Beyond Closed Captioning: Disability Awareness, Inclusion, and Acceptance
Larysa Kautz, president and CEO of Melwood, a leading employer, advocate and service provider for people with disabilities, leads a series of discussions about disability awareness, inclusion, and acceptance at Georgetown University and beyond.
During these conversations, Ms. Kautz will reframe society’s traditional approach to disability, show what is possible—and what we’ve been missing—when we start to view disability through a strengths-based perspective, and reduce the stigmas associated with accommodations and asking for them. She will also help all of us at Georgetown understand what we can do to make our space more welcoming, friendly, and accessible to all people.
Background:
People with disabilities are the world’s largest minority. In the United States, one-quarter of Americans experience life with a disability, and more than 1 million Americans have non-apparent disabilities. At Georgetown, 14 percent of undergraduate students and 10 percent of graduate and professional students at Georgetown currently identify as disabled. Disability knows no racial, cultural, or socioeconomic barriers. Whether we realize it or not, we are all impacted by disability in some way. Most of us either know someone who has a disability, work with someone who has a disability, or may identify as disabled ourselves. Despite how diverse and vibrant the disability community is, a lack of awareness and acceptance, combined with deep-seated biases, means people with disabilities continue to be marginalized—at work, in public places, in our schools, and beyond.
Georgetown University is committed to creating a welcoming, open, inclusive, and accessible campus environment and culture. We recognize that achieving this may involve breaking down barriers in new and creative ways, and fostering a community that celebrates disability as part of what it means to be human.