Welcome
Harvard University Disability Resources (UDR) values disability as integral to our rich diversity. Our office provides leadership to University efforts to ensure an accessible, inclusive welcoming learning and working environment for individuals with disabilities while complying with federal and state regulations.
UDR serves as a central resource for students, faculty, staff, and visitors on disability-related information, procedures and services for our community. We also provide expertise in the development, implementation, and acquisition for best and promising disability-related University practices.
UDR offers the following services to the Harvard community:
Consultation
UDR is available to consult with community members related to best practices for accessibility and inclusion of persons with disabilities. Consultation may be initiated by a phone call (617.495.1859 or TTY 617.496.0466), or email to disabilityresources@harvard.edu. Examples of topics community members may wish to consult on:
- Resources available to students and employees with disabilities
- Accommodations statements for programs, events, and applications
- Responding to student, employee, and/or visitor reasonable accommodation requests
- Best practices for running inclusive and accessible programs
- When and how to provide captioning and/or audio descriptions for video or online content
- How to run accessible in-person, remote, or hybrid events
- Assessing physical accessibility of spaces used for programs and activities
- Access for service animals in campus spaces
- Effective communication with community members who are deaf or hard of hearing
Training
UDR is happy to provide education in support of increasing accessibility and inclusion of persons with disabilities in our community. UDR will tailor trainings or topical discussions for departments if a group of ten or more persons agree to participate. UDR also offers a general Disability Inclusion class through Harvard’s Center for Workplace Development.
Technology and Equipment
UDR’s Assistive Technology Library and Lab (ATLL) offers people the ability to try out technology to see if it is helpful to them. The ATLL also loans assistive technology and equipment such as wheelchairs or assistive listening devices, to any member of our community.
Accommodations
Harvard community members with questions about reasonable accommodations for themselves or others may contact UDR at disabilityresources@harvard.edu for consultation.
*Community members may wish to review UDR’s website for general guidance related to accessibility and our Frequently Asked Questions page to learn answers to common questions.
News and Information
Register Now: Comedians with Disabilities Act
Date: Thursday, February 8, 2024 at 6:00pm
Location: Smith Campus Center located at 1350 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139
UDR and other campus partners will be hosting a comedy show featuring the Comedians with Disabilities Act at 6:00pm on Thursday, February 8, 2023. All community members will be welcome.
You may join in-person or online. Please register to reserve a spot and indicate whether you will attend in-person at the Smith Campus Center or online via Zoom.
Persons with disabilities who would like to request accommodations or have questions about physical access may contact disabilityresources@harvard.edu or 617-495-1859 or (TTY) 617-496-0466 in advance of the event.
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution viewing
Date: Thursday, October 19th at 5:30pm
Location: Countway Cinema in the Countway Library located at 10 Shattuck St., Boston, MA 02115
Join us for an abbreviated screening of Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution. A film discussion and Q&A session will immediately follow.
You may join in-person or online. Please register for the event here. The movie will be shown with captions, and live CART will be featured during the discussion and Q&A. Persons with disabilities who would like to request additional accommodations or have questions about physical access may contact disabilityresources@harvard.edu or 617-495-1859 or (TTY) 617-496-0466 in advance of the event.
Celebrate Disability Pride!
Date: Thursday, July 20 from 4pm to 6pm
Location: Science Center Plaza
Join us to celebrate Disability Pride! Harvard’s Common Spaces and University Disability Resources will be hosting a celebration featuring free ice cream (limited availability, so come early), music, games, disability trivia, pet therapy and more! All are welcome to come and celebrate disability as an important part of our community.
Anyone with a disability who would like to request accommodations or who has questions about physical access may contact disabilityresources@harvard.edu in advance of their visit.
Digital Accessibility at Harvard and Around the Globe: A Celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)
Date: Thursday, May 18, 2023, 1:00pm to 2:30pm
Location: Askwith Hall, Longfellow Building, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge, MA 02138 and Zoom
Join Digital Accessibility Services (DAS) as we celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) with Jennison Asuncion, the co-creator of GAAD. The event will be live streamed, live captioned, and recorded.
