Celebrating Disability Pride, Communities and Culture at Georgetown
People with disabilities belong to many diverse communities and racial and cultural backgrounds. From the Deaf community to the intellectual disability self-advocacy movement, from organizing by activists with physical disabilities or Autism, people with disabilities come together throughout the year to celebrate inclusion and identity, civil rights achievements and the development of disability studies.
Disability Cultural Month
The U.S. federal government has designated October as National Disability Employment Awareness Month, which is celebrated at Georgetown as Disability Cultural Month. Throughout this month and the academic year, the disability community at Georgetown comes together to provide programming that affirms and celebrates all members of the disability community.
Program in Disability Studies
Disability studies offers students critical tools to analyze normativity and deviance, how societies grapple with physical and mental differences and how disability becomes a site for negotiating stigma and social power.
A Testimonial

“The field of philosophy of disability has been around since at least the nineties, and it has steadily grown. But there has never been a dedicated, scholarly outlet for debates in the field to develop according to their own terms and for scholars working in the field to have a very focused place to engage with one another.”
A Testimonial

“The ultimate goal is to co-create space where disabled people (with apparent and non-apparent disabilities) can fully belong and thrive, where we don’t have to mask our disabilities or deal with the stigma or shame that many have around disability.”
Alumni Engagement
The university established the Disability Empowerment Endowment Fund through a seed gift from Tiffany Yu (B’10), founder of the company Diversability – which started as a student group at Georgetown.
Ethics Lab and Disabilities Studies Partnership
With the support of a $100,000 current-use gift from Matt (C’02, L’09) and Jenae (L’09) Ruesch, the Ethics Lab is creating a new three-week disabilities studies module to be piloted in the Introduction to Ethics course offered through Georgetown’s philosophy department.
A Testimonial

“The cultural perception of disabled individuals is integral to shaping the mindsets of policymakers, implementers and enforcers. I began to recognize from my classes the inextricable link between the culture that shapes us and the policies that we hope will shape our future.”
President DeGioia Addresses the Importance of Mental Well-Being
It’s okay not to be okay, but that doesn’t mean you have to face these challenges alone. Georgetown has resources to support, affirm and connect our community.