Designing campuses where disability is integral to institutional design
I work with universities to examine how policies, practices, evaluation systems, and cultural and physical infrastructure shape who can participate—and to redesign them to remove barriers.
On most campuses, disability is handled primarily as a legal and medical matter—managed through accommodations rather than examined as a feature of how the institution operates. Responsibility is concentrated in disability services and HR, while the policies, practices, and routines that structure everyday campus life remain largely unexamined.
Many of the barriers disabled students encounter are produced by institutional norms, standard operating procedures, and campus policies. These include how participation is expected and designed, how academic and administrative processes are built, and how disability is reflected in cultural and physical infrastructure, institutional priorities, and strategic planning. Together, these patterns determine who can participate in academic and campus life, under what conditions, and on what terms.
The same dynamics shape outcomes for disabled faculty. Their ability to remain and succeed is structured by how roles are defined, how performance is evaluated—including tenure and promotion—and how expectations around productivity, presence, and pace are established and enforced.
What I Do
I work with institutions to examine the design choices that produce these patterns—diagnosing where and how they fail, what change would actually require, and whether the institution’s stated priorities are reflected in its actual systems.
This includes policies, academic and administrative processes, evaluation systems, and whether disability has parity in cultural and physical infrastructure—whether it is built into the visible and material life of the institution, rather than addressed only through accommodations.
Nature of Engagements
Engagements are diagnostic and advisory. I do not handle individual cases or serve as legal counsel. My role is institutional analysis and design.
Many institutions first encounter this work through invited talks on ableism and institutional design.
Who This Work Is For
This work is commissioned by institutions ready to examine their own systems—not manage individual cases or defend existing processes.
The typical client is a provost, vice president, or senior administrator with authority over the policies, systems, and structures that determine institutional outcomes for disabled students and faculty.