Debby Sneed

International Scholarship in a ‘Globalized’ World? CFP At the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Classical Studies and the Archaeological Institute of America in Philadelphia, the Mountaintop Coalition sponsored the joint panel, “Internationa…

It is my pleasure to share the CFP for a special issue of #ResDiffJournal guest-edited by Yusi Liu, Chris Gipson, and Najee Olya, building on the Mountaintop Coalition's panel at the SCS earlier this year. "International Scholarship in a ‘Globalized’ World?" resdifficiles.com/internationa...

Spend your energy on people who are disciplined, fired, arrested, even deported for exercising free speech in defense of victims. Spend it on defending our right to discuss topics like race and gender. Spend it on helping students, colleagues, and community members who are harmed by bad actors.

It's kind of like Roman Polanski's film about the Dreyfus affair. Probably it's just normal that Polanski is going so hard on someone who was wrongfully convicted.

There are loads of really great people who are also excellent scholars who struggle to find permanent jobs, publish their work, establish a platform, but we've gotta keep the pests around because...Classics.

I woke up to a review of a book published by a convicted felon in my field, and it's interesting to read that in the book, he attempts to depersonalize Cicero, to separate the man from the work. That's probably a neutral choice.

Someday I'm going to get up the nerve to submit my article manuscript on this to a journal...

Friends of Greek Art Lecture—Disability in Ancient Greece: A Case Study in Mobility Disability can be a feature of the body, but as Disability Studies scholar Rosemarie Garland-Thomson has shown, it is also a material arrangement, one that can result in a “misfit” relationship…

This weekend I'm headed to Raleigh, NC to give a talk about disability, misfit relationships, and mobility aids at the North Carolina Museum of Art. The talk is free and open to the public, on Sunday, October 5 at 2pm. Register here: ncartmuseum.org/events/frien...

OK well that's very nice?? Thank you!

Trees in Ancient Rome. Growing an Empire in the Late Republic and Early Principate. Andrew Fox, Trees in Ancient Rome. Growing an Empire in the Late Republic and Early Principate (London, New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023). 9781350237803. Reviewed by Caroline Arbuckle MacLeod, S…

New book review on Rhea!

Caroline Arbuckle MacLeod reviews Andrew Fox, "Trees in Ancient Rome. Growing an Empire in the Late Republic and Early Principate" ( @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social 2023). 🌳🌲🌴

Don't miss the author-reviewer dialogue following the review!

DM me your email address?

Thanks, Greg! :)

Oh, just so no one feels hoodwinked later: in addition to disability rights (which are relevant in everything), I'm also passionate about Palestine, income equality, unions, trans rights, and abortion rights. And other things that aren't coming to mind right now, but those are some of the big ones.

Social media has been revolutionary for my work because it has connected me with other people, academic and nonacademic, who are interested in these topics and who are committed to things like disability justice. Reach out if you want to chat, if you want PDFs of my articles, etc.

In Classics, groups like @cripantiquity.bsky.social do great work for disability justice, and there are other people who, individually or collectively, are making a difference. I am grateful to know all of those people.

AIA Event Listings - Virtual Symposium: Disability in the Ancient Greek World - AIA-Nashville Society, Nashville Parthenon, Metro Nashville Parks & Recreation, Centennial Park Conservancy Archaeological event listing for AIA-Nashville Society, Nashville Parthenon, Metro Nashville Parks & Recreation, Centennial Park Conservancy

Coming up, I'm giving some talks, including a free online talk about my newest project, which is focused on Greek sculpture and the place of disability within it, on Sunday, October 19 at 10am Central:

My colleagues @horusofnekhen.bsky.social, @tibg1312.bsky.social, and I wrote a state-of-the-field-type article about disability in antiquity that was recently published and is open access. This article just gives a brief history of the subfield, with a discussion of future directions.

Screenshot of title and abstract of an article entitled, "Digging While Impaired: Promoting the Accessibility of Archaeology as a Discipline." Abstract reads: "In this chapter, we argue that the ethical practice of archaeology involves the active recruitment and inclusion of disabled people in archaeological fieldwork. While archaeology as a discipline is not reducible to fieldwork, fieldwork is nevertheless privileged and must be performed to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in the field and be considered a legitimate practitioner. By discouraging or actively preventing disabled students from participating in field schools—that is, by gatekeeping these professionalizing experiences—we restrict their access to the discipline as a whole. We begin this article by establishing that disabled people are, indeed, discriminated against in archaeological fieldwork situations. We attribute this discrimination to a disciplinary embrace of the medical model of disability, which locates the problem within the body of the individual, as opposed to the social model of disability, which argues that it is structures, not people, that are the problem. We demonstrate how archaeologists already accommodate their nondisabled colleagues, thereby throwing into stark relief the discrimination disabled people experience. We then provide a blueprint for how we can expand our preexisting commitment to accommodation to our disabled students and colleagues. Far from being a prescriptive list of right and wrong behaviors, the key to this ethical approach is open and honest dialogue that not only includes but is led by the disabled person, who has the best understanding of their body, their disabilities, and their abilities."

