List of DCCs
Introduction
*This page is under active review as of April 2026. Please be aware that information is subject to change*
The first DCC was established in 1991 at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities as a response to the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. The second DCC would not be established at Syracuse University until the early 2010s, approximately 20 years later. Fast forward to the present: three DCCs were established in just the 2021-2022 academic year alone. With 18 in total and more on the way, the DCC Symposium has taken place at an opportune time to encourage the creation of these centers at a large scale.
We are aiming to maintain this list publicly as the number of DCCs continues to grow across higher education institutions nationwide. The names of the higher education institutions are listed, as some DCC names may vary from the term "Disability Cultural Center."
Feel free to check out the list of Disability Cultural Centers below!
If you'd like to learn more about Disability Cultural Centers in Higher Education, please see our pages about the DCC Symposiums.
Credit for List: Ann Wai-Yee Kwong, Danielle Oyama, Javin D'Souza, and Dr. liz thomson
Updated August 26, 2025
Confirmed Disability Cultural Centers in U.S. Higher Education
University of Illinois, Chicago
Main Website: University of Illinois Chicago Disability Cultural Center
The Disability Cultural Center offers public programs, discussion series, arts-based workshops, and one-on-one support — as we work to engage an understanding of disability issues as social justice issues, and disability as a site for identity, community, and culture.
University of California, Berkeley
Main Website: University of California Berkeley Disability Cultural Community (DCC) Center
UC Berkeley’s Disability Cultural Community Center seeks to create and provide a safe and social space for the Cal disability community to build authentic connections and support one another. The space is designed by, for, and with the disability community to serve as a platform to advocate, educate, and collaborate among students, faculty, and staff living with a disability to advance and empower both the community on campus and beyond so persons with disabilities can fully learn, work, and live with dignity.
Stanford University
Main Website: Stanford University Disability Community (DisCo) Space
DisCo is a physical space dedicated to providing support and opportunities for Stanford’s disability community. We provide a space for the broader graduate and undergraduate community to come together through educational opportunities, resources, and events.
Syracuse University
Main Website: Syracuse University Disability Cultural Center
Syracuse University’s Disability Cultural Center (DCC) coordinates social, educational, and cultural activities on disability issues for students with and without disabilities. The DCC is the first of its kind in the U.S. to be housed within a student affairs organization, rather than a disability services office.
Located within the Schine Student Center, the DCC’s purpose includes celebrating disability culture, providing a space for personal expression and advocacy, educating the wider community about disability rights, history, culture and supporting students by connecting them to resources and community.
University of Arizona
Main Website: University of Arizona Omnes Disability Student Space
The Highland Commons D217 Student Space is one of six student spaces within the Student Culture & Engagement Hub at the University of Arizona.
Established in the fall of 2018, this space welcomes disabled students, faculty, staff, allies and community partners to engage with, learn about and celebrate disability identity, culture and pride. Our space offers a wide variety of programming both in person and hybrid to ensure accessibility for all. Programs include and are not limited to: a variety of community hours, wellness and destress programming, our Ableism 101 series and campus and community collaborations.
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Main Website: University of Minnesota Twin Cities Disabled Student Cultural Center
The Disabled Student Cultural Center was founded in 1992 as the first cultural center of its kind in the world. The Disabled Student Cultural Center (DSCC) is a safe space for individuals from all backgrounds and of all abilities. The DSCC’s goal is to foster the culture of students with disabilities and increase disability awareness on campus.
The DSCC is composed of students with and without disabilities. Our mission is:
- To foster the culture of individuals with disabilities both visible and invisible. DSCC aims to create a sense of community and pride among students with disabilities
- To provide the university community the opportunity to learn and better understand disability issues
- To support a completely accessible environment
- To increase the level of disability awareness and acceptance on campus
- To serve as a resource for disabled students and non-disabled students
- To offer a space for students with disabilities and their allies to socialize, make connections, and support one another.
University of North Carolina, Asheville
Main Website: University of North Carolina Asheville Disability Cultural Center
The Disability Cultural Center at UNC Asheville specifically focuses on disability as diversity, and serves primarily as a space for community connection and shared culture between students with disabilities. The center welcomes all students, faculty, staff, and community members who share the common goal of advocating for greater inclusiveness in both campus and community settings. In addition to being a space for students with disabilities, the Disability Cultural Center serves these additional purposes:
- As a resource for the campus and local community
- As a vehicle for sharing knowledge and information
- And as a central hub for bringing together students, faculty, staff, and community members with the common goals of advocacy and inclusiveness
University of Washington
Main Website: University of Washington Disability and Deaf Cultural Center
The Disability and Deaf Cultural Center — also known as the D Center — is a physical and virtual community gathering space for UW students, staff, and faculty who identify as Disabled, D/deaf, or allies. We are committed to fostering a safe space for folks of all abilities to learn, socialize, and celebrate pride in community with each other.
Santa Rose Junior College
Main Website: Santa Rosa Junior College Disability Cultural Center
The SRJC Disability Cultural Center is dedicated to fostering a vibrant, inclusive community where individuals with diverse disabilities can come together, access vital services, and embrace their identities unapologetically. By providing one-on-one support and promoting disability culture, we strive to create a space that champions inclusion, acceptance, and the celebration of our differences.
Disability Cultural Center spaces exist on the Santa Rosa and Petaluma campuses.
