ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews demographic disparities in education access and attainment and highlights the growing recognition of disability as an important though under-attended facet of diversity. It explores the claim that assumptions about disability are foundational to discriminatory beliefs and behaviors in general and considers a number of critical emancipatory narratives of disability that invoke more fully inclusive concepts of diversity. The chapter links the presence of a diverse faculty with academic success for all students and makes the case for a welcoming workplace as a prerequisite for recruiting and retaining a diverse professorate. It finds that student success is enhanced when a welcoming campus climate is generated through inclusive classroom and academic workplace practices that explicitly value social equity. The chapter also links a welcoming campus climate with a critical and intersectional faculty professional development approach designed to advance institutional transformation for social justice from a disability studies vantage point.
