Perspective Taking with Dr. Amanda Kraus, Assistant Vice President of Campus Life, Executive Director for the Disability Resource Center, and Chief Accessibility Officer

Dr. Amanda Kraus currently serves as Assistant Vice President for Campus Life and Executive Director of the University of Arizona’s Disability Resource Center, one of the largest in the nation. She is also an Associate Professor of Practice in the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the UA, coordinates the M.A. program, and instructs courses on student services and disability in The College of Education. Dr. Kraus studies disability identity, disability dynamics in the student veteran community, and disability-related biases and microaggressions. Through her research and teaching, she challenges the dominant deficit or tragedy narrative on disability and promotes models and tools to increase access and equity and ultimately reframe concepts of difference in higher education.   In today’s episode, Dr. Kraus shares her lived experiences with us, and her incredible perspective on access and equity, particularly in higher education. We discuss ableism, the importance of universal design, issues of accessibility in the classroom and campus, and the 2023-24 Franke Honors Common Reading Book, Sitting Pretty by Rebekah Taussig. Dr. Kraus also shares with us how, through her mentor Dr. Sue Krager, she was introduced to wheelchair tennis, which changed her life and has become one of her biggest passions.