Rethinking inclusion and disability activism at academic conferences: strategies proposed by a PhD student with a physical disability

Conferences are central to academia, providing opportunities for scholars to exchange ideas, socialise and build networks and extend their scholarship. Therefore, inclusive research in universities must extend to including activists and disabled academics in conference settings. Unfortunately, conferences pose particular accessibility problems for participants with physical disabilities, long-term illness or chronic pain. In this article I will explore my own experience and insights about how conferences might be better organised; on the one hand to avoid losing the voices of disabled activists and scholars which Disability Studies needs to have practical impact, and on the other to create a new set of inclusive conference practices, going beyond accessibility attempts to ‘fit’ disabled attendees into traditional lecture halls which are fundamentally not inclusive.