Blog: Notes from the Field

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.

Mothers in Diaspora: An Interview with Sharon Findlay

Sharon Findlay is a Project Manager at the University of Guelph’s Live Work Well Research Centre (LWWRC), providing leadership, strategic planning, and oversight for major long-term SSHRC- and WAGE-funded grant projects. Her research at the University of Guelph for her BA and MA in European Studies centred around connecting people and their stories; her work looked at migration, oral history, individual and collective memory and the concept of home, with a particular interest in the representations of narratives through art and performance. Since 2015, Sharon has co-developed Italian Heritage Projects in collaboration with the Italian Studies program at the University of Guelph to collect and curate stores of Italian immigrants to Canada. In addition, she is also the project developer for a SSHRC-funded oral history Italian Heritage Project initiative at the University of Waterloo 2023-24. Sharon consults as a freelance grant writer and project developer in the heritage and arts sectors. When not at work, Sharon can be found hiking with her daughter and dog, biking, exploring areas of natural beauty, and spending quality time with friends and loved ones.

The Research Experience: My Co-op Work Term at the Live Work Well Research Centre

Sakhi Sanghvi completed her winter 2024 Co-op Work Term with the Live Work Well Research Centre. This was her experience.

Indigenous and Autistic: Nothing About Us Without Us

April is World Autism Month, which is intended to promote connectedness with and inclusion of autistic people. It was previously known as "Autism Awareness Month," and some organizations still refer to it that way. However, autistic-led organizations and communities have long called for a shift toward "Autism Acceptance" or "Autism Appreciation" to reflect their understanding of autism as a lived experience, not an illness or condition. They are advocating for the right to lead the way in policy and research about their lives.