The LWWRC Blog: Notes from the Field

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.

Everyone Counts: The Growing Crisis in the Developmental sector

In Canada, March is Developmental Disabilities Month, a time when we recognize the unique skills of people with developmental disabilities and the challenges they continue to face. During this month, we spread awareness for those living with disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and any form of a learning disorder.

Navigating University with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Vanessa Bonham is a fourth-year undergraduate student pursuing an Honours English degree with a minor in Creative Writing and works part-time with the Live Work Well Research Centre as the Communications and Research Assistant. She uses her writing as a medium to explore autism advocacy for late-diagnosed girls. She recently published an article outlining the challenges of using public transit, and in this blog she is exploring the barriers of going to university and being autistic.

4 Apps for the Disabled Community

The Live Work Well Research Centre prioritizes making content accessible on the web. But what do we think you should know about apps that are specifically designed for the disabled community? Below are four apps we think should be on your radar, either as a member of the disabled community or not. Each of these apps is available via iOS on the App Store and Android through Google Play.

Poverty Awareness Month: Centring Lived Experience and Community Collaboration to Create Lasting Change

Maggie Phelan is a lived expert and advocate involved with the Guelph Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination. In this capacity, she co-chairs Community Voices, a group for and by people with lived and living experiences of poverty to come together to learn, share personal experiences, and advocate for change. She also sits on several other committees in Guelph and Wellington to advocate and advise for poverty related issues including The Guelph Wellington Drug Strategy Peer Advisory Committee, Guelph Community Health Centre Client Advisory Committee, Wellington Guelph Food System Resiliency Table, and The Wellington County Housing and Homelessness Advisory Committee. She is passionate about examining intersectional experiences related to poverty and the effects colonialism has in relation to poverty and related issues. She finds great purpose in giving back to her community and helping people who are struggling on a grass roots level. 

Supporting Survivors and Gender Equity lab (SSAGE LAB): Research as a powerful tool for creating meaningful change for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

We come together to remind everyone of the importance of Canada’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women on December 6. Considering the meaning of the day, which serves as a call to action in empowering survivors and preventing and reducing gender-based violence (GBV), we want to take a moment to recognize the important research being conducted at Dr. Paula Barata’s Supporting Survivors and Gender Equity Lab (SSAGE Lab). Paula is a professor in the Department of Psychology and the Associate Dean, Academic (ADA), of the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences (CSAHS). She has been engaged in research related to ameliorating violence against women for over 20 years.

Stop Calling Me Differently-abled

Lorelei Root works as an accessibility specialist, with a focus in game development and making digital content more accessible to people with disabilities. She is the chair of the City of Guelph’s Accessibility Advisory Committee and a board member for the Canadian Centre for Disability Studies, and serves on a number of other boards and committees in an accessibility advisory capacity. Due to the significant overlap between disabled and unhoused communities, Lorelei also does a lot of work as a volunteer with various community outreach groups serving the unhoused, low income, and food-insecure populations in Guelph.

Reimagining Policy for QTBIPOC Survivors: “We Keep Us Safe”

November 25 signifies International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and marks the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) campaign. This is an important time to raise public awareness, reflect, and take action against GBV and its structural, societal, and systemic pervasiveness through individual and collective spheres.

Want to contribute?

Welcome to Notes from the Field, where you can read the latest post from the Centre’s blog, where we invite organizations and individuals whose work and values align with our own to share their thoughts and musings about their work and anything that may be important to them. Are you interested in writing a blog? You may be eligible for an honorarium of $100 for a blog of 500-900 words on a topic that fits the Centre’s Work, Vision, and Values. The blog contribution is approved by the Director and edited as needed by the Centre. Please send your proposal to liveworkwell@uoguelph.ca
and let us know what you would like to write about!