
  5. Disability Studies in Education SIG (of the American Educational Research Association AERA), US
  6. Music and Disability Studies (of the American Musicological Society – AMS), US
  7. Institute on Theology and Disability (Collaborative on Faith & Disabilities), US
  8. Disability in Society (of the American Sociological Association – ASA), US
  9. Disability Caucus (of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies – SCMS), US
  10. Section on Disability Law (of The Association of American Law Schools – AALS), US
  11. Disability Studies Standing Group (of the Conference on College Composition and Communication), US
  12. Disability Initiative (subcommittee of the Committee on Diversity, American Association of Biological Anthropologists), US
  13. Disability Special Interest Group (of the Society for Social Work and Research), US

Disability Studies Journals:

  1. Canadian Journal of Disability Studies (CJDS)
  2. Disability Studies Quarterly (DSQ)
  3. Including Disability Journal (IDJ)
  4. Indonesian Disability Studies Journal (IDSJ)
  5. International Journal of Disability and Social Justice (IJDSJ)
  6. Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies (JLCDS)
  7. Review of Disability Studies (RDS)
  8. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research (SJDR)
  9. Wordgathering: A Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature
  10. Zeitschrift für Disability Studies (ZFDS)

Advocacy Networks and Disability Affinity Groups (suggested by members):

  1. Autistic Self Advocacy Network, US 
  2. Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network (AWN), US
  3. #CripLib
  4. International Association for Geoscience Diversity
  5. Detroit Disability Power, US
  6. Binghamton Disabled Student Union, US
  7. New Disabled South, US
  8. U.S. Gender and Disability Justice Alliance (Women Enabled International)
  9. SinesofDisability
  10. Sins Invalid 
  11. White Dove Disability Advocacy
  12. Women Enabled International

Disability Studies Centres (in alphabetical order, by country):

Australia

  1. Melbourne Disability Institute (University of Melbourne), Australia
  2. The Centre for Disability Studies (University of Sydney), Australia
  3. Centre for Disability Research and Policy (University of Sydney), Australia
  4. Disability Research Network (University of Wollongong), Australia

Austria

  1. Disability Studies and Inclusive Pedagogy (University of Innsbruck), Austria

Canada

  1. Disability Affinity Group (University of British Columbia), Canada
  2. Disability Research Group (Carleton University), Canada
  3. Disability Sexuality Lab (University of Calgary), Canada
  4. CERC in Health Equity and Community Wellbeing (Toronto Metropolitan University), Canada
  5. The Centre for Global Disability Studies (CGDS) (University of Toronto Scarborough), Canada

Denmark

  1. The Research Center for Disability and Employment (Aalborg University), Denmark
  2. Disability Studies Research Group (Rotterdam University), Denmark
  3. Nordic Network on Disability Research (NNDR) 

France

  1. Disability Policy Observatory (France)

Iceland

  1. Research Centre for Disability Studies (University of Iceland), Iceland

India

  1. Centre on Studies in Disability and Law (National Law University Delhi), India
  2. Indian Society of Disability Studies (ISDS)
  3. Inter University Centre for Disability Studies (Mahatma Gandhi University), India
  4. Department of Community Education and Disability Studies (Panjab University), India
  5. Centre for Neurodiversity Studies (O.P. Jindal Global University), India

Ireland

  1. Centre for Disability Law and Policy (University of Galway), Ireland 
  2. UCD Centre for Disability Studies (University College Dublin), Ireland

Italy

  1. Research Centre for Studies on Disability, Education, Inclusion (University of Bologna), Italy

Japan

  1. College of Disability Sciences (University of Tsukuba), Japan
  2. 6th International Disability Inclusion Symposium (Nov – Dec 2025, Tokyo), Japan

