On 14 June, the 2024 FOLD Symposium took place at Johannes Kepler University Linz in Linz, Austria. This year's symposium, entitled “Listen Up!: A Joint Austro-Bulgarian FOLD Symposium for Disability, Inclusion, and Fulbrighters of the Last Decades,” was organized by Fulbright Austria alum Bailey Fernandez. It aimed to bring together US, Austrian, and Bulgarian activists in the disability sector and, hopefully, to inspire future collaboration.

The event included keynote speeches by disability activists Barbara Levc, the founder of Uniability, and Ashod Derandonyan, the founder of deaf.BG. Another highlight was the panel moderated by Margaret Grobelna from Zero Project International. The panel included Andrea Petz from the ATHENA Project, Ivelina Gadzheva from DesignForAll Bulgaria, and Fiona Grugan, who manages education abroad and international fellowships at Gallaudet University. The event ended with a cozy reception during which all attendees and speakers had an opportunity to chat and mingle while enjoying a nice meal.

If you are interested in finding out more about this year’s FOLD Symposium, head to our YouTube channel to check out the pre-symposium interviews we did with Baily, Barbara, and Ashod. Proposals for the 2025 FOLD Symposium are currently being accepted, and we look forward to receiving and reading through yours!