New research out of the University of New Mexico’s English department is shining a light on the experiences of faculty with disabilities. Marissa Greenberg, associate professor within the Department of English Language and Literature, co-authored the paper Confronting Disability Pasts, Constructing Disability Futures: Recommendations for Growing Access, Equity, and Inclusion for Disabled Faculty in Higher Education.
“The initial motivating factor was my lived experience as a faculty member with disabilities and wanting to better understand how my experience related to the experiences of others,” Greenberg said.
Greenberg's research combines the larger field of disability studies with a focus on higher education and very specific data about UNM based a survey of faculty with disabilities that Greenberg led in 2022 as the Academic Faculty Leadership Fellow with the Division for Change and Empowerment (DiCE).
For Greenberg, this is part of ongoing advocacy work that she had been doing at UNM with the Division for Change and Empowerment (DiCE) as the academic faculty leadership fellow. She’s now continuing this research in a new position as Special Advisor to the Vice President, conducting interviews with university leadership to collect data. All of this will contribute to a report in a series of recommendations to whoever steps into the provost and president offices in the upcoming months.
Greenberg, alongside the co-author of the article, Siobhán Cully, Ph.D., wanted to publish the article to share their research in the hopes that it clarifies for academics, especially in leadership roles, the legacies of harm against faculty, staff, and students with disabilities.
“We’re hoping this sort of information can help administrators make informed choices based on past experiences in order to have a more successful future in serving everyone in our community,” Greenberg said.
Something that the article touches on is how UNM recognizes the value of faculty with disabilities. “We as a university take a lot of pride in the diversity of our faculty and how that diversity reflects the diversity of our students,” Greenberg said.
But Greenberg says there is a lot of anxiety about disclosing disability among faculty throughout higher education. “There’s this culture of ableism where the idea is if you have a disability, you don’t belong in academia,” Greenberg said. “It’s this bias against any kind of body or mind that doesn’t fit a norm and is therefore seen as less-than.”
in addition to anxieties about discrimination, faculty with disabilities may not disclose even when they need accommodation because they fear the process will be time-consuming and energy-draining.
These are the types of shortcomings that are tracked in the research article, but recommendations are also offered in response to these situations. The authors aim to get to the heart of these failures and address them in ways that will improve conditions for faculty with disabilities.
The article also places an emphasis on shifting compliance to inclusion within institutions of higher education and beyond. Instead of just worrying about “checking boxes” and doing the minimum to comply with the law, there needs to be a shift towards fostering a culture of belonging and valuing faculty with disabilities.
“It starts with a conversation asking what they need and trusting that the faculty member knows themselves, knows their needs, and knows how to succeed,” Greenberg said. “Shifting away from compliance to real inclusion and having ourselves represented in our leadership and at all levels, is how institutions can serve their communities of folks with disabilities.”
For more information on UNM’s Division for Change and Empowerment, visit their website or email them at dice@unm.edu. Faculty with disabilities who require accommodations can find resources at the office of Compliance, Ethics, and Equal Opportunity. For more information on what to do about discrimination, faculty may wish to use the Wayfinder.
