Dr. Deborah Stienstra holds the Jarislowsky Chair in Families and Work at the University of Guelph, where she is the Director of the Live Work Well Research Centre and Professor of Political Science. She is the author of About Canada: Disability Rights published by Fernwood in 2020.

We spoke with Dr. Stienstra about the new Canadian Feminist Disability Coalition, and the impacts of this project as it ensures the voices of women living with disabilities is not only kept at the centre of the work, but in the administration of it.

"We're percolating change," Stienstra said. She is one of the 25% of Canadian women, who self-identify as living with a disability and has been left to self-advocate for change, in hopes of individual accommodation. And while the self-advocacy of women living with disabilities has resulted in transformations in some communities, the Canadian Feminist Disability Coalition is bringing these communities together, and in thirty months, helping to realize a world where these talented, valued, and diverse women can look around and see themselves included.

Dr Stienstra's research and publications explore the intersections of disabilities, gender, childhood, and Indigenousness, identifying barriers to, as well as possibilities for, engagement and transformative change. Her work also contributes to comparative and trans/international research and theory related to intersectional disability rights and justice.

Show Links:

To learn more about this awesome project, check out the Live Work Well Research Centre's website and sign up for their newsletter:

https://liveworkwell.ca/news/2022/12/announcing-canadian-feminist-disability-coalition