Research summary
More than six million Canadians identify as having a disability. Yet, disabled Canadians face a plethora of accessibility barriers every day. Disability is still largely viewed as a medical phenomenon, and many of its social, cultural and political aspects are underexamined. As Canada Research Chair in Critical Disability Studies and Media Technologies, Dr. Arseli Dokumaci’s goal is to unsettle and rethink our society’s misconceptions of disability, broader oppressive structures, and disability discrimination.
She and her research team are focusing on disability, access, environment, care and research creation. Through community-driven and transdisciplinary activities, they are providing a space where disability expertise and knowledge can be generated, circulated and accumulated. Dokumaci’s team aims to redefine disability as an opening for imaginative possibilities, artful everyday choreographies, and activist affordances, rather than as a “tragedy.”