Mason Shrader, a PhD student at Brown, and I wrote an article about disability inclusion on archaeological field projects. We argue that we have an ethical obligation to make our projects accessible, and also that we are already accommodating our nondisabled colleagues, it's really not that hard.

Screenshot of title and abstract for an article entitled, "Ancient Greek and Roman Crip Lit." Abstract reads: "The study of disability in the ancient world is a burgeoning field and is rapidly garnering interest outside of academia, as well. This brief article argues that we can expand our engagement with the topic—and with ancient literature broadly—by acknowledging the disabled status of some Greek and Roman authors, many of whom are mainstays of our traditional literary canon. Disability-informed approaches to themes like embodiment and phenomenology can contribute to a more complex and grounded understanding of ancient life and experience, as well as deepen our understanding of topics like Stoic philosophy, ancient temporalities, Greek tragedy and the discourse of disability in the ancient world.

I wrote an article about ancient Roman (and some ancient Greek authors) who were disabled in a way that we'd recognize and how their disabilities (whatever you want to call them) were important to their written works. These are obscure people, but folks like Seneca, Pliny, and Demosthenes.

Screenshot of heading, title, and abstract for an article entitled "Disability and Infanticide in Ancient Greece." Abstract reads: "This article confronts the widespread assumption that disability, in any broad and undefined sense, constituted valid grounds for infanticide in ancient Greece. When situated within their appropriate contexts, the oft-cited passages from Plutarch, Aristotle, and Plato contribute little to our understanding of the reality of ancient Greek practice in this regard. Other literary, material, and bioarchaeological evidence, however, demonstrates that ancient Greek parents, midwives, and physicians often took active and extraordinary measures to assist and accommodate infants born with a variety of congenital physical impairments. It was neither legally mandated nor typical in ancient Greece to kill or expose disabled infants, and uncritical (and unfounded) statements to the contrary are both dangerous and harmful." Article was published in the journal Hesperia in 2021, Volume 90, pages 747-722.

My second article was about whether ancient Greeks killed disabled infants at birth. I showed that not only do we have zero evidence of this, we actually have plenty of evidence showing the opposite, that Greeks regularly encouraged the survival of disabled infants. Also won an award for this one ✌️

Screenshot of heading, title, and abstract for an article entitled "The architecture of access: ramps at ancient Greek healing sanctuaries." Abstract reads: "Ancient Greece is well known for its many temples and sanctuaries, including several dedicated to heal-ing and associated cults. Informed by disability stud-ies, this article analyses the architecture of public spaces and facilities, alongside epigraphic, icono-graphic and literary evidence, to argue that the ancient Greeks sought to ensure the accessibility of healing sanctuaries. Even without a framework of civil rights as we understand them today, the builders of these sites made architectural choices that enabled individuals with impaired mobility to access these spaces. It is hoped that this research may stimulate further investigations into accessibility at other sites in the Classical world and beyond." Article published in the journal Antiquity in 2020, Volume 94, pages 1015-1029.

My first published article was about ramps at ancient Greek religious sanctuaries. I argued that we based on where the ramps are most prevalent (healing sanctuaries), we can say that they were built with disability access in mind. I was awarded a prize for this article, which felt great.

Maybe it's dorky, but I'll introduce myself. I'm a nondisabled university professor who specializes in disability in ancient Greece. I approach this all through the lens of disability studies and critical disability theory, and advocate for disabled students in Classics and Archaeology.

I just introduced you and your work to one of my classes and they were really impressed and interested to learn that your kind of work is real and possible!

CFP: Res Diff 7 CALL FOR PAPERSRes Difficiles 7Challenges and Pathways for Addressing Inequity In Classics Organizers: Hannah Čulík-Baird and Elke Nash Date: Friday March 13, 2026Platform: Webinar Since 2020 Res D…

🚨CFP for #ResDiff7 is now available!🚨

Res Difficiles 7 will take place on 13th March 2026 with Dr Samuel Agbamu as our keynote speaker.

Submit an abstract by 12th January 2026:

resdifficiles.com/cfp/

Hmmmm

For those of you wondering, I have not yet decided how insufferable I'll be yet. Taking recommendations 🤠

Famous last words 🙏

This is a good time to get back into social media, right?

Poster for the Badè Museum's Fall 2025 - Spring 2026 Lecture Series for Disability in the Ancient Middle East and Mediterranean.

Starting next Thursday at 5:30pm BST (9:30am PST), the Badè Museum will kick off it's new Lecture Series. Co-sponsored by the Archaeological Research Facility @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social, the Series will explore Disability in the Ancient Middle East and Mediterranean. (1/4)