DisCo Graduation and Awards Ceremony 2026

Nicole Green is an undergraduate student at Western Washington University (WWU). In the Fall of ‘25, the San Diego native replaced her flip-flops for a pair of Bellingham-proof rain boots. Before even planting those boots in the evergreen soil, it was Nicole's personal goal to get involved in WWU’s disability community. Since age ten, she has lived with a chronic pain condition, known as fibromyalgia. Throughout her journey with fibromyalgia, Nicole has engaged extensively with the disability community; In attending various pain clinics and rehabilitation groups she has learned the importance of community and support. WWU’s Disability Outreach Center (DOC) is another medium, in which Nicole has found such resources - notably through the Peer Mentorship Program, Spoons & Knives Affinity Group, and Volunteering/Emceeing for the Disability Day of Mourning Event. Nicole holds so much pride and gratitude for the DOC and the disability community and is thankful for the opportunity to give back.

Oscar is an undergraduate student majoring in Environmental Science with an emphasis in Freshwater and Terrestrial Ecology and minoring in Biology. He started working at the DOC shortly after transferring to Western and currently works there as the Intersectional Community Building Coordinator. One of his favorite parts of working at the DOC is watching other students start to develop disability pride as they connect with the disabled community and start to understand themselves better. In his free time he enjoys crafts, Dimension 20 and looking at critters. He plans to pursue a career in lab science and conservation biology, while promoting accessibility in STEM.

Augden is graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science in Public Health with a concentration in Community and Behavioral Health, and minors in Psychology and Honors Interdisciplinary Studies. Augden has worked at the Disability Outreach Center as the Education and Outreach Coordinator for the past three and a half years and has loved having the opportunity to work so closely with the disability community on campus. Some of their favorite memories working at the DOC are facilitating Spoons and Knives meetings (the social and support space for students with lived experience of chronic pain, chronic fatigue, and chronic illness), hosting collaborative events like Disability, Sex, and Pleasure with WinkWink, and building strong relationships with disabled students and community members at Western. Outside of their time at the DOC, Augden has been involved in food systems work at City Sprouts Farm and has been a member of the Research in Repro and Sexuality Lab. They are so honored to be receiving this award, and can’t wait to see how the disability community at WWU keeps growing!

brooklyn lindsey-taylor, he/they, is a graduating student at Fairhaven College with a concentration in Regenerative Earthwork & Ecological Histories. Their work is focused on identifying how bodies of land and mammals are disabled by capitalism and colonialism; and using this position as disabled as a point of righteous resistance to embrace and learn Indigenous ways of relationality and regeneration. 

Remi is a graduating senior who studied Urban Planning and Sustainable Development, Critical Disability Studies, and Honors Interdisciplinary Studies. With DOC Supervisor Axel Cichocki, he helped create the Disabled Peer Mentorship Program because he believes that disabled students are the best people to support disabled students. He loves visiting home to see his dog, playing wheelchair basketball with the Adaptive Sports Club, and arts crafts. He looks forward to continuing his work towards a more equitable and accessible world.

Harley is a Fairhaven graduate with a concentration titled Cripping Pleasure. Xer studies focused on the intersection of disability and sexuality, especially in the realm of kink as therapeutic and recreational practice. Since their freshman year, Harley has worked closely with the Institute for Critical Disability Studies and will be completing the Critical Disability Studies minor. This past year, Harley has worked at the Disability Outreach Center as the Disability Coalition Coordinator and has committed most of xer time to the creation and development of the Bellingham Disability Coalition, connecting students and organization dedicated to disability justice and community across the greater Bellingham area. Harley likes to spend their free time surrounded by crip community, playing wheelball with adaptive sports club, and caring for xer cat, Vetiver. They look forward to seeing where the DOC and greater Western disability community will go from here!

Pheonix Booth is a master's candidate in History whose scholarship explores the intersections of disability, creativity, craft, access, and world-making. Their research asks how disabled people use creative practice not only to cope, but to build meaning, relation, survival strategies, and more livable worlds within systems that often misunderstand or constrain disabled life.

Pheonix’s earlier work examined creative practice as a form of coping and self-making among disabled people. Their current thesis, Therapeutic Craft: A Disability History of Care and Control, turns to the historical roots of those questions, examining why craft was used in American medical institutions at the turn of the 20th century and how creativity became entangled with ideas about capacity, usefulness, care, and control. Across their work, Pheonix is interested in disabled world-making: the ways disabled people create spaces, practices, and forms of knowledge that exceed institutional definitions of value.

