Friday, February 22nd

4‐6pm

At the Museum of disABILITY History

3826 Main Street

*This event is free and open to the public*

This discussion brings together two facets of disability studies: (1) identity development theory and (2) the role of the built environment as an agent of empowerment/disempowerment. The discussion is set in the rural south, a place of dualities. The “South” is both a fact of history and an imagined myth. It is often romanticized in literature and mocked in popular media. It is a region that is easily stereotyped and yet remains understudied. Exploring housing in the South reveals the complex and often interlocking meanings of race, poverty, and disability in the modern United States, and illustrates the reciprocal relationships between social identity and the built environment.

Korydon Smith is associate professor in the School of Architecture + Planning at the University at Buffalo, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate architecture courses, and conducts research with the Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access. Dr. Smith’s primary research investigates the relationship between design and social justice, while a second line of scholarship investigates alternative models of design education. Smith is the lead author of Just Below the Line: Disability, Housing, and Equity in the South (University of Arkansas Press, 2010), co-editor of the Universal Design Handbook, 2nd Ed. (McGraw-Hill, 2010), and editor of Introducing Architectural Theory: Debating a Discipline (Routledge, 2012). From 2001 to 2012, Smith was a faculty member at the University of Arkansas, where he received the Department of Architecture’s Outstanding Teacher Award four times, the School of Architecture Outstanding Academic Advisor Award, and the Honors College Distinguished Faculty Award. Smith holds an Ed.D. in higher education

For more information regarding the Museum of disABILITY History, please see their website at museumofdisability.org.