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Transforming Post-Secondary Education for Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Disabled and Deaf Students

On January 21, 2025, from 2:00 to 3:30 pm ET, join the National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS) for a presentation by Dr. Fiona Whittington-Walsh – Lead Advisor on Disability, Accessibility and Inclusion at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU).

In this session, Dr. Whittington-Walsh will be presenting research results from her project documenting the experiences of Indigenous and non-Indigenous disabled and Deaf post-secondary students across BC. This project has a rich collection of personal stories identifying the many barriers’ post-secondary students experience. These barriers have as their foundation, in colonial, ableist ideas about who belongs in post-secondary education. The goal of the research is to transform post-secondary institutions from a medical, colonial model towards a disability justice model.

Dr. Whittington-Walsh's research was disseminated and shared through a forum theatre performance in 2023 at the Indigenous Disability Awareness Month event she hosted at KPU Surrey campus. Forum Theatre was used to create conversations, challenge stereotypes, and build connections between ableism, disability justice, Indigeneity, and social policy. The theatre work was created in collaboration with a fully inclusive and diverse undergraduate policy studies course at KPU, an Indigenous performer and instructor, and a drama therapist. In July 2024, we received additional funding to film the theatrical vignettes.?  

For this session, Dr Whittington-Walsh’s research results will be shared through discussion and a viewing of the films. This presentation will create important dialogue regarding the many barriers that exist for Indigenous and non-Indigenous disabled and Deaf post-secondary students.  

ASL and LSQ interpretation, EN/FR interpretation, as well as closed captioning will be provided. Registration is required – please register here. For further information and/or to discuss access needs, please contact Chloée C. Godin-Jacques, NEADS’s Education Programming Director, at chloee.godinjacques@neads.ca. This event is a feature of our Virtual Access for All webinar series, which is generously supported by Employment and Social Development Canada's Supports for Student Learning Program.

Meet the Presenter

Dr. Fiona Whittington-Walsh

I am a disabled scholar who teaches in the sociology department. I am passionate about teaching, inclusion, and disability rights.

Because of this I created Including All Citizens Pathway in 2016. I am also the university’s Lead Advisor on Disability, Accessibility, and Inclusion and past president of Inclusion BC. My main area of focus is fully inclusive and accessible post-secondary opportunities for all students including students with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. A key aspect to all of my work is creating strong connections with the community.

In addition to teaching disability issues in all of my courses, my other areas of research include women and beauty, popular culture and film, social inequality, and community/academic research partnerships. I have also examined the history of disability representation in film starting with how Hollywood films portray people with intellectual/developmental disabilities/differences. This is a collaborative, participatory research project with the Bodies of Film Club a film club that has a wide range of membership including people with intellectual disabilities.  

I have also been privileged to have been on several provincial and national Boards of Directors for non-profit organizations that advocate for the full inclusion of people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities including:

    Board of Directors for Inclusion BC (2014-2023) and was its president of the Board from 2019-2022.

    Board of Directors Inclusion Canada (2018-2022)

    Currently Vice-Chair for New Society Institute (formerly the Institute for Research and Development on Inclusion and Society (IRIS)).

Chloée C. Godin-Jacques, M.A. (she/they) | chloee.godinjacques@neads.ca  
NEADS Educational Programming Director | Directeur.rice du program éducatif de NEADS
National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS) | Association nationale des étudiant(e)s handicapé(e)s au niveau postsecondaire

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