“Disability and Citizenship in Latin America” was the name of the panel organized by the DISCA Millennium Nucleus at the Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), which was held on May 24-27, 2023, in Vancouver, Canada.
The director of the DISCA Millennium Nucleus, Florencia Herrera, and the alternate director, Pablo Marshall, were present at the congress leading this panel, which was divided into three parts and in which different Latin American researchers participated, addressing topics such as political participation of people with disabilities, parental experiences, sexuality and reproduction, access to health, among others.
“The congress allowed us to learn about the work of Chilean researchers and researchers from other Latin American countries in the field of disability studies and citizenship. It was very interesting to share their experiences, also because the hybrid model of the conference helped people who usually do not participate,” said the director of DISCA.
“This is a congress that has decades of history and brings together academics from different disciplines of social sciences and humanities interested in Latin American studies, however, the topic of disability has been quite absent. Generally, there are very few presentations that address the topic of disability and -as far as we know- this is the first time that several panels are organized around disability studies,” he added.
“One of our objectives as the DISCA Millennium Nucleus, by organizing the panel ‘Disability and Citizenship in Latin America’ at LASA 2023, is to position the topic of disability as a relevant topic of study in the region,” concluded Florencia Herrera.
The panel included Latin American researchers from various universities around the world, such as Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, University of Leeds and University of Western Ontario, and national universities such as Universidad Diego Portales, Universidad Austral de Chile, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Universidad de Atacama, Universidad de La Frontera and Universidad de Chile.
In addition, among the speakers were members of the DISCA team, PhD students Constanza Lopez -who is also part of the MICARE Millennium Institute- and Camila Peralta, as well as DISCA directors Florencia Herrera and Pablo Marshall.
The Latin American Studies Association (LASA) is the world’s largest professional association of individuals and institutions dedicated to the study of Latin America. With more than 13,000 members, more than 60% of whom reside outside the United States, LASA is the association that brings together experts on Latin America from all disciplines and diverse occupational initiatives from around the world.
The Disability and Citizenship Millennium Nucleus (DISCA) is an interdisciplinary research center focused on the study of the processes and mechanisms through which people with disabilities become citizens. It is funded by the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID).