This online workshop will introduce participants to Disability Rights and Disability Social Justice. We will look at the construction of self-imaging and the non-conforming body as a site of agency and activism. We will consider how staring performs and how through ‘othering’ we create distance from disability with vulnerable subjects.

Facilitator Kate Marber built her professional career in advertising and marketing in London. Ten years ago, she returned to the academic space. She graduated with a Master of Science from Columbia University’s Narrative Medicine program in 2022. She also has a BA from Columbia University with a major in American Studies. As an undergraduate she developed an interest in the transformative power of storytelling in America. In her senior thesis project, she interviewed storytellers from The Moth radio program on NPR and wrote about the stories behind their stories and the healing power of sharing trauma narratives on a public stage. For her Capstone project she developed a disability and illness curriculum designed to dispel stigma and bias which she is now teaching. In 2023 Kate was awarded a fellowship from the Narrative Medicine program. She interviewed individuals with spinal cord injury to build understanding about transformative narratives of resilience and self-advocacy within the health care system.

Since graduating Kate works in the health care space as a medical humanities educator, trainer, and facilitator. Kate is dedicated to exploring the ways in which the arts can contribute to the medical field particularly within the space of wellness to appreciate disability and illness, through improving patient care and the lives of medical care providers. This Spring she is leading a workshop program for new nurse residents at The Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. In her spare time Kate walks her much loved miniature schnauzer Minnie in Central Park and cooks ambitious culinary dinners for friends.

We are committed to ensuring our events are widely accessible. If the cost to attend is a hardship for you, please select one of the Free tickets.

Please contact [email protected] with any questions or concerns.