About

INSPIRE leads Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences and Rochester Institute of Technology toward another first in the nation accomplishment. Accessibility and disability are important aspects of computing research; areas which are studied by researchers, and taught by professors.  Like other under-recognized groups, faculty with disability/disabilities live different daily experiences and challenges in the academic world. While Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are resulting in visible role models, deliberate recruitment and retention efforts, and supportive groups specific to their determined needs, faculty with disabilities do not yet have these opportunities. The hope of INSPIRE is to provide a venue for faculty with disability/disabilities to align, have a safe and secure virtual space to share information, tips, strategies, resources, and stories privately, as well as to have a public space to align with researchers in the very broad interpretation of disability as collaborators. 

The immediate goal of INSPIRE is to unite faculty who self-identify (within a secure and private environment) as having a disability/disabilities beyond the scope of the Americans with Disabilities clinical definition. INSPIRE’s vision of disability is a broad interpretation of challenges that face faculty living their daily lives at home or in the workplace. 

A longer-term goal is to form an alliance. An alliance will serve multiple purposes. It will serve as a source of information for other academic institutes, government agencies, employers, and the general public.  It will foster opportunities to align with researchers, either researchers with disabilities or researchers who share similar research interests. Most importantly, it will serve as a safe and secure virtual space for faculty to share information, tips, strategies, resources, and stories privately.  An alliance will provide an opportunity for faculty with disability/disabilities to feel less isolated and to have a group of peers from whom to seek advice or direction in an informal fashion.

INSPIRE seeks to conduct a national survey of higher education institutes to gather information about organizations that exist within their institutes whose mission is to support faculty with disability/disabilities. By examining existing opportunities, INSPIRE can target a survey to gather perceived barriers in higher education by faculty with disability/disabilities. INSPIRE seeks to form a national presence and alliance. Once established, INSPIRE will host a virtual symposium to discuss the research results, and to populate INSPIRE’s web presence with information and opportunities related to peer-to-peer support, mentorship, information, and research opportunities as well as a space to discuss collaborations between all faculty; not exclusive to faculty with disability/disabilities.