About Us
We are forty-six students and teachers from Gann Academy in Waltham, Massachusetts. Each year, our school’s 11th grade U.S. History classes dedicate ourselves to a community-focused year-long project on the subject of disability history.
Faculty & Digital Leads
Alex Green—Alex Green co-created Gann Academy’s project-based, community-focused disability history curriculum for 11th grade students with Yoni Kadden in 2017. He is an adjunct lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Yoni Kadden—Yoni Kadden is the chair of the History Department Gann Academy and a co-creator of the school’s project-based, community-focused disability history curriculum for 11th grade students.
Kevin Levin—Kevin Levin teaches in the History Department at Gann Academy.
Jacob Daitzman—Jacob Daitzman (Gann ’20) was a student in the Gann Academy course on disability history and led the design and creation of this site from inception to completion. An avid software engineer, he spends most of his free time programming, playing the piano, or learning cool hobbies. He is doing work with the MIT Media Lab over a gap year and is excited to be attending MIT beginning Fall 2021.
Seth Battis—Seth Battis is the chair of the Computing, Design & Fabrication department at Gann Academy. He was a co-teacher of the MetFern Memorial design module in the spring of 2019, and is a continuing consultant on design and fabrication work for the project, as well as supervising ongoing student software and design projects related to MetFern.
Susan Cheloff—Susan teaches in the Gann learning center and works closely with students in the disability history courses. She holds a Ph.D. from the Heller School at Brandeis University where she studied with renowned disability rights pioneers Gunnar and Rosemary Dybwad.
Joshua Gutoff—Dr. Joshua Gutoff teaches Jewish Studies at Gann Academy. He was a co-teacher of the MetFern Memorial design module in the spring of 2019, and is a continuing consultant on the project.
Landa Ruen—Landa Ruen was a member of the Arts Department faculty at Gann Academy. She co-taught the MetFern Memorial design module in the spring of 2019.
John Loeppky—John Loeppky copy-edited the MetFern Cemetery site. He is a disabled freelance journalist, editor, and theater artist. He has written about disability issues for Briarpatch, Passage, Media Co-op, FiveThirtyEight, and others. He also works for and with Listen to Dis’ Community Arts, Saskatchewan’s only disability-led disability arts organization.