EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS

JAZZ BELL (they/ them) has lived experiences as a multiply disabled, neurodivergent, queer, trans, intersex, and biracial person (with primarily Han Chinese and Western European ancestry). Their most important teacher has been their 4+ years of experience in community care, advocacy, and organizing work.

Selected Experience Highlights:

INTERFACES— Access Team.

Responsibilities and special projects included:

• Developing the foundations for INTERFACES’ Access Policies and Procedures.

• Developing relationships with access providers such as ASL (American Sign Language) interpreters and CART (Communication Access Real-Time) Captioners.

• Engaging in professional development opportunities such as workshops, talks, seminars, and webinars to increase knowledge and awareness of accessibility options, assistive technology, and disability justice.

• Engaging in access work such as the development of image descriptions, captions, and access statements for INTERFACES.

CRITICAL DISABILITY STUDIES PROGRAM (University of Texas at Austin) — Graduate Social Work Intern

Responsibilities and special projects included:

• High involvement in programming for the “Crip Conversations Speaker Series” including communications with speakers, fundraising for speaker stipends, funding advocacy, organizational collaboration, development of marketing materials, outreach, facilitation of events, and accessibility coordination.

• Involvement in coding focus groups with Dr. Nick Winges-Yanez and Dr. Alison Kafer that explored the experiences of disabled students on UT Campus.

• Involvement in the development of curriculum to aid in training University of Texas (UT) professors around educational accessibility. Jazz’s involvement was primarily focused on student experience and intersectionality.

• Served on the Disability Cultural Center (DCC) Advisory Board to advocate for the creation of a Disability Cultural Center at UT Austin.

• Presented to advisors to increase awareness and presence of the Critical Disability Studies (CDS) Program on campus

• Built relationships and collaborated with community members and campus supporters of CDS.

SPITSHINE POETRY— Co-President, Coach, Competitor, Performer.

Throughout the six years Jazz was involved with Spitshine, their responsibilities included:

• Securing/ booking venues for events.

• Securing and communicating with featured performers.

• Organizational Fundraising, Event Fundraising, and Crowdfunding.

• Organizational Collaborations.

• Planning and coordination for events such as open mics, poetry workshops, fundraising events, tabling events, collaboration events, and more.

• Marketing development and outreach such as development of social media posts, networking and sharing events in online and in-person channels, development of fliers and graphics, and more.

• Creation, printing, and formatting of poetry booklets.

• Facilitating writing workshops.

• Hosting events.

• Securing Performance Bookings for the Spitshine CUPSI (College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational) team.

• Delegation.

• Coaching the Spitshine CUPSI team

Selected Events

• Disability Justice and Feminism Panel, Panelist — Gender and Sexuality Center (UT Austin).

• IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility)-Conscious Principles Panel, Panelist — Austin Design Week (Nov 2020).

• The Importance of Including Disability When Serving LGBTQIA+ Students, Featured Speaker— UT Systems LGBTQIA+ Summit.

• Ableism 101 for Medical Students— Class Speaker— Austin Community College.

Formal Education

• University of Texas at Austin:

  • Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with Honors

  • Minor in Mandarin Chinese

• Master’s of Science in Social Work (MSSW)

  • Concentration in Administration and Policy Practice

PLEASE NOTE: due to their proximity to whiteness, Jazz Bell does not offer racial justice, racial awareness, or racial bias trainings. That being said, discussion of white supremacy is foundational to every discussion of social justice, and is central in how they approach education, consulting, and speaking engagements centered on Disability and LGBTQIA+ justice. If you are looking for trainings with a focus on race, I recommend KB.