Dear all,
It is with great excitement that I write to announce the date and location of the 2008 Society for Disability Studies conference:
JUNE 18-21 in NEW YORK CITY!!
The Board and the Executive Office are extremely excited about this opportunity -- New York offers a vibrant disability community to tap into and will allow us to put together a truly spectacular program. (The Call for Papers will follow shortly.) We hope that many of you who, for whatever reasons, may not have been able to join us at past conferences will be enticed to make it this June. We look forward to a rich, professional arts program, the greater inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities, and the ability to showcase work of applied social scientists and senior scholars, as well as that of new scholars and new directions for the field. Based on your feedback, we've added an extra day to the conference, hopefully making it easier for international scholars to attend.
While New York can be very expensive -- and the Board did hear your concerns about this -- we feel the benefits of having a conference in New York will outweigh the costs. We will be working very hard over the coming months to find ways to curtail the general cost of attending this important event. As part of this effort, we will also be compiling a local resource list that will include not only access information, but also hotels and dining options at various price-ranges. We certainly welcome additional suggestions from you on ways to minimize the
financial impact on attendees.
Lastly, this conference will require a lot of logistical help. Anyone interested in serving on the local planning committee for this conference should contact Alison Kafer. Anyone interested in volunteering in other capacities, please contact Santiago Solis.
Please plan to join us this coming June 18th-21nd. The Board, Executive
Office, and I can't wait to see you all in the Big Apple!!
Sincerely,
Elaine
Elaine Gerber, Ph.D.
President, Society for Disability Studies