D.S.S.A., Disability Studies Student Association's Events

Disability Studies Student Association's (D.S.S.A.) Events

Spread the Word to End the Word

February 28th to March 2nd

DSSA’s Spread the Word to End the Word event was a huge success! On Monday February 28th we had a post about the Spread the Word event and what it’s all about. On Tuesday March 1st, we made a post about the harms of using the r-word, along with a little bit of history behind the use of the r-word. Finally, on Wednesday March 2nd we made a post that our followers could like, comment on, and/or share as a way to pledge to end the use of the r-word. We also opened it up to our followers to share how they planned on being more inclusive. Along with this post, we shared a compilation of videos with special appearances from DSSA members, family and friends, St. Joseph’s Catholic High School students, Best Buddies, and Roots 2 Wings! Everyone involved shared their pledge to end the use of the r-word and to spread the word to end the word. It was amazing to see our community come together for this!

We want to thank everyone who contributed and interacted with our posts for Spread the Word, it wouldn’t be successful without you all!

We also want to send out a special thank you to our Social Media Representative, Fatima Charara, for her amazing work on the posts and for reaching out to other people to share our content. We wouldn’t be able to do these amazing online events without her!

Remember, advocating to end the use of the r-word doesn’t stop when Spread the Word stops! Keep educating the people around you about the harms of the r-word on the disability community and continue to promote removing the r-word from everyone’s vocabulary!

Rock Your Socks Down Syndrome Day Walk

Sunday, March 20th at 11:00am-2:00pm

DSSA is so excited to announce that we will be holding our first in-person event in 2 years! That’s right, our Down Syndrome Day Walk is back!! This event is sponsored by Blain Property Maintenance.

The Rock Your Socks Down Syndrome Day Walk is being planned by two DSSA members – our First Year Rep, Denise Sargent and our Secretary, Ailish O’Connor!

The Rock Your Socks Down Syndrome Day Walk will be held Sunday March 20th from 11:00am-2:00pm at Bert Weeks Park on Riverside Drive East at Parent Avenue. There will be a booth set up at Bert Weeks Park and the walk will be along the river. Participants are also welcomed to do the walk virtually at their own convenience and share pictures/videos if they are comfortable! Participants can sign up for the event at www.rockyoursocks2022.eventbrite.caRegistration will close Wednesday March 16th. There will be warm drinks, water, and some snacks available at the booth for participants. Check out the Facebook page to stay up to date on the event – https://fb.me/e/2n4iNuuXl.

Participants can collect pledges from friends and family or may choose to donate. Once participants register for the walk, they will be emailed a pledge form. This form allows participants to keep track their pledges/donations. The pledges/donations can be submitted through this Square link – https://square.link/u/1PP8pdaC. On the day of the walk, participants are to bring their pledge form to submit to members. Colourful socks and masks will be distributed to all in-person participants who provide at least $5 in pledges/donations. As well, the top 3 participants with the highest amount in pledges/donations will win a grand prize donated by Cartoon Kingdom and Taya from Sunshine Dance Studios.

All the proceeds will go to Up About Down, a Windsor-based organization of people committed to enhancing the quality of life for individuals with Down Syndrome and their families (https://www.upaboutdown.org/). 

We will give an update on the Covid protocols for this event soon, but as of right now, masks (or some alternative) will be required. If you don’t bring one, there will be some provided.

We are so excited that we are finally able to hold an event in person and that we can say “we hope to see you there” and actually mean it!!

So…WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!

Disability Inclusion Webinar

Tuesday, April 5th from 5:00pm-7:00pm

DSSA is thrilled to announce that we will be holding another Disability Inclusion Webinar!! We had such a huge success last year; we knew we had to bring it back this year!

The purpose of our Disability Inclusion Webinar is to explore disability topics and issues that students, staff, and faculty may not have had the opportunity to learn about otherwise. We open this event to ALL students in ALL programs, as well as any staff and faculty who are interested in joining. We do this because students in programs outside of Disability Studies often do not get the opportunity to take classes on disability. As well, it doesn’t matter what program students are in or what career path they choose, they will more than likely work alongside people with disabilities or have clients who are disabled. This Webinar will focus on how we as students, staff, and faculty can best interact with those in the disability community. This Webinar will be a great first step in the students’, staff’s, and faculty’s journeys towards learning about disabilities.  We also hope that it provokes a commitment to lifelong learning about disability issues.

We are very lucky to have some guest speakers join us! There will also be some content on community organizations for people with disabilities in Windsor. The remainder of the content will be presented by DSSA members.

The presentations will go for an hour and a half, and the last half hour will be used for questions. We understand that April is a busy month, but even if you can only stay for some of the presentation, we would love to have you!

We are super excited to be able to host this event again! It’s always nice to see students, staff, and faculty outside of Disability Studies participating in these events. We also want to point out that even if you joined us last year, we would love to have you again as there will be some new topics discussed, as well as new guest speakers! We hope that this information resonates with you and that you carry it with you throughout your lives and careers.

We will also be giving away some DSSA merch to 3 lucky winners at the end of the Webinar!

Here is the link for registration – https://forms.office.com/r/kc327z2rCx. Registration will close Monday March 28th at 11:59pm. Soon after registration closes, a Teams invite will be shared with the participants.

Save the date, we will see you all April 5th!!

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Kelly and Celeste at dssa@uwindsor.ca


Contact Disability Studies

The University of Windsor
Interdisciplinary and Critical Studies
Room 205-2 Chrysler Hall South

Phone: 519-253-3000, Ext. 2315
Email: disabilitystudies@uwindsor.ca