UMINDS Spring Conference

Picture of American Flag that says Disability and War

Download Spring 2008 UMInDS Conference Poster (.pdf)

The UMInDS Conference is held annually on the University of Michigan campus in the spring. This year, the UMInDS Conference had three guest speakers that addressed the topic of disability and war.

Spring 2008 Conference Schedule
April 4th, 2008
Pendleton Room, Michigan Union

1:00 pm Poster Session by UM Student and Faculty

2:00 pm                Panel: Disability and War
                                 Rick Briggs, "Traumatic Brain Injury - The Signature Wound of the War on                                                Terror"
                                 Sally Chivers, "Disabled Veterans Soldiers On: Canandians Coming Home                                                from Afghanistan"

3:30 pm Coffee Break and Poster Session Continued

4:00 pm Keynote Address
Nina Berman, "Purple Hearts"

5:30 pm Poster Session Continued

Guest Speakers

Nina Berman is a documentary photographer widely published and exhibited with a primary interest in the American political and social landscape.

Berman's first monograph, Purple Hearts—Back From Iraq, features portraits and interviews with U.S. soldiers wounded in the war. It was published by Trolley in 2004 and received wide acclaim. The book was made into a feature-length documentary film of the same name and screened worldwide.

Berman is on the faculty of the International Center of Photography in her hometown of New York City.

Sally Chiver's current research is an interdisciplinary study of the relationship between aging and disability in the Canadian public sphere. Ongoing interests include contemporary women's writing, the problem body on film, and the cultures and representation of Western Canada. My work is linked by an interest in how artistic forms, especially literature and film, contribute to critical thought and social movements.

Retired Air Force Major, Rick Briggs is the Manager of the Veterans Program for the Brain Injury Association of Michigan (BIAMI). Major Briggs also serves on the State of Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources Disability Accessibility Council, the Military and Veterans Affairs Council, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs VISN 11 TBI Council, and is an advisor for the Veteran to Veteran program and Congressman McCotter’s Veteran’s Affairs Panel.

Major Briggs graduated from Michigan State and earned his Masters Degree from Central Michigan. In the Air Force he was a navigator, Wing Navigation Officer, Operations Officer, Flight Commander, Chief of Current Operations, and Bomb Group Executive Officer. He retired from the Air Force in 1994 and moved to Brighton, Michigan.

Major Briggs and his wife Pamela have three children; Jeremy, Brittney, and Allan. Major Briggs enjoys spending time with his family, fishing, and hunting with his Springer Spaniel “Babe”.