Save the Date: Disability Studies and Advocacy in Los Angeles Conference by Loyola Marymount University

Join The Coelho Center on April 3, 2027, for our 3^rd annual DSALA Conference

Without Us: Care Workers, Dependency, and Disability Rights

The Coelho Center for Disability Law, Policy, and Innovation
April 3, 2027
In person in Los Angeles, CA

2027 DSALA Keynote Speaker: Nicole Jorwic 

Nicole Jorwic is an experienced policy professional advancing caregiving, disability, aging, and direct care workforce policy and mobilization. She currently serves as Chief Program Officer for Caring Across Generations.

Prior to her current role, Ms. Jorwic served as an Independent Reviewer in the Lane v. Brown Olmstead enforcement case in Oregon and was Senior Director of Public Policy and Senior Executive Officer of State Advocacy at The Arc of the United States. Read more of Ms. Jorwic’s Bio.

Call for proposals (CFP)

The Coelho Center welcomes submissions for our third annual Disability Studies and Advocacy in Los Angeles (DSALA) Conference on April 3, 2027. This year’s theme is: Without Us: Care Workers, Dependency, and Disability Rights.

The disability rights movement has transformed law, policy, and public life in pursuit of dignity, equality, and better lives for people with disabilities. For many disabled people, safe and dignified care and support are an essential part of that work. Care workers often face low wages, inadequate public funding, workforce shortages, and inequalities shaped by race, gender, and immigration status. Yet the rights, working conditions, and dignity of care workers are rarely treated as disability rights issues, even though the lives and well-being of disabled people and care workers are deeply connected.

This conference invites disabled people, care workers, family caregivers, advocates, scholars, attorneys, policymakers, service providers, students, artists, and community members to explore the complicated relationships among care, dependency, and disability rights.

View the full Call for Proposals.