We are excited to announce the focus for the 2026 Critical Conversation Series: Advancing Disability Equity in Multilingual Education.
This year’s project will advance disability equity in multilingual education by examining how intersecting language and ability hierarchies marginalize learners in diverse educational contexts and how to engage in more inclusive and anti-oppressive practices. Through research dialogues, international partnerships, mentorship, and open-access resource creation, the initiative aims to foster anti-ableist pedagogies and strengthens global collaboration among educators, researchers, and graduate students in multilingual education.
The third session of Disability Equity Conversation Series will feature Dr. Valentina Migliarini, Associate Professor in Education Studies in the School of Education in the Department of Education and Social Justice at the University of Birmingham. Dr. Migliarini is at the forefront of researchers using the Disability Critical Race Theory in Education (DisCrit) framework as an intersectional lens to examine inclusive policies and practices in education systems in Europe and in the United States.
The second session of the Disability Equity Conversation Series featured Dr. Caitlin Cornell, Assistant Director of Michigan State University’s Center for Language Teaching Advancement and Accessibility Coordinator and Advocate for the College of Arts and Letters. Dr. Cornell is engaged in disability equity work from the policy to the classroom level and has a special research interest in disability inclusive additional language learning and teaching.
The first session of the Disability Equity Conversation Series featured Dr. Sara E.N. Kangas, associate professor in the College of Education at Lehigh University. Dr. Kangas’s work focuses on on challenging systemic inequities facing multilingual learners with disabilities.
Funding:
Strategic Equity & Anti-Racism Enhancement Fund (StEAR)
University of British Columbia