Diversity Statement

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) play a major role in my life, my teaching, and my work. Both professionally and personally, my life is shaped by lived experience with disability, and I endeavor to allow those experiences to shape my work. In particular, those experiences have increased my dedication to information access, inclusive archival systems, and engagement with the disability community. They have also instilled in me a deep belief that all humans, regardless of identity, background—or any other myriad factors—deserve respect, opportunities, and the ability to learn and grow in safe spaces. 

Therefore, when teaching, I engage the principles of universal design for learning (UDL) by providing flexible assessment methods, accessible course materials (avoiding PDFs where possible, providing captions, ensuring screen reader compatibility, etc.), and inclusive participation structures (especially around deadlines and in-class participation). While these ideas are grounded in UDL, which is in turn grounded in access for Disabled learners, the principles I enact are beneficial for all learners. Flexible deadline policies, for example, help those who have executive function challenges, but they also help students balancing their schoolwork with jobs or students with family commitments. Including captions in videos helps not only those with hearing impairments but also those studying in loud environments.

Outside of the classroom, my work aims to dismantle barriers to information access through its focus on accessibility for music archives. I work to make accessibility improvements in music archives practical and attainable for all, and I ensure that disability representation in description and other metadata is accurate and searchable. Primarily employing user studies methods, I conduct surveys, interviews, and usability tests with Disabled community members in order to ensure that their voices are centered and heard in all archival considerations. These improvements benefit not only Disabled community members, but they also benefit members of other marginalized communities. Laying the groundwork, for example, for inclusive metadata means that other marginalized groups’ descriptions can become more accurate and searchable too. More accessible archive websites means that all users have a smoother, easier experience browsing the websites too. While my focus with my work is with disability and accessibility, it is a mark of pride for me that this work can benefit all marginalized groups and uplift voices across many communities.

Professionally, at the University of Maryland, College Park, I sat on the Digital Accessibility Implementation Committee (DAIC), which was a group of individuals with lived experience of disability advising the main Title II implementation committee. I also served on the Teaching & Learning sub-committee of DAIC. Through my work at Including Disability, both a journal and an international forum for disability collaboration, I work directly with disability communities to ensure that all voices are heard. I engage in accessibility initiatives, mentorship for authors, and advocacy and policy work. Finally, I am also a member of the Accessibility & Disability Steering Committee of the Society of American Archivists. In that role, I have been responsible for leading community discussions and research directions. I have also organized talks on accessibility topics pertinent to archives and archival practice, including a talk in April 2026 on implementation of the Title II revisions in archives.

Taken together, these experiences have taught me that I work in one of the most motivated and well-positioned professions to make real-world change for marginalized individuals and to restore their agency. In my future role, I envision myself continuing my existing work. I will also continue to develop accessible curricula, contribute to DEIA committees and initiatives, and build partnerships with disability communities. Diversity initiatives are ongoing, not static; I will use my future role to ensure their continued success.

Updated May 2026