Akemi Nishida uses research, education, and activism to investigate the ways in which ableism are exercised in relation to racism, cis-heteropatriarchy, xenophobia and other forms of social injustices. She also uses such methods to work towards cross-community solidarity for the liberation and celebration of community power. In her research and teaching, Nishida brings together disability studies, critical race theories, transnational feminist and queer studies, decolonial studies and affect theory. She is currently an assistant professor at Disability and Human Development as well as Gender and Women's Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago.