About Us

Our Mission

DEFY seeks to create a space that is welcoming of all disability community members at Yale College who are looking for support and understanding. We work in partnership with other schools, scholars, activists and allies in New Haven and worldwide. We honor the racial, ethnic, gender, sexual and other dimensions that differentially affect how people experience disability, along with the varied access needs and ways of understanding disability that exist within our community. 

Our Goals

  • Provide a supportive, collectively built community space for undergraduates at Yale with disabilities to come together, advocate and learn from each other.  

  • To work collaboratively across Yale’s undergrad, graduate and professional schools, building an alliance in which we share community resources, knowledge, intellectual and political initiatives.

  • To establish a Disability Cultural Center at Yale in collaboration with other disabled student organizations, faculty members and supporters across Yale. We hope to bring together students, faculty interested in Disability Studies, parents and caregivers, librarians, dining hall workers, grad student teachers, and more.