The concept of data justice places the collection, governance, and analysis of data in the context of social practices, knowledge frameworks, and power relations. It emphasizes that data practices must align with human rights values. Furthermore, data justice calls for data governance frameworks to be rooted in respectful relationships, recognition of Indigenous sovereignty, and critical examination of the structural and systemic conditions that inform how we think about, collect, steward and use data.

To promote the understanding and engagement with this important concept, the Office of Equity Transformation is launching the Data Justice series. This series will feature presentations and panel discussions on how data can be leveraged to identify systemic inequities and support actions that reduce barriers and narrow gaps for marginalized people. The Data Justice Series aims to spark meaningful conversations and encourage the UM community to critically explore the role of data in shaping a more equitable future.

“Data is essential to evidence-based decision making. Yet, there’s unequal power between data subjects, data aggregators, data analysts, data stewards, and data users, particularly in relation to marginalized communities. This means data can – and historically has – reinforced systems of oppression, including racism, sexism, and ableism,” says Dr. Tina Chen, Vice-Provost (Equity). “However, data also can be a powerful tool to challenge and disrupt entrenched structures. I encourage UM community members to join us to learn more about data justice and the role of data in advancing equity, accessibility, diversity, and inclusivity.”

Session 1: Anti-Ableism, Disaggregated Disability Data, and Data Justice

Panel presentation with members of the project team for the 2023 Dismantling Ableism Survey (DAS), including Tina Chen (Vice-Provost, Equity), Jennifer Dengate (Director, EDI Research and Projects, Office of Equity Transformation), and Cade Kuehl (DAS project coordinator and research assistant).

This panel will share how data justice approaches informed the methodologies and practices for the Dismantling Ableism Survey and highlight some of the ways in which institutional ableism is experienced by those with less noticeable disabilities and chronic health conditions.

Date: Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Time: 10 – 11:15 a.m.

Location: 307 Tier Building (Fort Garry campus)

Register here.

Session 2: Why Anti-Racism matters to data / Why data matters to Anti-Racism

Organized in partnership with the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences’ Vice-Dean, Indigenous Health, Social Justice and Anti-Racism and the Offices of Anti-Racism and Equity, Access and Participation, this session features invited guest Dr. Malinda S. Smith, Associate Vice-President Research (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion) from the University of Calgary.

Dr. Smith will join Dr. Jillian Waruk (Public Health Epidemiologist, First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba) in a panel discussion about data collection, governance, and analysis in the context of social practices, knowledge frameworks, and power relations. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Delia Douglas (Director, Office of Anti-Racism, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences).

Date: Thursday, February 13, 2025

Time: 1 – 2:30 p.m.

Location: The Concourse Lounge, room 230, University College (220 Dysart Road)

Register here.

Stay tuned for information on upcoming sessions in this series! Visit the Office of Equity Transformation’s Learning and Engagement webpage.

‘What Our Bodies Know’ is a student anthology.

At the launch party, eleven students read from the collection and then the authors circulated through the crowd signing copies for their families and for themselves similar to a class yearbook gathering. The students were clearly proud to showcase their work that covered a broad range of topics such as hearing loss, surviving domestic violence, bipolar disorder, ADHD, emotionality and learning disability.

Each essay in What Our Bodies Know is less than 750 words. They were originally created as class assignments. Themes and concepts shared by scholars from both WGS and disability studies were touchstones for the essays and covered ideologies of normalcy; stigma; appearance; invisibility; care-taking and care-receiving; issues of access and inclusion; impairment/difference; and intersectionality. Students were asked to identify a shimmering moment from their lives that connected thematically to one of the course’s over-arching concepts. Dr. Stewart shared that the student essays “sprung from this moment.”

“This was a new kind of writing for most students, and it challenged them on multiple levels,” said Dr. Stewart. “Many began to rethink their personal relationships to their bodies and/or their diagnoses, their disability or the disability of a loved one. These essays reveal just slivers of those rich and important thinking processes.”

