Saluting Our Disability Rights Heroes
This Disability Pride Month, CUNY SPS Shines a Spotlight On Our Community of Disability Advocates
This July is Disability Pride Month, an annual observance designed to recognize and celebrate all people with disabilities. Founded originally to mark the passage of the groundbreaking Americans with Disabilities Act in July 1990, Disability Pride Month offers an opportunity to honor the history, achievements, experiences, and struggles of the disability community.
As the CUNY school known for its innovative and trailblazing undergraduate, graduate and certificate-based online disability studies programs, CUNY SPS is proud to honor Disability Pride Month with a spotlight on a few of our dedicated and brilliant organizations and people who work so hard to fight for the rights of students — as well as all people — with disabilities.
Disability and Access Coalition
CUNY SPS salutes the Disability and Access Coalition (DAC), a remarkable student organization that began in 2018 with a mission to raise awareness around disability issues; build and maintain a campus that celebrates, advocates for, and ensures inclusiveness; and foster collaboration between students with disabilities and those who are allies.
Each year, the DAC hosts events and activities that explore important and timely issues for students with disabilities and, in the process, help create a supportive community where folks are empowered and affirmed in their intersectional identities.
For an example of the DAC’s programming, watch the video below. During the 2022 Student Leadership Conference, several members of the DAC presented on the need to build inclusive spaces for disabled students:
Students and Alumni
This Disability Pride Month, CUNY SPS also salutes all the passionate and hard-working students and alumni of our disability studies programs who are evolving into major disability rights advocates and scholars.
Leonard Blades is one of many trailblazers here at CUNY SPS. A former founding member of the DAC (who is featured in their video above), as well as the CUNY Coalition for Students with Disabilities (CCSD), Blades is a soon-to-be three-time degree-holder from CUNY SPS. Currently, he is completing a MA in Disability Studies, and has already earned a MS in Disability Services in Higher Education and an Advanced Certificate in Disability Studies.
With his degrees and drive, Blades has built a remarkable career in the field. In addition to his role as Disability Accommodation Specialist II at Queensborough Community College Office of Accessibility Services, Blades also serves on the MTA’s Advisory Committee for Transit Accessibility (along with fellow alum April Coughlin) where he works to improve accessibility for NYC’s transit system.
Most recently, Leonard is featured in this interview between CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez and CUNY SPS Foundation Board Member Beatriz de la Torre, in which he asks her about housing accessibility.
Lennyn Jacob is another pioneering student in the field. Not only is she completing her BA in Disability Studies at CUNY SPS, she is also — like Leonard — an active member of the CUNY Coalition for Students with Disabilities (CCSD), which advocates to protect the rights of more than 10,000 students with disabilities across CUNY’S 25 colleges.
Notably, as part of her work with the CCSD, Jacob testified before the New York State Legislature in 2022 to call for more funding to support students with disabilities. For this and her other advocay work, Jacob was named on City & State’s 2023 Higher Education Power 100 list.
To learn more about Lennyn, watch this video of her speech at the 2023 CUNY SPS Scholarship Reception. You can also read more about her advocacy here.
Faculty
CUNY SPS Disability Studies faculty are known for their devotion to their students and their commitment to teaching!
Here’s some proof: of the five times that CUNY SPS has selected faculty for our Adjunct Faculty Teaching Excellence Award, two are from our disability studies programs!
First, we honor Neil Harbus, who won the prize in 2023. Read more about his career and teaching philosophy here.
Just the year before that, Emily Brooks, another distinguished member of the disability studies faculty (and herself a CUNY SPS alum), was awarded this coveted prize. Read more about Emily here.
Other faculty of note who were recently interviewed about their work at CUNY SPS include Ray Perez, who also serves as the CUNY’s Interim University Director of Disability Programs and Inclusion Initiatives, and Dr. Andrew Marcum, academic director of the CUNY SPS online disability studies programs.
A Community of Heroes
These remarkable organizations, scholars, and activists are just a few of those nurtured by the CUNY SPS online disability studies programs, which has for nearly 20 years been dedicated to exploring disability from multiple perspectives, including the social sciences, humanities, science, and the law.
We salute all those mentioned above — and the thousands others we couldn’t name here — for everything they’ve done to support and champion people with disabilities. This Disability Pride Month, we say thank you to all of our disability rights heroes!!
