Haben Girma to Deliver 2020 McSwain-Walker Lecture
The Reves Center for International Studies, in cooperation with the William & Mary Law School Center for Comparative Legal Studies and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding and William & Mary's Office of Compliance & Equity, has announced that Haben Girma will deliver the 2020 McSwain-Walker Lecture. Her talk, How Disability Drives Innovation: An Intersectional and Global Perspective, will be held Monday, September 21, 2020, from 5pm-6pm via Zoom. The lecture is free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required.
“We are thrilled to welcome Haben Girma to William & Mary as this year’s McSwain-Walker Lecturer,” said Stephen E. Hanson, Vice Provost for International Affairs and Director of the Reves Center. “As we mark the 30th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Girma’s talk will inspire us to think about the global dimensions of the ADA and to celebrate the contributions of people with disabilities around the world.”
The first Deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School, Haben Girma advocates for equal opportunities for people with disabilities. President Obama named her a White House Champion of Change. She received the Helen Keller Achievement Award, and a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. President Bill Clinton, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Chancellor Angela Merkel have all honored Haben. Haben believes disability is an opportunity for innovation. She travels the world teaching the benefits of choosing inclusion. She’s also the author of the highly acclaimed book, Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law, a testament to Haben's determination to resist isolation and find the keys to connection.
Haben was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she currently lives. Her memoir takes readers on adventures around the world, including her parents’ homes in Eritrea and Ethiopia, building a school under the scorching Saharan sun in Mali, training with a guide dog in New Jersey, climbing an iceberg in Alaska, fighting for blind readers at a courthouse in Vermont, and talking with President Obama at The White House.
The annual McSwain-Walker lecture brings renowned scholars, artists, analysts and other notable public figures to William & Mary to speak on topics related to how other countries and cultures interact with the United States, and how the United States interacts with them.
The Reves Center for International Studies is the home of the office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs, the Global Education Office, and the Office of International Students, Scholars, and Programs at William & Mary. Established in 1989 with a gift from Wendy Reves in memory of her husband Emery, author of The Anatomy of Peace, the Reves Center supports and promotes the internationalization of learning, teaching, research and community involvement at the university.
