Rheanna Robinson is an Associate Professor in the Department of First Nations Studies at the University of Northern British Columbia. A Métis scholar and member of the Manitoba Métis Federation, Rheanna was raised in Smithers, BC, and has been actively involved with UNBC as a student, staff member, faculty, and volunteer since 1995. Her research focuses on Indigenous disability studies, Indigenous education, Indigenous theory and methods, and Indigenous-led community-based research. She is deeply committed to advancing First Nations Studies and the role of Indigenous Knowledge in higher education and the world.

As principles of Indigenization, decolonization, reconciliation, and EDI continue to inform the strategic directions and priorities of universities across Canada, it is imperative the perspectives and aspirations of individuals directly affected by university policy and practice are meaningfully represented. In this talk, Dr. Rheanna Robinson will draw on her experience as an Indigenous scholar that lives with chronic illness and disability to describe how her academic research within Indigenous Disability Studies represents a compelling example of how Indigenous knowledges offer the world meaningful representations of equity and inclusion in diverse and varying ways. 

Luke Reid is a human rights lawyer and a former social worker who has spent his career serving clients with disabilities. Over the course of his career Luke has represented numerous students with disabilities in litigation with school boards and universities. He recently worked at ARCH Disability Law Centre, where he led their education law practice. He has represented clients in numerous fora including the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, and in various appellate Courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal. He has also led multiple law reform and research projects on disability-related issues in the education system and has significant expertise in human rights, education, and accessibility law. Luke is currently Counsel for the Canadian Human Rights Commission and is completing his PhD at the University of Toronto. Luke is acting as a collaborator in a personal capacity, and is not acting as a representative of any clients or employers, past or present. 

Anne Duffy is an academic psychiatrist with dual fellowship training in child and adolescent psychiatry and adult mood disorders. She has a longstanding clinical and research focus on understanding the development of mood and anxiety disorders in adolescents and young adults and translating findings into effective and engaging early intervention solutions.

Dr Duffy is a Full Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Queen’s University in Canada and a Visiting Full Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford in the UK. She is also the Principal Investigator and Director of the newly founded U-Flourish Centre for Student Mental Health Research established with a philanthropic donation from the Rossy Foundation with partner funding from other philanthropic research foundations including McCall MacBain and Mach Gaensslen. Her collaborative multidisciplinary research has been funded for over two decades by competitive national and international operating grants from CIHR (Canada), NARSAD (US), and the MRC (UK). The work has been published in major journals around the world and across disciplines and she has been the recipient of several awards and distinctions including a Visiting Research Fellowship at All Souls College at the University of Oxford

Jay Dolmage is a Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo.  Committed to disability justice  scholarship, service, and teaching, Jay’s work brings together rhetoric, writing, disability studies, and critical pedagogy. His first book, entitled Disability Rhetoric, was published with Syracuse University Press in 2014. Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education was published with Michigan University Press in 2017 and is available in an open-access version online. Disabled Upon Arrival: Eugenics, Immigration, and the Construction of Race and Disability was published in 2018 with Ohio State University Press. Jay is the Founding Editor of the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies. 

Kelci Harris is an assistant professor in the Psychology Department. She teaches courses in social and personality psychology for undergraduates at the 2nd, 3rd, and 4^th year levels, with class sizes ranging from 250 to 25 students. Her research focuses on friendship and the experiences of racialized people in higher education. She is a co-founder of Flourish, a network for pre-tenure faculty of color in social and personality psychology. She serves as a co-chair on the University of Victoria’s Scarborough Charter Steering Committee. 

Mark Johnston is the District Principal of Inclusive Education Services for the Sooke School District. His work centers around providing support and leadership to families, students and staff around inclusive education and accessibility.

Dr. Devi Mucina is an Associate Dean Indigenous in the Faculty of Graduate Studies and a Professor in the School of Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria. His scholarly interest is in African Indigenous masculinities. His current research is on Gule Wamukulu, a governance spiritual mask dance of the Chewa people, which engages questions about African Indigenous Futures, Community Health / Wellbeing and Gender Relations. 

Noa Arama is a Mathematics and Computer Science student at the University of Victoria. Supported by an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA), she conducts research in PanLab, focusing on the analysis and simulation of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network topologies. Drawing from her own experiences and her work as a teaching assistant, Noa brings a student-centered perspective to conversations about accessibility and accommodations in academia.

Andrea Armstrong is a third-year mechanical engineering student at the University of Victoria, she is also a Co-founder of Peggy Workwear, a licensed welding engineering technologist, CWB welding inspector and Redseal welder. She has worked in industry for nine years, primarily in ship building constructing Canadian Naval and Canadian Coast Guard Vessels. Throughout each level of her education she has relied on accommodations to reach her true academic potential, therefore she is passionate about increasing accessibility for other disabled students. 

Asma Noureen is a PhD student in Leadership Studies at the University of Victoria. Asma holds a Master of Arts in Critical Gender Studies (2022) and brings a strong background in equity-focused research and advocacy. She is engaged in research work and with the UVic Pride Collective, supporting initiatives for BIPOC queer students. Asma’s research explores the lived experiences of racialized, queer students in post-secondary institutions, with a focus on how they navigate institutional structures and access support. As a member of the Graduate Students’ Society Board of Directors, Asma is currently involved in discussions with the Faculty of Graduate Studies on accommodation policies for graduate students, bringing both academic and lived insight to institutional change.