New Visiting Scholar for Innovation in Health and Wellness Education Colleen Lelli has brought her three decades of experience in education to Ursinus College, helping champion disability rights inside and outside the classroom.

Lelli teaches the course, “The Disability Rights Movement: From Oppression to Empowerment.” It focuses on the movement that paralleled the civil rights movement of the mid-1900s. Students in her class look at how laws and policies affect disabled individuals.

“Sometimes we’re looking at things as simple as entrances into buildings,” Lelli said. “Overall, we’re looking at a lot of these issues that still exist today and dismantling them to find out why it takes so long for changes to happen.”

Lelli is an alumna of Cabrini University who started her career working in special education. She then shifted to educating on the topic of disabilities, analyzing the topic through the trauma lens. Before coming to Ursinus in July, Lelli was a professor of education and director of the Barbara and John Jordan Center for Children of Domestic Violence Education at Cabrini.

Early in October, Lelli welcomed Pennsylvania State Reps. Joe Ciresi and Steven Malagari ’06 to her class to speak on policy making regarding disabilities. The discussion revolved around a documentary her class watched called Patrice on Hulu. The documentary was about a disabled couple who wanted to get married but could not because they would lose their health benefits if they did.

“We talked about how laws become laws, how do they become policies, and what does that process look like,” Lelli said.

Students had the opportunity to ask Ciresi and Malagari questions as both of them talked about their experiences on the floor of the Pa. House of Representatives. They also talked about the ways college students could support policy making through internships.

“I thought it was a great opportunity for my students that are interested in policy to make that connection,” Lelli said.

Lelli also plans to have Montgomery County Commissioner Tom DiBello in her class to further discuss the political world surrounding disability rights.

“There’s still a lot that has to be done and that’s where the disability rights movement began and where it will continue,” Lelli said.