Disability Cultural Center
Attention Wildcats!
One of very few in the nation, UA's disability cultural center (DCC) is a space for students, faculty and staff to explore and celebrate disability identity, culture and community. DCC offers a variety of events and programming that promote an authentic and intersectional perspective on disability.
The DCC is located on the second floor of the Disability Resource Center in Highland Commons D217.
Students are welcome to drop by the space any time!
Check out this TedTalk that discusses disability access as a civil rights issue and shares how student activism can make change on college campuses.
Meet our Coordinator
Naty Rico (she/hers) is a disabled Latina, first-generation graduate and Disability Justice advocate from Los Angeles, CA. Driven by accessibility challenges she faced during her undergraduate years, she committed to advocating for her community to improve the educational opportunities for disabled students in higher education. She brought disability awareness to her campus at the University of California, Irvine, where she consulted to student organizations and campus departments on improving accessibility measures structurally and through programming. She founded the Committee on Students with Disabilities through the Associated Students; one of the first groups made for and by disabled students on campus, where students empowered and supported each other through accessibility challenges and ableism. After graduating from UC Irvine in 2017 with Bachelors Degrees in Education Sciences and Sociology, she supported intellectually and developmentally disabled students in the community college setting by guiding them through academic, social and professional goals. She has also presented various workshops and presentations on ableism and disability justice in student affairs throughout conferences in California and nationally. Naty enjoys traveling, singing and making new friends. Feel free to ask her about visiting 12 countries via Semester at Sea, life in Southern California or giving a TEDx talk.
Contact her anytime at naty@arizona.edu.
Meet our Graduate Assistant
Sav Schlauderaff (they/them) is a queer, trans, disabled PhD student in Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Arizona. Their research in critical disability studies centers chronic illnesses, (embodied/felt) memory, pain, trauma and self care/community care for the body, mind and spirit. Sav combines their academic training in genetics, molecular biology and gender studies with poetry, autobiography, current research in molecular biology and genetics, and theoretical work in their writing.
Outside of research, they are currently the Graduate Assistant at the Disability Cultural Center and work at the LGBTQ+ Resource Center at the University as a Safe Zone facilitator. Sav is also a member of the Disability Studies Initiative at the University and a co-founder of "The Queer Futures Collective" where they create accessible, educational and healing workshops and performances (in person and online) that focus on listening, vulnerability, learning through art and collective community care.
Meet our Faculty Fellow
Dr. Dev K. Bose is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Arizona. He received his doctorate degree from Clemson University in the program of Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design, and his master’s degree in English (Rhetoric and Composition emphasis) and bachelor’s degree in English Education (20th Century American Literature emphasis) from California State University, Long Beach. His research and teaching interests focus on disability rhetorics and multimodal composition, with a particular interest in privilege and access pertaining to technology in relation to rhetorical conceptions of invisible disabilities. Twice awarded the Disability in College Composition Travel Award, Dev is also site manager for the CCCC Standing Group in Disability Studies. Within the Writing Program he has multiple roles, including preceptor for GTAs in their first year of teaching, faculty advisor for Difference and Inequality, and assistant programmer of online writing initiatives.
Contact Us:
Email: disabilityculture@email.arizona.edu
1224 E Lowell Street
Tucson, AZ 85721