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2025 Disability Summit In-Person / Online
Please join us for MSU’s 2nd Annual Disability Summit on Friday, October 3, 2025, at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center.
This year’s summit will be a half-day event featuring keynote speaker, disability advocate, and author Haben Girma, networking opportunities, poster presentations and more. Two hundred copies of Haben Girma’s book, Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law, will be available to attendees on a first-come, first-served basis, with a book signing opportunity.
In addition to this year’s in person event on October 3rd, there will be virtual sessions held on Fridays throughout the month of October to honor MSU Disability Pride Month and keep the conversations going.
REGISTER
Meet our Keynote Speaker, Haben Girma
The first Deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School, Haben Girma is an award-winning advocate, author, and keynote speaker. She earned the Helen Keller Achievement Award, reached Forbes 30 under 30, and President Obama named her a White House Champion of Change. She believes disability challenges are opportunities for innovation, sparking new technologies that move society forward. Haben travels the globe teaching organizations how to build stronger, resilient, and more connected communities.
Her bestselling book Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law takes readers on adventures around the world, including 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 Biden and President Obama at The White House. Warm, funny, thoughtful, and uplifting, this captivating book shows how we can resist isolation and find the keys to connection. The New York Times, Oprah Magazine, TODAY Show, and Stephen Curry have all praised the book.
In 2023 she became one of the first leaders appointed to serve as a Commissioner for the World Health Organization’s new Commission on Social Connection.
Haben was born and raised in California, where she currently lives. She travels with her Seeing Eye dog Mylo. He often falls asleep during her keynotes.
MSU is recognizing October as Disability Pride Month. This month includes recognition for National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Down Syndrome Awareness Month and World Mental Health, among others. MSU is dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments of people with disabilities and furthering advocacy.
Accessibility is a central tenet of inclusion at MSU, supporting both visible and invisible disabilities, and creating opportunities to maximize ability through partnership.
- Date:
- Friday, October 3, 2025
- Time:
- 8:30am - 11:00am
- Time Zone:
- Eastern Time - US & Canada (change)
- Location:
- Other
- Online:
- This is an online event.
- Event URL:
- https://forms.office.com/r/f6ZSe6RGD5
- Audience:
- Advising Staff Educator Network Future Faculty In-Class Educators Online Educators
- Categories:
- Hybrid Session Improving Courses In-person Session Online Session Special Topics