Blog: Notes from the Field

Complex Erasures: Re/Production of Disability under Settler Colonialism, an Interview with Kaitlyn Pothier and Kathryn Reinders

Kaitlyn Pothier (she/they) has a Master’s degree from the University of Guelph. She completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Guelph in sociology, criminology, and public policy. Her research interests include intersectional theory, gender-based violence, restorative and transformative justice, family law, disability studies, and Indigenous scholarship. Kaitlyn worked as a graduate research assistant (GRA) on several projects with the Live Work Well Research Centre (LWWRC), including the shadow report with the Native Women’s Association of Canada, Disability and Livelihoods in Canada, and Reimagining Livelihoods.

From Forums to Feedback: The Composite Stories Experience

Three composite stories were created using data from the Reimagining Livelihoods project and the Disability and Livelihoods in Canada partnership. This blog describes what composite stories are and how we developed these three stories.

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Creative and Inclusive: My Co-op Experience with the Live Work Well Research Centre in Winter 2025

Jordyne Craig worked as a Co-op Student with the Live Work Well Research Centre (LWWRC) in Winter 2025 and continued as a part-time student in Summer 2025. This is her experience.

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Disability Pride Month: Not Just Surviving, But Thriving

July is Disability Pride Month, a time to celebrate the identities, cultures, and contributions of our community members with disabilities. It is also a time to challenge the stereotypes, barriers, and ableism that prevent disabled people from achieving their goals. This month, we reached out to Kathryn Reinders to share her experiences as a disabled student-researcher working on disability research.

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The LWWRC Summer ‘25 Reading List to Engage with Our Clusters

The Live Work Well Research Centre (LWWRC) is home to five research clusters exploring complex themes and the ways they influence work, family, and well-being in all their diverse forms: “All My Relations” Indigenous Ways of Knowing; Disabilities, Access, and Inclusion; Displacements, Emergence, and Change; Reimagining Care; and Sexual and Gender Diversity.

Sexuality and Gender Studies at UofG: Fostering Pride in Academia

Adam Davies (they/them) is a professor in the Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition at the University of Guelph. They are also a co-lead of the Sexual and Gender Diversity cluster at the Live Work Well Research Centre. For Pride Month, we reached out to Adam to hear more about this program and the impact it has had on the 2SLGBTQIA+ community on campus.

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Woven Stories: How Beadwork Reconnects Me to Indigenous History

Maegan Ellis (she/her) is a master's student in the University of Guelph Department of History, studying under Dr. Kim Anderson. She is researching the creation of Métis beadwork and the history of Métis women in Saskatchewan. As a part of Indigenous History Month, Maegan shares her experiences learning how to bead and how this activity connects her to Indigenous history.

Social Practice and Transformational Change PhD: An Interview with Amy Kipp

We had the pleasure of interviewing Amy Kipp, one of the Co-leads of the Live Work Well Research Centre’s Reimagining Care Cluster. Amy Kipp is the second person to have completed the PhD in Social Practice and Transformational Change (SOPR) from the University of Guelph as of January 28, 2025, when she defended her thesis. SOPR is a four-year, full-time graduate program that combines research-intensive classroom study with experiential and problem-based learning. The program started in 2019 with its first cohort.

Global Accessibility Day: An Interview with UofG’s Digital Accessibility Resource Centre

Global Accessibility Awareness Day falls on May 15 this year and encourages people around the world to think and learn about digital access and inclusion. It is important to recognize those who live with disabilities and impairments and how inaccessible web content can be a barrier to their knowledge and access. Digital accessibility refers to the right for people with disabilities and/or impairments to consume and interact with digital content. Digital accessibility can refer to alt-text on images for users who are blind or have low-vision, captioning for users who are hard of hearing or deaf, adaptive hardware for those with motor impairments to navigate computers and mobile technologies, and cognitive accommodations for those with learning disabilities or impairments.

National Caregiver Day: The Many Forms of Caregiving

National Caregiver Day on the first Tuesday in April of each year aims to recognize caregivers’ importance in society and to celebrate and thank caregivers for their work amid the challenges involved. Although caregivers are essential to healthcare and enhance the quality of life for those needing care, many difficulties impact their ability to provide this service for others. To learn about what it is like to be a caregiver, Madison Harrison, a former student staff member in the LWWRC, talked to a Personal Support Worker (PSW) and wrote this blog about the challenges and rewards of being a caregiver in a retirement home. We also provide two additional perspectives: unpaid care work required of family members, and the issue of young disabled individuals being placed in nursing homes rather than assisted-living care homes.