ABOUT

The Disabled Academic Collective was founded in the summer of 2020 in the midst of the ongoing (as of September 2026) Sars-Cov-2 pandemic. Originally, the DAC was designed as a virtual meeting space where disabled academics could build community with one another. Over time, though, the DAC grew into a robust virtual community.

The DAC spreads information about disability issues in higher education across our:

social media (X)
website
private Discord server

Across all these spaces, we spotlight disabled academics and highlight how pervasive ableism is in higher education. Together, we talk about inaccessibility and biases that harm disabled academics. There is a pervasive lack of support for disabled students, staff, and faculty at most institutions. Moreover, we know that higher education is especially hard to navigate for people who are newly diagnosed with a disability, or those experiencing new symptoms. The Collective offers a space to vent, chat, secure support, and share disabled wisdom. As an archive of disabled knowledge, it also serves to preserve the advice, recommendations, and stories of disabled academics who have successfully navigated academia.

While our social media handles and our website are open to allies, our Discord server is an identity-based community for disabled academics alone.

As of September 2026, 1000+ disabled academics have joined the ranks of the DAC. Our membership spans a wide range of academic disciplines and career stages.

Members include:

tenured faculty
tenure-track faculty
non-tenure track faculty
postdoctoral students
graduate students
undergraduate students
librarians
medical professionals
medical students
law students
staff
independent scholars

While the collective was founded by Nicole Schroeder, it is run by a slew of academics who have donated their time to the community. Discord moderators, blog editors, and event hosts make sure that the DAC functions on a day-to-day basis. If you would like to get involved, please head to the "Join Us" page.