Mission, Vision and Values
The Virtual Disability Cultural Center at Oklahoma State University centers disability as an aspect of diversity and an identity and challenges notions of disability as a deficit to be cured or fixed. We value disability as a way of existing and being. Our mission is to advocate for greater accessibility and inclusiveness on campus and in the broader community. Our vision is a community build on interdependence with worth decoupled from productivity where each person is valued and supported.
What is Disability Culture?
Disability culture is the positive group identity formed among people who share a disability identity. It is an identity based on pride and solidarity.
“People with disabilities have forged a group identity. We share a common history of oppression and a common bond of resilience. We generate art, music, literature, and other expressions of our lives and our culture, infused from our experience of disability. Most importantly, we are proud of ourselves as people with disabilities. We claim our disabilities with pride as part of our identity. We are who we are: we are people with disabilities.” Steven E. Brown
Disability as Culture by Jericha Hopson