Who We Are


SIG Officers

Disability Studies in Education SIG Leaders (2023-2024)

Name Title Email
Lydia Ocasio-Stoutenburg, Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University

SIG Co-Chair

lpo5123@psu.edu
Dr. Sarah Young, Trinity Washington University SIG Program Co-Chair youngsar@trinitydc.edu 
Casey Woodfield, Ph.D., Rowan University SIG Co-Chair woodfield@rowan.edu
Kathleen Mary Collins SIG Program Co-Chair  
Dr. Chelsea Stinson, State University of New York Secretary/Treasurer chelsea.stinson@cortland.edu

 

Social Media Co-Managers:

Ashley Pollitt, The College of New Jersey, pollitta@tcnj.edu 

Ananí M. Vasquez, Ph.D., Roosevelt School District & Neurodiversity Education Research Center, ananimv@yahoo.com 

 


OFFICER BIOS

Lydia Ocasio-Stoutenburg (PhD) is Co-Chair of the DSE SIG and is Assistant Professor at The Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Ocasio-Stoutenburg's work centers caregiver advocacy, holistic and asset-based supports for students labeled with ID/DD, systems and policy level equity, and Black family and community empowerment. Past-times are spending time with family, writing poetry, and using maker-spaces. 

Kathleen Mary Collins

Casey Woodfield (PhD) is a DSE SIG Program Co-Chair and Assistant Professor in the Department of Wellness and Inclusive Services in Education at Rowan University. Her scholarly activities center communication and inclusion as inextricably connected imperatives. Her research explores inclusive education as a vehicle of social justice, with an emphasis on lived experiences of autistic and neurodivergent students who use augmentative and alternative communication. Her research and teaching aim to counter constructed notions of competence and foster educational approaches grounded in the value of disability and neurodiversity. Outside of work, she enjoys time with family and friends, walks with her dogs, and photography. 

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.

Ashley Pollitt is a DSE SIG Social Media Co-Manager and Assistant Professor at The College of New Jersey, has research interests in teacher education and development and equitable teaching formative assessment practices in secondary English Language Arts. When not working, she enjoys practicing yoga, walking outside, reading in the sun, finding new cafes, laughing with family and friends, listening to live music, and completing the daily Wordle.

Ananí M. Vasquez (PhD) is a DSE SIG Social Media Co-Manager, Instructional Coach at the Roosevelt School District, and Research Associate at the Neurodiversity Education Research Center. Her research interests are in neurodiversity and creativity in education and research methods. Dr. Vasquez draws on creativity theory, disability studies in education, the neurodiversity paradigm, process philosophy, and arts-based inquiry while working with others towards post-oppositional educational transformation. As a former elementary teacher and as a teacher coach, she combines her experiences in general, bilingual, gifted, and special education(s) to envision an inclusive education. She enjoys family day trips, painting, crafting, baking, dancing, and cloud watching while floating in the pool.