Disability Studies Events

2025 Distinguished Lecture on Disability

We are thrilled to announce Fordham's 9th Annual Distinguished Lecture on Disability:

"Vent: Making and Debating the New York State Ventilator Allocation Protocols"

This talk will be given by Dr. Mara Mills, Co-Founder & Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies. She will discuss her project which was just published in her new co-edited book, How to Be Disabled in a Pandemic, which addresses the experience of disability communities across NYC during the first 4 years of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Please join us for a lecture and Q&A (5-6:15pm) followed by a brief reception (until 7pm). This event is open to all members of the Fordham community and the public.

Join us in person:
Bateman Hall (inside the Law Building, 2nd floor)
150 West 62nd Street
Lincoln Center Campus

Or via livestream:
Register for link: https://shorturl.at/RxY1k

Talk abstract: Ventilators are one of the signal technologies of the COVID-19 pandemic. Debates about the fair allocation of this scarce resource dominated disability activism, news and social media for much of 2020—especially as hospitals around the world considered rationing protocols that excluded certain disabled people. New York was one of the first states to come up with a plan for allotting ventilators during pandemics; these guidelines, drafted in 2007, became broadly influential as healthcare centers and governments developed Crisis Standards of Care for COVID-19. Drawing on interviews and records from the New York Department of Health archives, this lecture reviews the history of debates among clinicians and ethicists that underpinned the preliminary New York State Ventilator Allocation Guidelines, and the public feedback that informed the revised guidelines of 2015. Dr. Mills will also discuss more recent criticisms of the specific exclusion criteria and triage protocols (e.g. SOFA scoring) levied by disability bioethicists and activists. She will argue that a disability theory of distributive justice is required not only to eliminate ableism at the level of individual diagnosis and treatment, but to ensure broad access to ventilators with regard to class, race, and region.

Access Info:

  • Captions: The event will include CART (live captioning) services both in person and online.
  • Physical location: Bateman Hall is a room on the second floor of the Fordham Law Building. The building’s entry is at ground level with no stairs leading to the door. Inside, there is an elevator to the right. Take it one floor up to reach Bateman.
  • Transit: The nearest accessible subway station is 59th Street/Columbus Circle.
  • Please contact [email protected] with any additional access requests or questions.


This event is co-hosted by the Disability Studies Program and the Research Consortium on Disability. Co-Sponsors include Academic Affairs; the Global Healthcare Innovation Management Center; The Office of Equity, Inclusion, & Opportunity; Fordham College Lincoln Center; the Communication and Media Studies Department; the English Department; & the Sociology & Anthropology Department.