A member of the Disability Studies, Art and Education (DSAE) Executive Committee, UNO Art Education Professor, Jeremy Johnson, proposed that UNO co-sponsor the organization’s annual conference along with Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland. Originally to be held in São Paulo, Brazil in October of 2021, as a safety measure, the executive committee determined that it would be held online. The DSAE Executive Committee is developing the call for proposals and researching the best platform for online delivery and recording presentations.

The DSAE is a network that aims to bring a critical disability studies perspective to the arts, culture, education, and society at large. Their mission includes increasing international conversation between critical disability studies, the visual and performing arts, and education in their specific contexts. They also strive to dignify disability with identity, subjectivity, and agency, rather than primarily as a biological condition.