MTV to Chronicle Disability Activist's Quest to Travel Into Space

from the Hollywood Reporter:

MTV will follow a South African activist on his quest to become the first physically disabled person to travel to space. 

Eddie Ndopu, 27, was born with spinal muscular atrophy and given a life span of five years. He has obviously exceeded that, going on to earn a master's degree in public policy from Oxford and has spent more than a decade advocating for the rights of disabled young people. 

Now Ndopu is hoping to travel to space and deliver a message from above Earth to the U.N. General Assembly, sending "a powerful message on behalf of young people everywhere who have ever felt excluded by society." MTV cameras will follow him as he enlists an aerospace company to facilitate the mission and chronicle his thoughts and emotions as the launch approaches. The cabler will also document his voyage and message to the United Nations. 

The project was announced ahead of the International Day of Persons With Disabilities on Dec. 3.  

Production on the untitled MTV series is set to begin in 2019.

City University of New York (CUNY) launches Journal of Teaching Disability Studies

CUNY launches new Journal of Teaching Disability Studies  

With the proliferation of disability studies courses, majors, minors and new degree programs, many questions about teaching disability studies have emerged nationally. To help develop the disability studies field, CUNY announces a new journal, the Journal of Teaching Disability Studies, and its first Call for Submissions. Here is a link to the new journal: https://jtds.commons.gc.cuny.edu.

The new online, open-source journal will feature peer-reviewed articles and research about disability studies pedagogy. In addition, there is a separate, less formal section for resources and ideas where syllabi, assignments, or questions can be submitted, and a section for students to submit work. JTDS hopes to promote and enhance disability studies pedagogy in a wide variety of educational settings, inviting discussion of disability studies in a broad range of educational settings. 

The Call for Submissions can be found here:https://jtds.commons.gc.cuny.edu/call-for-papers.

Submissions will be due January 15, 2018 and if all goes well, CUNY hopes to publish the first issue in mid-May.