Anamika Deb

Student Anamika Deb, a political studies major and WGS minor, admitted that at first she was “scared to expose” herself, “I drew a blank on what to write about because my disability is not visible.” She explained that once Dr. Stewart confirmed her sciatica qualified as a topic, it ended up being comforting to write about it and then share it out loud to the crowded room. “A horrible experience led to an amazing thing,” exclaimed Deb with a smile on her face as she held up the book and gestured to her parents and brother who came to support her at the event.

Dr. Tina Chen, Vice-Provost (Equity), noted that Dr. Stewart created “a safe space for students” through a creative assignment. “As I listened to their essays, I was moved by the power of each student’s lived experiences,” she shared. “Projects and courses like this encourage us to think about ableism at our institution and to come up with new ways we can support students.”

The project extended well beyond the class assignment. The book cover was designed by social work student Opal Premack. Three additional students contributed to the book’s editing and design. The book launch event was also organized by students. This involvement has added to the overall learning experience of the course, providing an opportunity for students to practice skills including design, editing, time management, decision making, promotion and event planning.

Environmental design student Abbey Bellisle was part of the team who brought the book to life, “I have read the essays countless times over the past year, and was moved each time. It was very special to meet the authors and hear them share their stories in person.” Bellisle is hoping to pursue a masters’ degree in interior design or architecture and noted that this experience helped “open her eyes to disability.” She added that, “There is no excuse for a lack of accessibility in 2024. Courses like WOMN 2540 and this anthology project can aid in educating a future designer, like me, to make thoughtful and informed choices when it comes to accessibility in design.”

Dr. Stewart hopes to produce a future edition showcasing essays from more students who take the course, starting with the essays from students that were in the fall 2023 class. 

The first printing of What Our Bodies Know is sold out! To add your name to a list to obtain a copy from the second printing, email Christine.Stewart@umanitoba.ca.

Learn more about the women’s and gender studies program in the Faculty of Arts.
Learn more about experiential learning at the University of Manitoba.

Lepofsky holds a Bachelor of Laws degree (Honours) from Osgoode Hall Law School, a Master of Laws from Harvard, and has received Honorary Doctorates in Law from Queen’s, University of Western Ontario, and Brock University. He is a member of the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, and has been inducted into the Terry Fox Hall of Fame.

Professor David Lepofsky visits Robson Hall Jan. 9.

For many years, Professor Lepofsky worked for both the Civil and Criminal Crown Law Offices of the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General. Prior to his current role at Western, he served from 2016 to June 2023 as a visiting professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, and was a part-time member of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law since 1991, teaching an advanced constitutional law seminar on freedom of expression and press. He has lectured widely on various aspects of constitutional and administrative law, human rights, disability rights and other topics across Canada, as well as in the U.S., Israel, Ireland, Denmark, Belgium and New Zealand.

Since the late 1970s, he has been active in a volunteer capacity, advocating for new laws to protect the rights of persons with disabilities in Canada. In 1980, he appeared before the Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Commons on the Constitution of Canada, on behalf of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind for an amendment to the proposed Charter of Rights, to guarantee equality rights to persons with disabilities. The efforts of a great many combined to lead Parliament to pass the disability amendment to the Charter. He has undertaken volunteer advocacy efforts both nationally and internationally in support of equal rights for people with disabilities.

Lepofsky is the author of the book Open Justice – the Constitutional Right to Attend and Speak About Criminal Proceedings in Canada, published by Butterworth & Co, and he is the author or co-author of over 30 law journal articles or book chapters on topics including constitutional law, criminal law, administrative law, human rights, and the rights of persons with disabilities. His publications have been cited with approval in several decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada, as well as by trial and appeal courts across Canada.

