Nell Koneczny
Nell Koneczny
Institute on Disability and Human Development
University of Illinois at Chicago, IL
Nell Koneczny is a PhD Student in Disability Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) with a concentration in Central and East European Studies. Inspired by her personal experiences as a disabled Polish-American, her current research focuses on the experiences of how Polish disabled people relate to the national narrative in contemporary Poland, particularly through visiting national historic cultural sites. Her work highlights the need for greater cultural access for disabled people in Poland and bridges the existing gap in Disability Studies between Western understandings and East European experiences of disability. Prior to her studies at UIC, Nell completed her Bachelor of Arts at Vanderbilt University with double majors in Anthropology & European Studies.
At UIC, she is currently serving her second year as the Academic and Professional Development (A&PD) Committee Chair for the Disability and Human Development Student Association (DHDSA) and is a member of the Student Advisory Board (SAB) for the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities (CCSPD). She works as a teaching assistant for DHD 101: Disability in U.S. Society, in which she leads weekly discussion sections. Additionally, Nell is a disability justice activist attempting to disable/crip academic and activist spaces alike. Within activist spaces, she has promoted the active creation of accessible activist events and accommodation of disabled people within non-disability-centered organizations. As a member of the CCSPD SAB, she is spearheading the development of an “Accessible Classroom Training” workshop that will be disseminated across various departments at UIC.