Professor Qudsiya Naqui’s scholarship, pedagogical approach, and media work aim to center disability justice and the disabled experience as tools that catalyze transformative cultural, legal, and policy change towards a more just, accessible, and equitable society. Prior to joining UDC, Professor Naqui served as Senior Counsel in the Office for Access to Justice at the U.S. Department of Justice. She led efforts to improve access to justice for disabled people and developed the first-ever federal learning agenda on access to justice to drive evidence-based policymaking across federal agencies. Prior to federal service, she was an Officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts Courts and Communities project, where she led empirical research on the intersection of courts and technology. Professor Naqui began her legal career representing immigrant women and girls seeking protection from domestic and intimate partner violence at the New York Legal Assistance Group. She went on to design and implement national programs that expanded legal assistance and representation for immigrants and communities facing the aftermath of natural disasters at the Vera Institute of Justice and Equal Justice Works.
Professor Naqui also leverages media-making to advance civic education and engagement. She created, produces and hosts the acclaimed podcast, Down to the Struts—a collection of conversations about disability, design, and intersectionality aimed at uncovering the building blocks for a more just, inclusive and accessible world. She also served as the impact producer for the award-winning, feature-length documentary film, Unseen, which chronicles the experiences of Pedro, an aspiring social worker navigating the crossroads of disability, immigration, and mental health. She was recently selected as a 2025-2026 USC Annenberg Innovation Lab Civic Media Fellow. Her work has appeared in Vox, Oxford University Press, the UCLA Law Review, and the Disability Visibility Project. Professor Naqui holds a JD from Temple University Beasley School of Law and a BA in political science and human rights, magna cum laude, from Barnard College of Columbia University.