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NEADS Virtual Access for All Webinar on navigating graduate school with a disability! (Friday, April 21 7-8 p.m. ET)

Join the National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS) on Friday, April 21 from 7-8 PM ET on zoom for our latest Virtual Access for All Webinar on navigating graduate school with a disability! This panel highlights how graduate students with disabilities are working in activism spaces to foster a more inclusive learning communities, and features NEADS Research Consultant Elizabeth Mohler, Sohini Chatterjee (PhD Candidate, Western University), Bernard Akuko (Recent graduate, University of Waterloo), and Chloée Godin-Jacques (PhD Candidate, Western University). Participants will learn about negotiating accommodations for learning outside the classroom, strategies to support increased hybrid learning opportunities, and initiatives our panelists are involved with on campus.

Closed captioning will be provided. Online registration is required – please register here. To update accessibility needs from your initial registration, please email event facilitator Elizabeth Mohler at elizabeth.mohler@neads.ca

This event is supported by Employment and Social Development Canada, and is a feature of our Virtual Access for All webinar series.

Meet the Speakers

Elizabeth Mohler (she/her/elle)

Elizabeth Mohler currently works for NEADS as a Research Consultant, where she leads the Virtual Access for All Project and writes its quarterly publication, State of the Schools. She also works for Ryerson Magnet as their Inclusive Hiring Project Coordinator, sits on the Education Standards Committee for the Ontario Government, and is an experienced presenter, keynote speaker, lecturer, and published writer. Elizabeth is currently conducting Doctoral research at Western University, where she explores the impact of access to direct funding for self-managed attendant services on occupational performance and engagement of persons with disabilities.

Chloée Godin-Jacques (she/they/elle/iel)

Chloée Catherine (she/they) is a white settler disabled queer person. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D in Education at Western University. Chloée is an activist and strives to generate awareness about accessibility, disability, and intersectionality and dismantle preconceived notions by sharing her own diverse lived experiences through the means of blog posts and social media posts. She is also a Lead Consultant at Chloée Catherine Consulting, where she supports businesses and other organizations to further foster inclusive spaces for disabled persons. Chloée’s personal and professional interests lie within the realms of accessibility, activism, community-building, disability, higher education, intersectionality, and sexuality. You can follow Chloée’s journey via @chloeecatherine (on Instagram) and chloeecatherine.com

Sohini Chatterjee (she/her)

Sohini Chatterjee is a PhD Candidate and Vanier Scholar in the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at The University of Western Ontario. Her work has recently been published in QED: A Journal of GLBTQ Worldmaking, Lateral: Journal of the Cultural Studies Association, Women’s Studies: An Inter-disciplinary Journal, South Asian Popular Culture, and Fat Studies, among others. Her research interests revolve around trans and queer activism, trans and queer disability studies and disability justice, queer cultural studies, and resistance movements in India. She is the co-editor (with Po-Han Lee) of Plural Feminisms: Narrativising Resistance as Everyday Praxis (Bloomsbury Academic, forthcoming).

Bernard Akuoko (he/him)

Bernard is a recent graduate from the Masters of Social Work program from the University of Waterloo. He is a Black male of Ghanaian descent who lives with partial sight known as Retinitis Pigmentosa. Bernard is a registered Social Worker, currently working at the CNIB as an Advocacy and Accessibility Program Lead of Ontario West. Bernard is also a part of the ASE Community Foundation board of directors filling the role of Director of Partnerships, a member of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, an original member of CNIB’s Black Voices United group, and a part of multiple coalitions focussing on the awareness of race and/or disability. He is a huge advocate in accentuating the importance of intersectionality in terms of race, ethnicity, gender and disability through his many public speaking engagements and panel appearances. He even coordinates, facilitates, edits and distributes a podcast through the CNIB titled “The Lens: Living Diverse”, which shares experiences and perspectives of diverse communities living with blindness or partial sight. In Bernard’s spare time he enjoys composing hip hop and R&B music, writing poems and scripts, podcasting, public speaking, dancing, running and weigh training. Bernard is a firm believer that diversity, equity, and inclusion should be a top priority of discussion in the community of persons living with disabilities. Ultimately, Bernard hopes to be a role model to others so they too can accomplish their academic, professional and personal goals, despite living with a disability.

About NEADS Virtual Access for All Project

NEADS' Virtual Access for All Project provides educational support and awareness aimed at students with disabilities transitioning into post-secondary education. Accessibility and accommodations resources are provided through our quarterly State of the Schools publications, while our regular webinar series addresses topics such as self-advocacy, accessing accommodations at work and school, and transitioning into the workforce. Further, financial support is available through NEADS' Student Awards Program and Accessibility Resilience Program. Virtual Access for All is generously supported by Employment and Social Development Canada's Goal Getters Program, and has recently received an upward amendment in response to positive reception.

Carly Fox (she/her/elle), carly.fox@neads.ca, NEADS Communications and Partnerships Director |Directrice des communications et des partenariats de NEADS

National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS)
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Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6

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