Graduate Student Educators Showcase of Work on Disabilities
Dr. Julia White (left) stands with three graduate students in the Special Collections Research Center. Students are: Neil Boedicker, Kayla Cornelius, and Raquell Carpenter.
Graduate students and educators enrolled in Syracuse University’s School of Education course “SPE 644: Significant Disabilities: Shifts in Paradigms & Practices” created a digital exhibition of their research using materials from Syracuse University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center (SCRC). The course was taught by Dr. Julia M. White, a 2023-2024 SCRC Faculty Fellow. The SPE 644 Digital Exhibition is titled “From Institutionalization to Inclusion: Disability Activism in the Syracuse University Special Collections.” It was created by members of the course who have been critically engaging with primary source documents and artifacts in SCRC’s collections to explore disability as a cultural construction by examining historical developments in special and inclusive education, as well as the rise (and fall) of institutions and asylums for individuals with intellectual disabilities. The students provided a showcase of their work and debuted the digital exhibition on May 8, 2024 at a reception held in the SCRC.