While visiting Robson Hall, Lepofsky plans to meet with professors and administrators to discuss strategies for expanding disability content in the law school curriculum – the topic of his recently published article in the Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice, “People with Disabilities Need Lawyers Too! A Ready-To-Use Plan for Law Schools to Educate Law Students to Effectively Serve the Legal Needs of Clients with Disabilities as Well as Clients Without Disabilities.” In that article, Lepofsky argues that Canada’s legal profession is not sufficiently equipped to meet the legal needs of clients with disabilities, and provides a roadmap for law schools to work towards expanding their respective disability curriculae.

“Today’s law students want to learn how to serve the legal needs of all clients, including those with a disability, a vulnerable minority whom the legal profession has too often underserved,” said Lepofsky. “Law students also welcome the chance to learn how to use their talents to systematically tear down the many accessibility barriers that impede millions of people in Canada who have a disability.”

The University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Law currently offers a course on Law and Disability taught by Professor Darcy MacPherson and Assistant Professor Brandon Trask in the 2023 Fall term. In the 2024 Winter Term, Trask will be teaching Mental Heath Law. Both professors recently issued a call for submissions for a Manitoba Law Journal special edition on Disability and the Law (Volume 47, Issue 2) which is expected to be published in full early in 2024.

At the moment, law students’ exposure to working with clients with disabilities comes from the mandatory upper-year course “Legal Profession and Professional Responsibility,” and from working in the clinics such as the University of Manitoba Community Law Centre, the Legal Help Centre and the L. Kerry Vickar Business Law Clinic where they may encounter clients with disabilities, but Lepofsky is concerned that law schools should incorporate more knowledge, awareness and experience throughout its curriculum.

The Distinguished Visitors Lecture Series welcomes David Lepofsky to Robson Hall on Tuesday, January 9, 2024 at 12pm in the Harry Walsh Moot Courtroom (Side B).

ALS interpreters will be in attendance. This event will be recorded.

Professor Lepofsky spoke at Robson Hall previously in 2018. View his lecture on the Robson Hall Youtube Channel.

Extensive consultation with community-based representative disability organizationsand academics, including educators and researchers, provided great insight and direction to the development of the disability studies program at UM. The program arose from Manitoba being a hub for the disability rights movement locally, nationally, and internationally. Thus, the University of Manitoba was an ideal location for a disability studies program anchored in the disability movement.

Director Dr. Nancy Hansen explains: “Winnipeg is the cradle of the disability rights movement in Canada. Many of the founders of the movement were from Manitoba and were instrumental in the local, provincial, national and international organizations and legislation.”

Today, the two-year thesis-based program is continuing to set up its students and alumni for success and impact. Governments, university colleagues and the media regularly seek out input from the program’s faculty and staff. 

In addition to promoting interdisciplinary and collaborative work in disability studies, the program continues to have dialogue with the UM about what it means to be anti-ableist in the academic environment. Ableism is a set of ideas that promotes being able-bodied as better than being disabled, and that disabled persons are not capable or welcome to participate fully in society.

The program’s graduates are having an impact at UM. Johnathan Bevan is currently an educational developer with The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. He had already been working in the human services for 17 years when he decided to find a way to re-engage with his work and looked into the disability studies program.

“I knew these were powerful ideas that could significantly change the lives of the people I was supporting,” Bevan says, knowing he had found the right program to inform him. “It gave me a unique perspective, actionable knowledge and improved my ability to articulate how change can be made possible if we just begin to remove barriers to inclusion.”

With such a crucial role to the future of UM, Bevan lets this perspective lead his work: “The key to this work is listening to disabled people. They know best how they are affected by exclusion and have the ideas needed to design more inclusive environments and systems.”

Bevan will be working with different faculties across the university to promote accessibility and full participation for people with disabilities. He leaves us with one thought: “It is important to understand that barriers are very difficult to perceive unless you are the one experiencing them. Learning together is the only way to generate inclusive design that meaningfully removes barriers for everyone.”

This perspective also reflects the experiences of spring 2023 graduate Gloria Boateng. Speaking to the program’s collaborative nature, Boateng reiterated that she “studied with individuals from diverse backgrounds with diverse observations and experiences about disability.”