Netherlands

  1. Rethinking Disability Collective (Leiden University), Netherlands

New Zealand

  1. Critical Disability Studies Research Network (University of Otago), New Zealand

Nigeria

  1. Centre for Disability (Nnamdi Azikiwe University), Nigeria

Sri Lanka

  1. Centre for Disability Studies (University of Kelaniya), Sri Lanka

South Africa

  1. Disability Studies Research (University of Cape Town), South Africa

Turkey

  1. Disability Studies Centre (Istanbul Aydin University), Turkey

United Kingdom

  1. UoY Interdisciplinary Disability Research Network (University of York), UK
  2. Centre for Spirituality, Health and Disability (University of Aberdeen), UK
  3. International Disability Research Programme (UCL), UK
  4. Disability Research Forum (Sheffield Hallam University), UK 
  5. Norah Fry Centre for Disability Studies (Bristol University), UK 
  6. Centre for Research in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (Warwick University), UK
  7. International Centre for Evidence in Disability (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine University), UK
  8. Disability Research Edinburgh (University of Edinburgh), UK
  9. Disability Research Group (Strathclyde University), UK
  10. Critical Disability Studies group (Manchester Metropolitan University), UK
  11. Centre for Society and Mental Health (King’s College London), UK
  12. Department of Disability, Inclusion and Special Needs (University of Birmingham), UK 
  13. Centre for Wellbeing, Inclusion and Disability in Educational Research (University of Exeter), UK
  14. Medical Humanities (Durham University), UK 
  15. Centre for Culture and Disability Studies (Liverpool Hope University), UK
  16. Centre for Disability Research (CEDR) (University of Lancaster), UK 
  17. Centre for Disability Research (CDR) (University of Glasgow), UK 
  18. Centre for Disability Studies (CDS) (University of Leeds), UK
  19. Disability Law Hub (University of Leeds), UK
  20. Medical Humanities Research Centre (University of Glasgow), UK 
  21. WAARC: Anti-Ableist Research Culture University of Sheffield, UK

United States

  1. Center on Disability Studies (University of Hawai’i), US
  2. The Coelho Center for Disability Law, Policy, and Innovation (Loyola Marymount University), US
  3. Center for Disability and Education (University of Rochester), US
  4. Center for Disability Studies (NYU), US
  5. Center for Disabilities (University of South Dakota), US
  6. Center for Disability Studies (University of Buffalo), US
  7. Research Consortium on Disability (Fordham University), US
  8. Disability Studies Inclusion Labs (UCLA), US
  9. Research Center for Retirement and Disability (University of Wisconsin-Madison), US
  10. Longmore Institute on Disability (San Francisco State University), US
  11. Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences CREATE (University of Washington), US
  12. Nest Support Project (New York University), US
  13. Disability Studies Program (Ohio State University), US

Disability Cultural Centers:

  1. Disability Community (DisCo) Space, Stanford University, US
  2. Disability Cultural Center, The University of Arizona, US
  3. Disability Cultural Center, Connecticut College, US
  4. Disability Cultural Center, Georgetown University, US
  5. Disability Cultural Center, University of Illinois Chicago, US
  6. Disabled Students Cultural Center, University of Minnesota, US
  7. Disability Cultural Center, University of North Carolina, Asheville, US
  8. Disability Cultural Center, San Francisco, US
  9. Disability Cultural Center, Santa Rosa Junior College, US
  10. Disability Cultural Center, Syracuse University, US
  11. Disability Cultural Center, University of Texas at Austin, US
  12. Disability Cultural Community Center, University of California, Berkeley (Cal), US
  13. Disability & Deaf Cultural Center (The D Center), University of Washington, Seattle, US

Professional Organizations:

  1. Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD, US)
  2. AHEAD Ireland 
  3. Association of University Centers on Disability, AUCD, US

Databases and Directories of Disabled People’s Organizations and other collectives:

  1. Inclusion London’s DDPO directory
  2. DisAbility’s DPOs in the UK database
  3. Shaping Our Lives’ User-led Organisations
  4. Directory of Disability Cultural Centers by University of Illinois Chicago

Conferences, blogs, projects:

  1. Anti-Ableist Teaching
  2. The Blind Academy Blog
  3. Devva’s Room – Disability Studies for All – monthly series of events
  4. Justin’s Room – Our Stories to tell
  5. Disability, Sexuality, and Rights Online Institute, CREA, India
  6. Including Disability Global Summit, US
  7. Pacific Rim Disability Studies Conference (University of Hawai’i), US
  8. Transformative Access Project (Ohio State University), US
  9. Disability History and Culture Collective (DHACC)

Other categories:

Disability Community Events Calendar (includes scholarly focused events as well as community led events), Global

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