Clubs and Organizations
There are a variety of ways that you can get involved with the Disabled and Deaf communities at UW. Read on to learn more about the clubs and organizations surrounding our community.
If you are looking for organizations outside of UW, check out this page by clicking here for Seattle-based resources, and here for online resources (coming soon).
Don’t see your organization on here and want to be featured? Email us at Dcenter@uw.edu and introduce your organization to us!
Clubs and RSOs (Registered Student Organizations)
These groups are open for most students to join, and typically revolve around creating community and social spaces.
Ability
Email: ability-officers@cs.washington.edu | Instagram: @Ability_CSE | HuskyLink Page
Ability’s goal is to create disability community and accessibility awareness within the computing community. The club is open to all UW students, but based in the Allen School for Computer Science & Engineering. Ability hosts events such as info sessions from tech-focused groups at the UW, guest speaking discussions about diversity in the tech industry, career recruiter events, and socials with other students.
Alliance for Disability Law and Justice (ADLJ)
Email: DisabilityJustice@uw.edu | Instagram: @ADLJ_UW | HuskyLink Page
The ADLJ at UW Law advocates for a more inclusive, accessible, and holistic approach to law school from a foundation of anti-racism, intersectionality, and anti-ableism. ADLJ is guided by a vision of a legal profession that centers and celebrates the perspectives of all people, particularly those that have been marginalized by the legal system. As an intersectional feminist organization, ADLJ is committed to fighting ableism and oppression in our community, advocating for positive change and accessibility, and collaborating throughout the process.
American Sign Language Club (ASL Club)
Email: ASLC@uw.edu | Instagram: @UWASLclub | Website Link
ASL Club brings Deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing students together by communicating in sign language, learning about Deaf culture, and providing support to the Deaf community. They meet weekly every Monday and Thursday to practice, hang out, play games, and plan events. ASL Club offers both in-person and remote club meetings, no prior ASL experience is required!
Autistics @ UW
Email: autistics@uw.edu | Instagram: @AutisticsAtUW | HuskyLink Page
Autistics @ UW works to provide a friendly and accessible social space for UW students who are Autistic or questioning if they are Autistic. It is a way for Autistic/questioning students to make friends with others on the spectrum and participate in social events that are designed to be aware of their needs. We welcome all regardless of medical history/diagnosis, fluid position on the verbal/non-verbal spectrum, and other intersecting identities.
Disabled Justice Collective (DJC)
Email: DisabilityJusticeUW@gmail.com | Instagram: @UW.DJC
The DJC strives to create a community driven space to share experiences around disability. Our programming is primarily online or hybrid format, with automatic captioning, and typically includes weekly drop-in peer support spaces, dialogues around Disability Justice and lived experiences as a disabled student, and advocacy practices for DJ-informed COVID safety measures.
Huskies for Neurodiversity (HfN)
Email: Huskies4Neurodiverse@gmail.com | Instagram: @HuskiesForNeurodiversity | Website Link
Winner of the 2021-2022 Husky Seed Fund Award, HfN is a student-led RSO initiative that promotes visibility and acceptance of neurodiversity at UW campus and beyond through articles, lived experience interviews with neurodivergent people, interactive website, and panel events. Their goal is to destigmatize and educate about neurodiversity and disability accommodations on campus to students and faculty, as well as provide a platform for neurodivergent individuals to share their stories and experiences in their own voice.
Pathways for All Huskies
Email: TaGatsby@uw.edu | Instagram: @UWhuskyPAH | Website Link
Winner of the 2022-23 Husky Seed Fund Award, Pathways for All Huskies is a community-led project aiming to create art installations of visually aesthetic indicators and signs to identify accessible pathways in and around UW Seattle campus areas. This includes the Quad, Red Square, and surrounding high-traffic areas with limited ADA throughways. This artistic wayfinding project will enhance campus inclusivity and accessibility efforts to help all Huskies navigate campus with ease.
Other Organizations and Entities
These groups have more prerequisites to join due to a higher level of commitment or a specified profession.
CREATE
Email: create-contact@uw.edu | Website Link
CREATE is an acronym for the Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences. Their mission is to make technology accessible and to make the world accessible through technology. CREATE was founded in the summer of 2019 when a group of accessibility researchers from around campus came together to discuss common interests. Inaugural gift funding was provided thanks to the generosity of Microsoft.
HuskyADAPT
Email: AdaptUW@uw.edu | Instagram: @HuskyAdapt | Website Link
HuskyADAPT, standing for Accessible Design And Play Technology, fosters an inclusive, sustainable, and multidisciplinary community at the University of Washington to support the development of accessible design and play technology. Their unique community aims to initiate conversations regarding accessibility and ignite change through engineering design. They hope that we can help train the next generation of inclusively minded engineers, clinicians, and educators to help make the world a more equitable place.
Makeability Lab
Email: jonf@cs.uw.edu | Website Link
The Makeability Lab designs, builds, and evaluates new interactive tools and techniques to address pressing societal challenges. The word “Makeability” refers both to how our technological innovations make new abilities possible for humans as well as our educational mission to help students gain new abilities as they learn and grow through research, invention, and human-centered design.
QueerCrip Research Collective
The QueerCrip Research Collective invites graduate students that are either part of the LGBTQIA+ community and/or have a disability, chronic illness, or mental illness, or identifies as disabled, mad, neurodivergent, or similarly “othered” or who are allies researching QueerCrip themes to connect with others from interdisciplinary backgrounds with shared experiences to create community, share resources, and foster collaboration by examining common themes in our research. This GRC invites researchers and allies engaging in QueerCrip-themed work who are passionate about creating community, collaborating on interdisciplinary research, peer mentoring, resource sharing, and creative strategizing to ensure our research benefits the communities we serve.
The Taskar Center for Accessible Technology (TCAT)
Email: uwTCAT@uw.edu | Instagram: @TaskarCenter | Website Link
TCAT harnesses the power of open-source technology to develop, translate, and deploy accessible technologies, and then sustain them in the hands of communities. Engaging UW students, faculty, and partner communities, The Taskar Center builds a sustainable social enterprise for accessible technology development, deployment, and support. Housed by the Paul G. Allen School for Computer Science & Engineering, TCAT centers the experience of people with disabilities as a lens for improving design & engineering, through participatory design practices, tooling and capacity building.
The D Center, its programming, and amenities are all sponsored by the Husky Union Building, Services and Activities Fee, and the Student Tech Fee.
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