Virtual Ability, Inc.® presented the 10th Annual International Disability Rights Affirmation Conference (IDRAC) on November 26, 2021.

Our theme this year was “Ableism: Where Are We Now?”

This is an annual professional conference held online, that is free and open to the public.

The conference took place in Second Life® at The Sojourner Auditorium on Virtual Ability Island and was live streamed at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCecFbqrNpnAbfaEohz8HIhQ.

Below is the schedule of the presenters who shared their observations of the progress, benefits and challenges in disability rights in different parts of the world as applied to this year’s theme.

IDRAC 2021 Schedule of Events

All times are in SLT/PDT.
Friday, November 26
TimeNameInstitutionTitleTranscript
7:00 AM Shane NeilsonMcMaster UniversityWhy Does Medicine Misunderstand Almost Everything About Me? Ableism in the Medical Profession
8:30 AM Ian Brittain, Rui Biscaia, Simon GerardCoventry Business SchoolAbleism as a regulator of social practice and disabled peoples’ self-determination to participate in sport and physical activityBrittain, et al Transcript
10:00 AMEmily LundUniversity of AlabamaSocial Justice as Suicide Prevention: The Minority Stress Model and Disability
11:30 AMNicole BrownUniversity College LondonAbleism in Academia: Where are the disabled and ill academics and educators?Brown Transcript
1:00 PM Carli FriedmanThe Council on Quality and LeadershipDefining Disability: The Relationship Between Understandings of Disability and AbleismFriedman Transcript
2:30 PMAshley ShewVirginia TechTechnoableism and future AIShew Transcript
4:00 PMErica MonesDisability Activist from the USAbleism and Its Many IntersectionsMones Transcript
5:30 PMMeng Ee WongNanyang Technological University, SingaporeDisabled people's struggle for merit in meritocratic SingaporeWong Transcript