Denise Humm-Delgado's background is in social policy, social action, and advocacy. She is particularly interested in social justice and human rights issues for people with disabilities and chronic illnesses but also have a strong focus on issues for other marginalized groups as they are affected by racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, ableism, ageism, youthism, and other forms of oppression. Of course, many people are affected by more than one form of oppression.
Her education and work have focused in these areas, and one position before she came to Simmons School of Social Work was Senior Associate in the Office of the Court-Appointed Monitor for Special Education in Boston. There, under the Allen v. McDonough case brought by parent advocates and the Massachusetts Advocacy Center against the Boston Public Schools for non-delivery of special education services, we strived to obtain rights for the children who were being deprived of an education or whose education was being compromised. Her learning there emphasized what she had been taught in her doctoral program — that advocacy and social action are critical to our social work mission and to achieving social justice and obtaining human rights. She tries to pass on my own "hands on" learning to my students at Simmons School of Social Work, and she is very rewarded by their passion for social justice.
She has been able to draw from her experience and interests in co-authoring two books that focus on people with disabilities and chronic illnesses as well as other oppressed groups. The first book was Health and Health Care in the Nation's Prisons: Issues, Challenges, and Policies, and the second book was Asset Assessments and Community Social Work Practice. In addition, parts of her volunteer work that are related to her commitment to issues for people with disabilities and chronic illnesses are at the Samuel P. Hayes Research Library & Perkins Archives at Perkins School for the Blind and as a consulting editor for the journal Health & Social Work.
License/Certification
- MSW
- PhD
Courses
- SW401 Social Welfare Policy and Services
- SW463 Advocacy and Social Action with Disability and Chronic Illness
- SW409 Dynamics of Racism and Oppression
- SW523 Advocacy and Social Action for Professional Social Workers
Publications
Humm-Delgado's volunteer work at Perkins School for the Blind dovetails with her research on the intersections of race and disability from historical and current day perspectives, using oppression and empowerment frameworks. Perkins is doing a project to develop online educational resources to support some work of the American Printing House for the Blind of Louisville, Kentucky, a non-profit organization that began in 1858 and provides specialized materials, products, and services, both educational and for general use, by people who are blind or have a visual impairment. Since June 2013, she has been identifying historical and current day resources that discuss the American schools for the blind that educated African American teachers of the blind and African American students who were blind. Like other schools, there were widespread exclusion and segregation for both teachers and students, and so it is important to study the history and experiences of those students and teachers as they related to the intersections of race and disability.