Disability as a Social Justice Imperative: Historical, Theoretical, and Practical Implications

Educators in the United States have the legal obligation to ensure that students with disabilities are given equitable access to an education. Under the Individuals with Education Act (2004), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), individuals with disabilities cannot be discriminated against based on their disability and must be provided the same educational opportunities as their non-disabled counterparts. While most teacher preparation programs as well as educators in higher education are knowledgeable of these laws, there is a striking absence of learning about the historical implication of segregation, abuse, and maltreatment of individuals with disabilities that led to these laws being enacted. Most teacher preparation programs do not teach future educators about the history regarding disability rights and the social construct of disability. This chapter will present the major theoretical and historical movements in the disability rights movement, as well as the practical implications for educators today

Unconventional computing in the built environment

The Synthetic Biology engineering based approach to living systems intersects with the new interdisciplinary field of unconventional computing and suggests a new method for design in architectural practice. Living systems possess unique properties that are not present in digital/mechanical systems - their sensors and effectors are intrinsically coupled, perform parallel forms of computation, are able to respond to unpredictable circumstances, respond in real time to environmental changes, and possess a robustness that can result in evolutionary change. This paper proposes how living technology, operating through the principles of unconventional computing could offer new environmentally remediating materials for architectural practice using a bottom-up approach to the construction of buildings and other human-made interventions