Last summer I [Mike Dorn] had the pleasure of working with a group of Philadelphia high school students calling themselves Project Beta. They were participating in an afterschool enrichment program calls bITS, funded by the National Science Foundation and hosted by Temple University's Information Technology and Society Research Group. While exploring high end Web 2.0 applications, students were challenged to derive insights from the fields of science, technology and mathematics to solve problems that were familiar to them in their everyday lives. Carol Marfisi and I provided the topical introduction to the themes that students would be exploring during the week-long model, "Towards Enabling Spaces?" Project Beta's explorations of the Temple University campus from the perspective of a person using a wheelchair produced the hilarious film entitled "Access of Admissions," since posted to YouTube and Temple University's site on CampusVid.

I am so impressed by the work of Geography and Urban Studies graduate student Langston Clement and the entire Project Beta team.

South African filmmaker and artist in residence at Temple’s Institute on Disabilities, Shelley Barry will be presenting her new work at the Film and Media Arts Department on the Temple University campus, Thursday, December 7th at 7:30pm-9:00pm. Shelley's work ranges from traditional to experimental documentary, narrative and video art. She explores the cinematic aesthetics of filming from her wheelchair and also engages in subject matter that cross reference disability and sexuality. She is a recent graduate of the MFA program and has to date won 5 awards for her films during her student years. Shelley is also a published poet and has actively worked in her country as a disability activist serving the Presidencies of both Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki.
For more information on the films, contact Shelley directly.

DATE: 7 December 2006
TIME: 7:30-9:00pm
VENUE: RM 3, Basement, Annenberg Hall
ADDRESS: 2020 North 13th Street, Philadelphia , PA 19122

We invite you logon to the Disability Studies Meetup website, http://disstud.meetup.com/1 Once you are there, be sure to RSVP so we will know to expect you, and feel free to share your suggestions on ways to accommodate your needs.
Sponsored by the Institute on Disabilities and the Film and Media Arts Department at Temple University.

Disability Studies, the PHILLY Meetup is a new initiative of the Disability Studies Program at Temple University. The meetups provide an opportunity for people from diverse backgrounds to gather together, share resources and have a positive impact on today’s society. We welcome people who are self-identified as disabled, allies, academics, activists from different social identity movements, as well as those who may have a curiosity about the rhythms of today’s disability culture. Everyone’s voice will add to the depth and breadth of understanding about issues impacting disability communities.

Readers of the Disability Studies, Temple U. blog are well aware (see our coverage last September), people with disabilities and elderly people were left uniquely exposed to the ravages of Hurricane Katrina. Promised evacuation procedures were not implemented, and many elderly and people with disabilities escaped with little more than their lives. Many of these same individuals have had to get by for months without the basic medical equipment that they depend upon: wheelchairs, walkers, canes, shower chairs, etc.

George Heake, assistive technology expert with Temple University’s Institute on Disabilities, has been taking the lead in organizing a joint Philadelphia-Louisiana relief effort. Working in cooperation with the Louisiana Assistive Technology Access Network (LATAN), we have been collecting durable medical equipment from throughout our region to be shipped south. As publicized here, on September 24th 2006, volunteers with the Institute on Disabilities, Temple University and our surrounding community met at the parking lot to the SE of the intersection of Cecil B. Moore Avenue and Broad Street, to load a complete semi tractor trailer full of donated items. These items were cleaned, packed and shipped down to the impacted region, where they were distributed from LATAN’s warehouse in Baton Rouge. A slideshow of the event can be found here.