Biography
Presenting Accessible Teaching Materials in K-12 Classrooms: Book Presentation and Discussion
Kenya J. Loudd, ABD, is a joint doctoral candidate at Yale University in the departments of the History of Science and Medicine and African American Studies where she is an esteemed Dean’s Emerging Scholar and an IDEA (Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility) GPE Fellow for the Library. She graduated with honors from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2020 with a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies with concentrations in African American, Disability, and Leadership Studies. Additionally, she holds an Associate’s degree in Teaching. During her time at UTA, Kennya was a McNair Scholar and received several awards and accolades for academic excellence and research.
Kenya proudly identifies as a legally blind Woman of African descent with a service-connected disability and her research reflects the complexities of her identity. Her current dissertation project examines segregated institutions that served deaf and blind African Americans in the Southern United States from the late Nineteenth Century through the 1970s. In her examination, she argues that these institutions were able to form geographies of protected space for African Americans with disabilities by refusing to utilize emergent eugenic terminology, interrupting cycles of educational denials and creating pathways for economic security for a historically oppressed and marginalized population–resulting in the production of Black Social and Cultural Capital. Understanding how cycles of denied education have perpetuated educational gaps and archival representation and access, she is committed to incorporating holistic accessibility in every facet of her research. This accessibility will materialize in the co-production of knowledge through the process of reflective journaling, the collection of oral histories, photography, written text, and a documentary film.
As a scholar-activist, Kenya values social and civic engagement as an important component of her life within and outside the parameters of the University. At Yale, she serves on the Diversity Committee, represents her department in the Graduate Student Assembly, and is a primary co-organizer of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Annual Symposiums for Disability and Accessibility at Yale. Her forthcoming 40-minute documentary film “Our Calculus: Factoring in Disability at Yale” explores lived experiences of students with disability on Yale’s campus. Kenya is also the co-founder of the non-profit organization #BELikeAGirl.org and partners with other community stakeholders throughout the nation to engage her community and provide experiential and service learning opportunities for marginalized youth.
“Sight isn’t required to pursue your vision. However, you can not have vision without purpose, and purpose without service is irrelevant. So, who are you serving?”- Kenya J. Loudd
*Image description: photo of Kenya smiling brightly at the camera. Kenya is a legally blind light-skinned tone Woman of African Descent. She is wearing a nude-colored shirt, a turquoise necklace, and has long blondish-brown hair that is flowing from her right side.