Laurin Bixby

I recently completed my PhD in Sociology and MA in statistics at the University of Pennsylvania. I also am part of Health Policy Research Scholars, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation leadership development program that supports doctoral students whose research helps build healthier and more equitable communities. During my doctoral training, I also served as the Lex Frieden Disability Policy and Advocacy intern at Elevance Health and Summer Fellow at Mathematica Policy Research. I soon will join the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at Brandeis University as a Research Scientist.

My research focuses on how structural ableism and other systems of inequality harm disabled people through a variety of systems, such as healthcare, long-term care, labor, housing, transportation, and the carceral system. My thesis focused on how socioeconomic status modifies the relationship between children’s disability and maternal health, arguing that instead of viewing disabled children as burdens on their families, scholars and policymakers need to shift their focus to how ableism and poverty burden disabled people and their families. Recent work also addresses the intersection of disability, race, and gender in the carceral state, revealing how ableism, racism, and sexism are infused throughout the carceral system to confine and exclude disabled individuals from society through a variety of institutions. My dissertation examined how ableism becomes embedded in structures and intersects with other systems of oppression to create and maintain relational inequalities that disproportionately harm multiply marginalized disabled people. This research illuminates how disability-based inequalities vary at the intersections of other axes of stratification, how they vary over U.S. geography, and how they vary depending on state policy contexts, particularly Medicaid and Long-Term Services and Supports policies. I primarily use quantitative methods and conduct statistical analyses in R and Stata. I also have experience with policy analysis, in-depth interviewing, content analysis, and program evaluation. Through my research, I aim to inform policy and structural changes that advance Disability Justice by ending systems of harm and ensuring the full integration of disabled people throughout society. Outside of my doctoral studies, you can find me experiencing #DisabledJoy through dancing, jigsaw puzzles, and sewing costumes.