Marissa Greenberg, an associate professor in the University of New Mexico's English department, has spent her career building something higher education has long neglected: a framework for truly valuing faculty with disabilities. Her research, conducted through a 2022 survey of disabled faculty at UNM and published alongside co-author Siobhán Cully, Ph.D., in Social Sciences, reveals a stark reality that extends far beyond one campus—that ableism runs deep in academic culture, and the systems meant to support disabled faculty often fail them.
Greenberg's motivation came from lived experience. As a faculty member with disabilities herself, she wanted to understand how her own struggles fit into a larger pattern. What she found, alongside her research partner, was something many disabled academics know too well: higher education institutions have built a culture where disclosure of disability feels risky, where the accommodation process drains energy rather than providing support, and where simply having a body or mind that doesn't fit the academic norm can feel like a liability.
The research paper, titled "Confronting Disability Pasts, Constructing Disability Futures: Recommendations for Growing Access, Equity, and Inclusion for Disabled Faculty in Higher Education," tackles these failures head-on. But rather than stopping at diagnosis, Greenberg and Cully offer concrete recommendations aimed at shifting universities away from mere compliance with disability law toward genuine inclusion. This distinction matters enormously. Compliance means checking boxes and doing the minimum. Inclusion means asking faculty with disabilities what they need, trusting their expertise about themselves, and building institutional cultures where they belong.
"There's this culture of ableism where the idea is if you have a disability, you don't belong in academia," Greenberg said in describing the barriers she encountered. "It's this bias against any kind of body or mind that doesn't fit a norm and is therefore seen as less-than." The anxiety about disclosure runs deep, often rooted in justified fears of discrimination. Many faculty with disabilities choose not to request accommodations precisely because the process itself feels exhausting and risky—a paradox that speaks to how broken these systems remain.
What makes Greenberg's work particularly significant is its institutional reach. She is now serving as Special Advisor to the Vice President at UNM, conducting interviews with university leadership and gathering data that will feed into recommendations for the provost and president offices. This isn't academic research destined for footnotes; it's being channeled directly into decision-making at the highest levels.
The vision Greenberg and Cully articulate is one where universities recognize that diversity of faculty—including neurodivergent and disabled scholars—strengthens institutions and reflects the diversity of their students. But this recognition only matters if it's paired with action: if leadership listens to what disabled faculty actually need, if accommodation processes are streamlined rather than punitive, and if disabled people are represented in leadership positions themselves.
"Shifting away from compliance to real inclusion and having ourselves represented in our leadership and at all levels, is how institutions can serve their communities of folks with disabilities," Greenberg said. The work that began as personal testimony has become a blueprint for change—not just at UNM, but for universities nationwide willing to hear it.