Nick Winges-Yanez
Dr. Nick is a clinical assistant professor at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work leading the Disability Studies program. She is a queer crip feminist activist-scholar interested in critical discourse analysis and how language, signs, and symbols create and perpetuate our realities. Her work also interrogates histories of disability in relation to sexuality, citizenship, and trauma. She is deeply dedicated to teaching and expanding and growing her practice of compassionate and inclusive pedagogy.
Disability Justice as Pedagogical Practice
Within social work curriculum, the topic of disability is either explicitly absent or medicalized. The lack of a rich understanding of disability as a cultural experience that intersects with other cultural experiences is concerning given our ethical guidelines of cultural competence and equity. Additionally, not only are students excluded via this omission, but so are faculty, staff, and social workers working in the field. Approximately a quarter of the population identifies as having a disability, yet our curriculum barely acknowledges their experiences.