INVISIBILITY - Key Persons
Angela Underhill (BA, MSc) is a PhD student at the University of Guelph in the Family Relations and Human Development Program. She is a research associate with ReVision: The Centre for Art and Social Justice and the research coordinator for the Women and HIV Research Program in Toronto. Angela is passionate about sexual and reproductive health and challenging social and health inequities through research.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Principal Investigator and Co - Director of the from Invisibility to Inclusion
Carla Rice is the principal investigator and co-director of the From Invisibility to Inclusion project. She is a Canada Research Chair in Care, Gender, and Relationships and a Full Professor in the Family Relations and Applied Nutrition department at the University of Guelph. As Founder and Academic Director of Re•Vision: The Centre for Art and Social Justice and the Revisioning Differences Media Arts Laboratory (REDLAB), Dr. Rice seeks to explore how communities can use arts-informed research to advance social inclusion and justice by challenging stereotypes.
Job Titles:
- Senior Director, Consulting and Partnerships at the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion
Cathy is the Senior Director, Consulting and Partnerships at the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI). She is a globally-connected Canadian Diversity & Inclusion and Corporate Social Responsibility professional with over 25 years' experience in leadership and strategic project management, in human resources and learning and development within corporate, government, and non-profit organizations. For the past 14 years, she has specialized in diversity and inclusion and corporate social responsibility. Currently Cathy leads CCDI's consulting service delivery teams, overseeing the services CCDI provides to clients in assessment, strategy development, and advisory services.
Deanna Matzanke B.A., LL.B, B.C.L., GPHR, HCS is a bilingual Strategic HR and Diversity Professional and employment lawyer with over 25 years' experience in all aspects of minority inclusion and employment systems and practices. Deanna is currently the Senior Director, Ideas, Insights & Innovation at the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI). Before joining CCDI, she acted as the head of Diversity and Inclusion in the Global HR function at Scotiabank where she was responsible for a wide range of employment strategies. Her portfolio included fostering and integrating the bank's Global Diversity & Inclusion Strategy for leveraging diversity across the employee, customer and community segments and implementing the Bank's Global Human Resources Policy and Compliance Framework, which addressed a large number of key areas such as privacy, occupational health and safety, human rights, flexible work, accommodation and accessibility.
Job Titles:
- Co - Director of the from Invisibility to Inclusion
Donna Lero is co-director of the From Invisibility to Inclusion project and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Family Relations & Applied Nutrition at the University of Guelph. Her interests include the relationship between care, gender and employment; early childhood education and care policies; disability policies and the inclusion of people with disabilities in workplaces; and policies and practices that support caregivers of family members with a disability or age-related health conditions.
Job Titles:
- Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian
Elaine Newman is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian consulting and learning firm, Global Learning and its subsidiary FutureProofing.Today. Since 1996, she has worked with numerous private and public employers from all market segments focusing on such areas as Diversity and Inclusion, Leadership and Management, and Organizational Effectiveness. Prior, Elaine spent 15 years as Executive Consultant to Xerox Business Services.
Elisabeth Harrison is a PhD Candidate in Critical Disability Studies at York University, where she received a SSHRC CGS Doctoral Scholarship. Her dissertation research uses narrative and digital storytelling methods to illuminate trans, genderqueer, gender nonconforming and nonbinary people's experiences with mental health care in Ontario. She has taught courses in women and gender studies, psychology, and education. Her research interests are in Mad studies, fat studies, and intersectionality theory.
Kate Welsh is a white settler, cis queer crip community activist, feminist artist and educator. Kate is part of the i2i research team and has a Masters of Social Justice education and BA in sociology and drama studies. Her activism centres episodic disabilities and she is passionate about building communities of care and striving to create safer, anti-oppressive spaces. Living with both visible and invisible episodic disabilities, Kate navigates complex experiences through art, activism and community care. Kate's projects include Equity Buttons, CripCareCards and Community Resistance Intimacy Project (CRIP). Check out her websites katewelsh.ca and equitybuttons.com and instagram @equitybuttons and @cripcarecards
Lacey Croft is a PhD candidate in Sociology at York University, where she is also a member of the executive committee for the Global Labour Research Centre. Starting from the standpoint of displaced workers, her dissertation research tells the story of workers' struggles and strategies for dealing with chronic and traumatic stress following a factory closure. Lacey bridges her research on workplace stress with teaching, both as a sessional instructor in Labour Studies and yoga teacher.
Job Titles:
- Coordinator of Episodic Disability Initiatives at Realize
Melissa is the Coordinator of Episodic Disability Initiatives at Realize. She has worked in the field of health and HIV for over 15 years as an educator and facilitator, developing and delivering workshops to diverse audiences across Canada. She has worked extensively with marginalized, LGBTQ, and Indigenous people. Melissa's experience includes front-line work at YouthCO in Vancouver, 8 years at CATIE as Regional Educator for the Prairies, and has helped create online learning courses using her background in curriculum development and adult education.
Job Titles:
- Manager of Workplace Wellbeing Services at Ryerson University
Myra Lefkowitz is the inaugural manager of Workplace Wellbeing Services at Ryerson University. Prior to arriving at Ryerson in 2013, Myra was the director of Health and Wellbeing Programs and Services at the University of Toronto. Myra has presented broadly on accommodation for employees with disabilities, healthy workplace and issues related to employee wellbeing. Myra has a Master of Social Work from the University of Toronto.
Odelia Bay is a doctoral student at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University and holds a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship to Honour Nelson Mandela. She has a JD from the University of Ottawa and an LLM from Columbia Law School. Odelia is called to the Ontario Bar and taught law at the University of Victoria. Prior to studying law, she worked as a broadcast journalist.
Roxanne Mykitiuk, BA, LLB, LLM, JSD, Professor (Osgoode Hall Law School), Director of the Disability Law Intensive program. Roxanne is the author/co-author of numerous articles, book chapters and books exploring the legal, ethical and social implications of repro-genetic technologies and the legal construction and regulation of embodiment and disability. Recent research creates and investigates arts-based methods - digital stories and drama-based narratives - as a means of challenging and re-representing experiences and conceptions of disability and normalcy.
Job Titles:
- Research Project Manager for the from Invisibility to Inclusion
Tracy Tidgwell is the Research Project Manager for the From Invisibility to Inclusion project at Re•Vision: The Centre for Art and Social Justice at the University of Guelph. She's a community researcher, organizer, activist, and cultural producer and has worked in the folds of Toronto's queer arts communities over the past many years in performance, analog photography, and writing. Her work explores process, connection, creativity, fatness and embodied difference.