The program emboldened and provided her with the skillset and perspectives she needed. Experts from disability organizations and disabled people are directly involved in course delivery.

“It has helped me debunk my earlier cultural socialization and assumptions about persons with disabilities which were shrouded in myths and superstitions,” Boateng says. She hopes to eventually do the same for future generations with effective community education to shift society away from ableist attitudes and narratives about people with disabilities.  

The event will be presented via Zoom by the faculty’s Office of Equity, Access and Participation (formerly Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) and College of Rehabilitation Sciences, along with UM’s Office for Equity and Transformation and Interdisciplinary master’s program in disability studies.

Part of the College of Rehabilitation Sciences’ Listen Up Speaker Series, the one-hour event is a conversation between Dr. Nancy Hansen, professor and director of the interdisciplinary master’s program in disability studies at UM and Cade Kuehl, research assistant with the Office of Equity, Access and Participation.

The conversation will be based on a Canadian Medical Association Journal article published in April 2019 titled “Ableism: The undiagnosed malady afflicting medicine.” A Q&A session will follow.

The article was written by Dr. Heidi Janz, core faculty member and associate adjunct professor with the John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre at the University of Alberta. Janz, who has cerebral palsy, specializes in disability ethics, critical disability studies and research-based drama. She is an active disability-rights advocate at the national level, as well as a writer, playwright and filmmaker. Her creative work focuses on making the experiences of people with disabilities accessible to audiences made up of both people with disabilities and people who are temporarily able-bodied.

The event organizers said ableism excludes people with disabilities from fully participating in, benefiting from, and contributing to society. UM complies with the Accessibilities for Manitobans Act, they said, but needs to do more to identify, address and dismantle ableism.

“The relationship around ableism is not well understood. This conversation is a great place to start,” said Hansen, a graduate of the University of Glasgow and co-editor of the Routledge History of Disability and Untold Stories: A Canadian Disability History Reader.

“We need transformational change,” said Valerie Williams, director, equity, access and participation for the Rady Faculty. “These conversations are the beginning, to raise awareness and see change in attitudes and behaviours.”

The panel discussion is open to all Rady faculty members, staff and learners. See the event listing for more details.

Nancy Hansen, Director of the Interdisciplinary Master’s program in Disability Studies

A new UM project addressing inequities experienced by those with disabilities because of systemic ableism has received federal support through the inaugural Robbins‐Ollivier Award for Excellence in Equity.

The research team is anchored by Dr. Nancy Hansen and Dr. Diane Driedger of the interdisciplinary master’s program in disability studies, along with Dr. Reg Urbanowski, dean of the College of Rehabilitation Sciences in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences. The research team and efforts by UM to implement its findings will be co-ordinated by Dr. Tina Chen, UM executive lead for equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI).

The new award is named in honour of researchers Michèle Ollivier and Wendy Robbins, who worked to increase the level of equity in federal research funding in Canada along with a group including UM faculty member Dr. Susan Prentice. With the Robbins-Ollivier Award, the Canada Research Chairs Program seeks to support game-changing new ideas to address persistent systemic barriers through funding of $100,000 for one year.

The successful project, titled “Dismantling Ableism and Promoting Equity for People with Disabilities,” is rooted in university-wide collaboration and critical disability studies. The project aims to increase understanding of the impacts of ableism on disabled persons and, ultimately, to embed anti-ableism across university policies and practices.

Ableism is a set of beliefs that able-bodied norms should be the standard by which everyone is measured. It is deeply engrained in our systems, the researchers say. It needs to be unpacked, they say, so that the institutional structures, cultural norms and individual beliefs and behaviours that function to maintain the status quo and exclude people with disabilities are changed.

The project further addresses the marginalization of disability and anti-ableism in EDI research and initiatives. The project will also promote frameworks that situate Indigenous engagement and achievement, gender diversity and anti-racism in relation to anti-ableism. 

