Disability Studies in Education SIG Leaders (2025-2026)
SIG Co-Chair
Christa Bialka, Villanova University
Dr. Chelsea Stinson, State University of New York
Social Media Co-Managers:
Isabel Mavrides-Calderon, Barnard College of Columbia University im2589@barnard.edu
Arpita Sarker, College of Education, University of Iowa, arpita-sarker@uiowa.edu
OFFICER BIOS
Phillandra Smith Ph.D., is Co-chair for the DSE SIG. She is an Assistant Professor of Special Education and Critical Disability Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. She earned her Ph.D. in Special Education from Syracuse University, where she also completed Certificates of Advanced Study in Women’s and Gender Studies and Disability Studies. An Afro-Caribbean scholar and educator, Dr. Smith brings years of experience in both K–12 and higher education. Her early education in the Caribbean, shaped by a majority Black faculty, laid the foundation for her commitment to affirming the intellectual identities of racially marginalized students. Her personal and professional experiences with disability and education inform her layered understanding of disability across cultural contexts. Dr. Smith’s research and teaching are grounded in anti-racist and inclusive pedagogies. She draws on frameworks such as DisCrit and critical disability studies to interrogate how whiteness and ableism shape the educational experiences of individuals with disabilities. Her work advocates for the integration of anti-racist praxis and anti-ableist practices in teacher preparation and emphasizes the presumption of competence, authentic representation, and culturally responsive approaches to disability.
Kathleen Mary Collins Ph.D., is Co-Chair of the Disability Studies in Education (DSE) Special Interest Group and an Associate Professor of Literacy Education in the College of Education at the Pennsylvania State University. Her research examines the production, impact, and interruption of deficit narratives surrounding students who are multiply marginalized through racialization, minoritization, and/or dis/ability identification. Informed by sociocultural theory, DSE and DisCrit, her work includes classroom-based investigations of interaction and instructional design as well as critical analyses of the positioning effects of institutional, political, and cultural discourses. Beyond her academic work, Dr. Collins enjoys gardening, creative writing, reading, spending time with family and engaging in community service.
Dr. Christa S. Bialka is Program Co-chair for DSE SIG. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Education and Counseling at Villanova University, where she directs the Disability & Deaf Studies Program. Christa received her Ed.D. in Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research is focused on disrupting ableism in K-12 and higher education, implementing anti-ableist curriculum, as well as addressing disability as a component of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In 2023, Christa was awarded the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Outstanding Teaching. Prior to earning her doctorate, Christa taught English and Special Education in the Boston area. Christa is an active member of Disability Equality Education and the Disability and Accessibility Action Group of H-CAN.
Dr. Sarah Young is a DSE SIG Program Co-Chair and Director of Disability Support Services at Trinity Washington University. In her daily work, she focuses on increasing accessibility and equity for students through staff and faculty development and improvement of institutional policy and processes. Her scholarship explores disability policy history and implementation, the impact of transition and orientation programming for first-time college students with disabilities, discourse analysis of institutional disability webpages, and systems analysis of disability offices and associated training, staffing, and functionality. As a practitioner and researcher, her goal is to confront disability stigma and discrimination in educational settings while advocating and providing space for self-authorship among disabled students. She also enjoys reading and spending time with family, friends, and her dog, Ziggy.
Dr. Chelsea Stinson is the Secretary/Treasurer of the DSE SIG and Assistant Professor of Inclusive Education at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Cortland. Dr. Stinson's research, teaching, and service focus on the experiences of emergent bilingual students, families, communities, school-community relationships, and teachers at the intersections of language, race, disability, migration, policy, and education. Dr. Stinson is also co-editor of Multiple Voices- Disability, Race, and Language Intersections in Special Education, which is the official, peer-reviewed journal of the Council for Exceptional Children's Division for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Learners (DDEL). More importantly, she enjoys running, hiking, music, reading, dancing, and spending time outdoors with her children and very good dogs.
Isabel Mavrides-Calderon is the Co-social media manager for DSE SIG. She is a student at Barnard College studying education, and is a disabled disability rights activist. She served on the White House Youth Policy Team during the Biden administration and currently works on the disability policy team at the NYC Comptroller’s Office. Believing in the importance of student-led research, Isabel began conducting research on disabled students in education 5 years ago. Her research on emergency planning for disabled students was used to inform a bill recently passed in Virginia.Her disability, accessibility, media and consulting work spans Broadway productions, The U.S. Department of Education, the Washington Post, NBC News, Cripple Media, the National Academy of Sciences, an Emmy-Award winning film, Telemundo and MTV. Isabel was named one of Teen Vogue’s 21 Under 21 Revolutionary Youth and was invited to the TIME100 Health Leadership Forum. She is a published young adult author with Rebel Girls. Isabel’s work can be seen on her Instagram and TikTok @powerfullyisa where she discusses disability rights.
Arpita Sarker PhD, is the co-social media manager for the DSE SIG. She is a postdoctoral research scholar in Educational Policy and Leadership Studies, College of Education, University of Iowa. She received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Children’s Literature and Disability Studies from the College of Education, Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests include Children’s literature, Critical Disability Studies, Anti-Caste Studies, Postcolonial and Decolonial Theory, and higher education. Arpita is from India and misses good food in the Midwest. She spends most of her time either cooking food or thinking about it. In her free time, she also likes reading dystopian novels, watching thrillers, and working out.
DSE Tenets To engage in research, policy, and action that
The purpose of Disability Studies in Education is: to provide an organizational vehicle for networking among Disability Studies researchers in education; and to increase the visibility and influence of Disability Studies among all educational researchers.
Approaches to Theory, Research, & Practice in DSE
Examples of approaches to theory and DSE may include:
Examples of approaches to research and DSE may include:
Examples of approaches to practice and DSE may include:
Future Possibilities
While Disability Studies stretches back for almost thirty years, DSE is a relatively new field, not yet a decade old. Bearing this in mind, scholars in DSE have articulated some areas of further potential study. These include:
Bylaws
The name of the organization is Disability Studies in Education
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