The Standing Committee on Accessibility aims to increase the presence and participation of disabled scholars as well as the presence of scholarship on disability within the WHA. It is our goal to make the WHA an inclusive and accessible environment for disabled scholars at every level and be an organization that embraces many different historical perspectives on the history of the American West. The committee supports all WHA organizations to achieve inclusion. To foster inclusion, the Committee on Accessibility will:
1. Sponsor at least 2 sessions at the annual conference (one on Disability History and one on Accessibility in Academia)
2. Provide Accessibility guidance to the WHA Council, including a list of accessibility consultants.
3. Work with WHA Staff to create, maintain, and distribute an Accessibility Presentation Guide.
4. Work with WHA Staff to
a) identify conference venue accessibility features and issues,
b) to create accessibility information for the conference website, program, and registration materials,
c) to support accessibility needs at the conference.
5. To support data collection and member feedback on WHA accessibility issues.
6. Coordinate with the Local Arrangements committee on accessibility.
7. Coordinate with WHA committees on accessibility.
8. Promote Disability scholarship within the WHA and the Western Historical Quarterly.
Alida Boorn, Independent Historian, Co-Chair
James Boorn, Independent Researcher and Accessibility Advocate, Co-Chair
Juliet Larkin-Gilmore, Penn State Abington, Co-Chair
Samantha Smith, Michigan State University
Ellie Kaplan, University of California, Davis
Miguel Juarez, University of Texas at El Paso