The multi-faceted approach by the principal investigators will have faculty leads, research associates, student research assistants and UM staff collaborating on an audit of UM programs for people with disabilities. This will include mapping the complex ways in which ableism operates in relation to diverse disabilities and developing a “holistic equity impact assessment” tool to be used in policy review.

“Being awarded the inaugural Robbins-Ollivier Award is a tremendous honour for UM and is a wonderful affirmation of the capacity of our community to be leaders in addressing systemic inequities,” says Chen.

“To effectively support people with disabilities in our community, we must recognize that ableism is a system of oppression, like racism, colonization, sexism and homo‐ and trans‐phobia. The “Dismantling Ableism” project will be critical to the success of ongoing equity, diversity and inclusion efforts at UM.”

The project is also supported by Dr. Annemieke Farenhorst, associate vice-president (research), and Dr. Tracey Peter, vice-provost (academic affairs), both of whom have expertise in gender equity, EDI and social justice. Research support will also be provided by sociologist Dr. Jennifer Dengate, UM director of EDI research. The project will result in a University Anti-Ableism and Accessibility Framework to guide future action for equity for people with disabilities.

“Once complete, these resolutions will ensure that the lessons learned are translated into institutional action,” says UM Vice-President (Research and International) Dr. Mario Pinto. “This project has the potential to spark necessary change and will ensure the support of leadership to achieve accountability across campuses.”

These ideas are central to the work of UM Distinguished Visiting Lecturer Peter Simcock, Ph.D., School of Education and Social Work, from Birmingham City University, United Kingdom. Dr. Simcock will be in Winnipeg hosting events related to his research and experience in the physical and sensory disability field. His areas of specialization include social work and sensory impairment, deafness, deafblindness and dual sensory loss as well as working with disabled adults and older people.

“We are an ageing population, and as the 2021 UK census data reveal, if ageing does anything, it makes us more diverse, not less.  It is thus essential to examine the experiences of older people through an intersectional lens, including the intersections of age and disability.  In adopting a strengths based perspective to these phenomena, I hope to challenge negative stereotypes of older disabled people as passive and lacking in agency, and highlight to participants the competence and unique contributions this population make to all our lives,” says Dr. Simcock.

“Disability is a natural part of the human condition. Disabled people comprise the world’s largest minority over one billion worldwide. Yet, despite our numbers, the experience and lives of disabled people are not well understood. Education is the key to begin to address misconceptions about disability and disabled people,” says Nancy Hansen, Disability Studies.

The Faculty of Social Work and the Interdisciplinary Master’s Program in Disability Studies are excited to host Dr. Simcock and bring disability research and resources to the UM community and to practitioners working with disabled people and older adults ageing into disability.

“Faculty of Social Work educates social workers to work with people with disabilities from an empowerment perspective and conducts research to help improve services for people with disabilities,” says Sid Frankel, Ph.D, Faculty of Social Work.

Dr. Simcock will share his knowledge, research and experience through an in-service workshop and a public lecture and will be available to meet with UM faculty and students the week of July 17, 2023.

Crossing the Divide between Ageing and Disability: A Workshop for Social Workers
In-service workshop for faculty, students and practicing professionals

Event details:
Date: Tuesday, July 18, 2023
Time: 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM (CDT)
Location: Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, 432 Ellice Avenue
Free event, registration required.
To register and for more information, please visit: https://umanitoba.ca/social-work/community-and-partners#distinguished-guest-lecture-series

The Strength of Disability: Managing, Coping, Innovating and Contributing to Society
Public lecture open to faculty, students, practicing professionals and interested members of the community.

Event details:
Date: Thursday, July 20, 2023
Time: 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM (CDT)
Location: Carol Shields Auditorium, Millennium Public Library, 251 Donald Street
Free event, no registration required, open to all
Live stream available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f46AFUZOWY
For more information, please visit: https://umanitoba.ca/social-work/community-and-partners#distinguished-guest-lecture-series

For more information on connecting with Peter Simcock, please email Berea Henderson @ Berea.henderson@umanitoba.ca

Pauld, who has a physical disability, notified the university’s access centre.