Miami University (Ohio)
Main Website: Miami University Student Disability Services
With a strong conviction that disability is an important aspect of our campus community, the Miller Center for Student Disability Services (SDS) is passionate about fostering an inclusive and accessible experience for Miami students with disabilities. We partner with disabled students and the campus community to develop individualized access plans, provide education opportunities, and implement strategic initiatives to promote disability understanding at Miami.
Duke University
Main Website: Duke University Disability Cultural Center
As of Fall of 2021, Duke Disability Alliance celebrates the opening of their new Disability Cultural Center! Located in Bryan Center 033, this community space is an important step toward promoting disability visibility and culture on campus. The DCC provides meeting space for disability-related student groups, features artwork by students and local disabled artists, and has a disability studies bookshelf.
University of Texas at Austin
Main Website: University of Texas at Austin Disability Cultural Center
The Disability Cultural Center (DCC) is a hub for disability community, education and advocacy for disabled students, faculty, staff and alumni and all members of the University community. The first of its kind in Texas, the DCC works to create and sustain a sense of belonging for disabled people who study, teach and work at UT. In collaboration with campus partners, the DCC strives to create a community where disability is respected and valued as an important part of our campus community, and accessibility is built into the structure and design of all aspects of campus life.
Loras College
Main Website: Loras College Lynch Center
Loras recognizes the dignity of persons with disabilities and challenges them to grow in our supportive environment while developing the skills associated with being active learners, reflective thinkers, ethical decision-makers, and responsible contributors.
This is a safe space for collaboration and community while providing programming designed to promote success. Various services are available, including our unique Autism Resources for Career in Higher Education Program (ARCH). Our Enhanced Programs have been assisting students with learning disabilities for forty years.
The Lynch Center offers three types of support for students with diagnosed disabilities: accommodations, the Enhanced program, and the ARCH Program.
Portland State University
Main Website: Portland State University Disability Resource Center
Here in the Disability Resource Center, we value intersecting identities and recognize that individuals have both visible and invisible differences that make them unique. We are committed to interrupting ableism, ethnicism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, ageism, xenophobia, body shaming, and other systems of oppression and marginalization.
We work with students on an equitable future by focusing on building partnerships and infrastructure that incorporate the principles of universal design and disability justice. We find creative solutions by proactively collaborating with students, faculty, and staff to develop an accessible and inclusive environment.
Georgetown University
Main Website: Georgetown University Disability Cultural Center
The Disability Cultural Center (DCC) celebrates disability as an intersectional identity through the transformative power of the arts, sciences, and community. In keeping with our Jesuit values, the DCC calls on Georgetown University to foster a culture of access inside and outside of the classroom that embraces non-apparent and apparent disabilities as vital to the vibrant diversity of humanity.
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Main Website: University of Wisconsin Madison Disability Cultural Center
The DCC is open to all students, regardless of disability identity, disclosure, or affiliation with the McBurney Center. It can be used by students as a space to study, learn, or relax during open hours. All students are welcome to explore their relationship to disability and develop an appreciation for disability culture.
The DCC encompasses physical space, programming, and community to uplift, affirm, and celebrate disability identity and culture on campus. Disability culture is the shared history, traditions, and experiences of disabled people. Disability culture happens when disabled people are creating, being, and doing from a place of disability and is present in visual art, film, music, sports, activism, and more. Holding all this, the DCC intends to increase disabled belonging and appreciation of disability culture at UW-Madison.
Grinnell College
Main Website: TBA
California State University, Sacramento
Main Website: Sacramento State Disability Cultural Center and Assistive Technology Lab
The Disability Cultural Center at Sacramento State features a Social Space for disabled students and allies to come together as a community, a Sensory Room designed to meet the unique needs of our neurodivergent student population, and an Assistive Technology Lab for a wide range of assistive technology tools such as text-to-speech/speech-to-text software, screen readers such as Jaws, speech recognition software, zoom text for low-vision, alternative formats, note-taking, captioning and transcription tools, training, and workshops on accessible technologies for educational materials.
Connecticut College
Main Website: Connecticut College Disability Cultural Center
The Disability Cultural Center affirms and celebrates disability by exploring the intersectionality of identities, creating community support, celebrating disability culture, and advocating for disability justice.
The DCC focuses on four facets of accessibility:
- Personal: helping students to understand their own disabled experience and identity
- Communal: identifying and providing resources to support the campus community
- Cultural: exploring and expanding disabled culture through art, music, literature, and more
- Political: serving as a space for students to discuss pressing matters, organize groups and movements, and engage in radical rest
Pending or In-Progress
We are pleased to have been made aware of several new DCCs that are launching in the coming year(s). If this is your university’s situation or you’re aware of a university that is about to launch a DCC, please let us know via email at dcc@uic.edu. We’ll add it to this list. This includes centers that are in-progress and have made some groundwork in the process of being established.
University of Maryland, College Park
Main Website: TBA
Yale University
Main Website: TBA
California Polytechnic State University
Main Website: TBA
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Main Website: TBA
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Main Website: TBA
Portland Community College
Main Website: TBA
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Main Website: TBA
Oregon State University
Main Website: TBA
University of Cincinnati
Main Website: TBA
University of Iowa
Main Website: TBA
Wright State University
Main Website: TBA