Alongside their research, Pheonix has contributed to disability-centered work through teaching, student support, accessibility training, community projects, and public-facing conversations about disability, creativity, and access. 

Senior Instructor in Physics & Astronomy

Sarah Kapostasy is a senior staff member and Neurodiversity Specialist at Western Washington University’s Counseling and Wellness Center, where she provides culturally informed therapy, consultation, and outreach to promote student well-being and health.

She brings both personal and professional passion to her work in neurodivergence and disability. Since arriving at Western in 2023, Sarah has led trainings for staff and campus partners on effectively supporting neurodivergent students. She also attended WWU’s Unconference, hosted by the Institute for Critical Disability Studies, in 2024 and 2025 to deepen her knowledge of disability, access, and equity. Recently, she collaborated with colleagues to develop a “Choose Your Own Adventure” guide for students navigating confirmed or suspected ADHD.

Sarah is a founding member of both WWU’s Neurodivergent Inclusion Collaborative and the Disabled Employee Resource Group. Through these efforts, she has advocated for student accommodations with the Faculty Senate and is currently working to increase transparency in accommodation processes for staff and faculty. She is honored to receive this recognition and views it as an invitation to continue learning, growing, and advocating within the community.

Wendy Johnson, Event Services Manager (retired March 2026)

"I loved working with students, staff, faculty and event coordinators, helping them to realize their events. It’s brought me a lot of joy listening to folks tell me what they envision and supporting that vision, lifting voices, identities, incredibly important ideas, ceremonies and celebrations.

I started working in Event Services in 2015. Since that time I worked with the Disability Access Center to support their space needs in the Viking Union for quarterly final exams. I really valued  being able  to provide accessible, flat spaced, spacious rooms to accommodate hundreds of students each quarter. In recent years I had the pleasure of working with the Disability Outreach Center to support their cultural, educational, and outreach focused events. I appreciate the care and thoughtfulness that Axel and his team put into these wonderful events.

Since retiring, I’m enjoying reading, spending quality time in my little beach house, hanging with my husband, more time with friends and family, the freedom of taking mid-week trips, but especially spending time with my 10 month old grandson.

I love and miss WWU and continue to be excited about the incredible events that amazing event coordinators are hosting."

Daman Wandke teaches disability studies as a Senior Instructor here at WWU. He is also the Founder and CEO of Wandke Accessibility, where he helps organizations become more accessible. He earned a B.A. in Management Information Systems and a Master's in Business Administration at WWU. He co-founded Students for Disability Awareness in 2007 and served as President until co-founding the DOC in 2010. He now serves on many disability nonprofit boards and committees. He loves to race sailboats and travel whenever he gets the chance.

Britt Otter, (she/her) M.S. is an accessibility and inclusion professional with over 15 years of experience advancing equitable access in higher education, state government, and nonprofit sectors. Currently serving as the Web Accessibility Administrator for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Britt leads statewide efforts to assess and improve ADA Title I accommodation policies and develop accessible rulemaking processes. Her work has shaped inclusive practices across 66+ agency websites and influenced statewide training and policy development in collaboration with the Governor’s Office of Information Technology.

Previously, as Assistant Director for Access and Accommodations at Colorado State University and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Britt oversaw large Title II accommodation programs, supervised accessibility teams, and streamlined institutional procedures to align with the ADA, Section 504, and WCAG standards. A Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC), Britt brings expertise in policy review, digital accessibility, and systemic change. She is deeply committed to removing structural barriers and fostering environments where all people can thrive.

With Daman Wandke, Britt Otter is the co-founder of the Disability Outreach Center (DOC). 

Cole Farhat is a senior graduating this spring with a double major in Public Health and Spanish. He is a board member of the Arab Student Association and works as the student program coordinator for the Ethnic Student Center. Throughout his three years in his position at the ESC, he has worked closely with the DOC and other Centers to host numerous intersectional programs. The “Severed” film by Jen Marlowe was screened in April in honor of Arab American Heritage Month and it follows the story of a young boy in Palestine who became an amputee due to Israeli aggression during the Great March of Return in 2018. The film follows him and his family over the years and focuses on building solidarity with Palestine through a disability justice lens by depicting his battle to find adequate medical care, his attempts to manage his chronic pain, and his struggles to navigate the now destroyed landscape of Gaza. His story highlights the ever-growing issue of child amputees in Gaza as a result of ongoing Israeli aggression.