“They told me to talk to my professor.… My professor told me to reach out to the access centre. So it was just this … back and forth that seemed to never end. My professor was not reading the emails in their entirety, which meant I had to resend.…

“The burden of accessibility shouldn’t be on the student.”

Individual learners, faculty and staff with disabilities are forced to expend constant effort to be accommodated at universities, which reinforces their experience of being marginalized, panelists including Pauld said in an online discussion called Ableism in the Academy: Who’s Listening?

The May 15 panel discussion, attended by more than 100 people, was part of the Listen Up series on the theme of systemic ableism.

It was hosted by the Office of Equity, Access and Participation (formerly Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, the College of Rehabilitation Sciences, the UM interdisciplinary master’s program in disability studies and the UM Office for Equity and Transformation. Valerie Williams, director of the Office of Equity, Access and Participation, was the moderator.

Pauld, a Montreal-based queer Black activist who will soon start graduate studies, said universities should adopt truly inclusive policies that accommodate diverse needs as a matter of course, rather than putting the onus on individuals to prove their needs.

Universities “still require disabled students to do the majority of the labour necessary in order for them to have the same rights as other students,” she said.

Pauld called on educational institutions to ensure that people with disabilities are supported, respected and valued. “I’ve had exams during snowstorms,” she said. “Do you [as a student with mobility challenges] fail your class, or do you put your body in danger?”

Panelist Dr. Melanie Thorley manages STAART, an initiative at the University of Greenwich in England that helps students with disabilities to thrive. In the U.K., she said, the term “adjustment” is used rather than “accommodation,” but the burden on individuals is often similar.

“If [we] adopted universal design for learning … we wouldn’t need to make adjustments for certain students,” said Thorley, who has fibromyalgia and identifies as disabled. For example, she noted, institutions could offer many alternatives to a “three-hour sit-down exam” to assess learning.

Panelist Dr. Wesley Crichlow is an African Canadian professor and critical race intersectional, equity, diversity, inclusion and decolonization scholar at Ontario Tech University. 

He said it’s time to stop making case-by-case accommodations and instead make policy changes to ensure that everyone is treated with dignity. “Accommodation is a human thing that all of us need,” he said.

Universities continue to conduct studies, pay consultants, hold focus groups and create task forces rather than taking action to humanize conditions, he said. “We have turned people’s pain and suffering into recommendations that never come to fruition.”

For faculty members with disabilities, the pressures of applying for research grants, obtaining promotions and tenure and publishing can be torturous, said Crichlow, who called for much greater flexibility in terms of deadlines and ways of assessing professors’ contributions.

Policy-making bodies at universities should include people with disabilities, he added, and professors should be required to hire students with disabilities as research assistants.

When the COVID-19 pandemic compelled universities to offer online learning in every program, the panelists said, accessibility improved. Now, however, many universities are scaling back remote learning and requiring a return to campus.

“That is a huge barrier,” Pauld said. “It blocks access to education for many students who cannot physically attend.… And that simply is ableism.”

On a positive note, Thorley said the initiative she leads in the U.K. – staffed entirely by disabled people – has helped many students with disabilities to achieve academic success.

“If we support people, they can excel,” she said.

View the 90-minute Zoom recording of the Ableism in the Academy: Who’s Listening? panel discussion.

Dr. Nancy Hansen and Dr. Diane Driedger, faculty members in the Interdisciplinary Master’s Program in Disability Studies at UM, shared that Derksen was a “true pioneer” and “foundational leader” in the disability rights movement in Canada.

“Jim was instrumental in the inclusion of disabled people as a protected group in Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as the Canadian Human Rights Code, during his work with [CCD]. He also played an instrumental role in the founding of Disabled Peoples’ International in 1981, which is now a coalition of disabled people’s groups in over 100 countries,” adds Driedger.