Register to attend in-person or virtually
View a map and directions to Askwith Hall. Harvard ID required for in-person attendance.
Persons with disabilities who anticipate needing accommodations or who have questions about physical access may contact digitalaccessibility@harvard.edu.
Black Mental Health Experiences: Storytelling & Music
The Longwood Campus Black Staff Caucus, the MIND Project, and Countway Library proudly present Black Mental Health Experiences: Storytelling & Music.
This event aims to raise awareness and foster dialogue about the mental health experiences of Black individuals through storytelling and music. The evening will begin with a reception followed by the stories of Harvard Black staff and affiliates. Live music will be performed by Me2/ Classical Music for Mental Health and offer pet therapy through Countway Cuddles.
This hybrid event is free open to everyone; registration is required. Refreshments will be served onsite.
Live musical performance provided by Me2/Orchestra, the world’s only classical music organization created for individuals with mental illnesses and the people who support them.
A Practical Introduction to Disability Awareness
At this Diversity Dialogue, Catarina Rivera, MSEd, MPH, CPACC, will talk with us about disability awareness. Catarina is a disabled public speaker, DEI consultant, content creator, and LinkedIn top voice in disability advocacy. She works with companies to improve disability awareness, inclusion, and accessibility. Catarina will discuss her personal journey with disability, ableism and its presence in the workplace, microaggressions, and inclusive language. You'll gain practical knowledge that you can apply in your daily life. There will be time for questions after the presentation. Please join us for this important and timely discussion.
Register for the dialogue here
Thursday, March 23, 2023
10:00 am - 12:00 pm EST
This event will be recorded, captioned and shared with those registered for the event after the session. Please contact Andrea Kelton-Harris at alharris@fas.harvard.edu with Diversity Dialogue-related questions. For accessibility requests, please contact hr_programs@fas.harvard.edu
LBA webinar series: Breaking Down the Ivory Tower. Ep 2 on Epilepsy
With this webinar series, the ALBA Disability & Accessibility Working Group aims to bring down the ivory tower of ableism among the brain research community, one extraordinary neuroscientist at a time. For this 2nd episode, Prof. Phil Haydon (Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, USA) will talk about his research and experience as the founder of Sail For Epilepsy.
Thursday, March 23 2023 - 4.30 pm CET / 11.30 am EDT / 9 pm IST
Info & registration: https://www.alba.network/ivorytowerseries-haydon
"Mio Fratello Rincorre I Dinosauri / My Brother Chases Dinosaurs" Screening
From the Conte Center at Harvard: "We have the wonderful and unique opportunity to host Giacomo Mazzariol and his adapted bestselling book about growing up with a younger brother with Down’s Syndrome into a (subtitled) film 'My Brother Chases Dinosaurs'. This event would be open to the public as well as Harvard affiliates and its faculty, staff, and students. The book and movie have won many awards and we are truly lucky to have him stop by during his quick visit to the Boston area."
At the Biolabs Building on 16 Divinity Ave
Saturday, April 1
2:00 - 2:15 p.m. Introduction
2:15 - 3:45 p.m. Movie
3:45 – 4:45 p.m. Q&A with Giacomo Mazzariol
4:45 – 5:30 pm Reception
A chance to 'amplify one another': What is Disability Pride Month?
Building Accessible Spaces - Integrating Assistive Technology, video now available!
This project is part of the 2019 President's Administrative Innovation Fund. Learn more about integrating different types of assistive technology in a space, including FM Systems, Bluetooth technology, and other tech used to make spaces accessible (Harvard Affiliates Only) - Link to Building Accessible Spaces
Authentic Inclusion Drives Innovation
Presentation by Frances West, video now available! (Harvard Affiliates Only) - Link to Authentic Inclusion Drives Innovation
Presented by the Institute for Human Centered Design, this documentary film and research project reexamines the experience of disability in America, and shines a light on the stories of those all too often left behind. Watch the documentary and read the full research report
Department of Justice (DOJ) Statement on Civil Rights during COVIDBlack America and COVID-19
COVID-19: Effective Communication for Individuals with Hearing Loss
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
winner of the 2020 Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival for U.S. Documentary, on Netflix. This film focuses on the disability civil rights movement.