“Jim formulated and carried out the disabled rights movement’s philosophy of ‘A Voice Our Own’ from the mid-1970s until his passing. Jim’s writing is an important reading in my Introduction to Disability Studies course at UM and he was also a frequent guest lecturer in my classes.”

“On a personal note, I worked with Jim for over 40 years in various volunteer capacities and counted him as an important mentor and friend. Jim was a humble and welcoming person with a great intellect.”

Born in Morris, Manitoba in 1947, Derksen was disabled during the polio epidemic in 1951 at the age of six. Growing up in an era where those with disabilities didn’t have rights enshrined, Derksen famously advocated all levels and stripes of government for physical and mental disability rights inclusion in Section 15 of the Charter in the 1980s – an effort that ended up successful.

Throughout his life, Derksen was employed in disability policy work by the Government of Manitoba. He helped to develop organizations including the CCD, MLPH, Disabled Peoples’ International and the Canadian Disability Rights Council. He was also a recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal – recognizing the many other committees and groups he helped coordinate or advise through the years.

“He had a dream,” says Driedger. “As he stated in a 1983 speech in Dakar, Senegal at a meeting of Disabled Peoples’ International: ‘I sometimes think human society is asleep and dreaming a dream where some people are perfect, beautiful and powerful, and others are flawed, unbeautiful and powerless. In the dream, the perfect people play their immortal parts and the imperfect people are rejected from human life. We [disabled people] are helping to awaken humanity to the reality that all people are flawed and yet beautiful, and each one limited in his or her unique way and yet powerful.’”

For more on the passing and life of Jim Derksen, and to read his UM convocation speech from 2009, see the CCD tribute written this week.

The book formally launched at a webinar on Wednesday, October 20, where Ireland and Thompson Rivers University co-author, Ruby Dhand, introduced the book to an online audience of about 200 guests. After, Ireland kindly took a moment to talk with Robson Hall Communications about the book.

What was the catalyst behind the creation of this book?

Dr. Laverne Jacobs, Professor of Law at Windsor had the vision and drive to bring this team of scholars together. Under her stewardship the book began to take shape. She kept each of us on track and her tremendous leadership is the reason we were able to complete this project. There was a need for a text like this in Canada and Dr. Jacobs wanted to bring together a group of diverse scholars to critically unpack the many issues facing people with disabilities. 

What was it like collaborating on this project with the other authors?

The process of collaboration with these incredible scholars has been extremely rewarding. This book is so much more than the sum of its parts with each author bringing a unique and valuable perspective that has helped to create a singular and important source of information about the intersection of law and disability. This was a very fun project and I am so glad to have been given the opportunity to write with, and learn from, such an amazing team. 

Who can benefit from the knowledge in this book?

 Everyone! The idea behind the book was to provide a comprehensive guide to law and disability in Canada for multiple academic disciplines as well as practicing lawyers. Instructors in law, sociology, social work, law and society, and critical disability studies will find real value in the varied perspectives presented. There is no doubt that lawyers and judges dealing with these issues will also find the in-depth case analysis extremely useful. 

What impact might the knowledge in this book have on the justice system or in a courtroom?

You are always hopeful that your work will be widely read and impactful. This book is a very readable resource that gives lawyers and judges a comprehensive overview of the shape and dimension of law and disability in Canada. As such, I would expect jurists to use it as a resource when tackling some of the very important legal issues that arise in the disability context. 

What did you learn from this book-writing experience that you would be inspired to pass on in the classroom to your students or share with your colleagues going forward?

Firstly, the importance of collaboration and the sharing of knowledge between scholars. The process of reviewing each other’s work invariably makes the final product so much better. Secondly, that you should not be afraid to take the opportunities that present themselves to you. I remember years ago attending a lecture by former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Rosalie Abella where she told law students to grab hold of every opportunity to grow and develop as a lawyer. I couldn’t agree more. When the opportunity to join this team presented itself I jumped on board and I am so glad I did!