York University: Graduate Program in Critical Disability Studies

Students & Alumni

Ilona Abramovich works at St. Michael's Hospital, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, as Research Assistant participating in qualitative research projects on inter-professional education, collaboration and knowledge translation. She will start her PhD at OISE, University of Toronto, in September 2009.

Monica Ackermann continues to be a partner at Assistive Vocational Technology Associates (AVTA) (www.avta.ca) providing job accommodation consultation, ergonomic and accessibility services for people with disabilities and their employers. She is currently consultant to the Enabling Solutions Support Management Group at Scotiabank implementing systemic IT accessibility solutions. She is also a member of the AODA Employment Accessibility Standards Development Committee and a board member at ARCH Disability Law Centre.

Scott Campbell is pursuing a doctoral degree in Environmental Studies at York University.

Nathan Chan completed a Masters of Education in Instructional Leadership at University of Illinois at Chicago in May 2007 and will start a Masters in International Business at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration.

Jenny Clement is working at the ARCH Disability Law Center as a Community Legal Worker, conducting a needs assessment across the province of Ontario to determine the legal issues that Ontarians with disabilities encounter.

Julie Devaney performs "My Leaky Body", a play she wrote, across Canada. For more information about Devaney, upcoming performances or to book Devaney, check out her web site at www.myleakybody.com

Lorrie Erickson is pursuing a doctoral degree in Environmental Studies at York University.

Janice Fennell has been hired by Toronto District School Board to work with students with learning disabilities and their teachers. She is pursuing a doctoral degree in Education at York University.

Jennifer Gillies is pursuing a doctoral degree in Recreation and Leisure Studies at University of Waterloo.

Martha Gorman works as an educational consultant for disability and technology issues with the different school boards in the GTA.

Azim Lila is in Beijing, China studying at Peking University as part of a Double MSc in International Relations. His second year will be spent at the London School of Economics, UK. Azim has set up a personal Blog where he hopes to keep in-touch with old and new friends. The link is https://azim.iuplog.com/ .

Christopher Lytle After returning from Nouakchott (Mauritania, Africa) as Communications Agent under the auspices of DPI (Disabled Peoples International) with the Pan African Federation of the Disabled setting up communications with regional advocacy groups, he has been elected to the Board of Directors for the Canadian Council of International Cooperation through the Council of Canadians with Disabilities. Then, he was employed by the Canadian Association of Independent Living Centre (Head Quarter) in Ottawa as a Research and Policy Consultant for a literacy and quality of life project. He is currently based in Toronto working at Disability Rights Promotion International as a Research Associate (www.yorku.ca/drpi) and as a Consultant for the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto with the Safe Engaged Environments-Disability (SEED) project (www.cilt.ca).

Macey Markowitz works as Content Developer for the Yast Project at the Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work.

Allyson Marsolais is Project Coordinator of the Canadian Homelessness Research Network (www.homelesshub.ca)

Iphigenia Mikroyiannakis is working with the Ministry of Health on Access to Services and the Wait Time Strategy. Her team is aiming to improve access to health care services and decrease wait times in the province.

Ilana Mizel is attending the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law in pursuit of a degree in Law (L.L.B.).

Maria Monaco works for Ontario Federation of Community Mental Health and Addiction Programs (OFCMHAP).

Essya M. Nabbali is pursuing a doctoral degree in Sociology at Simon Fraser University.

Jennifer O'Brien works as a researcher in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative Medicine and Pain Management at the University of Saskatchewan/Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon and is expecting her first child in October 2008.

Tracy Odell continues to be the Manager, Corporate and Program Resource Unit, Special Education Policy and Programs Branch, Ministry of Education.

Adam Orfanakos works at the Ombudsman Ontario as Investigator.

Candace Padmore is at the University of Leicester studying Law.

Laurence Parent will start her PhD degree in Humanities at Concordia University in September 2011.

Jennifer Paterson works at the School of Disability Studies, Ryerson University, as Student Engagement Facilitator. Congratulations to her upon publication of a co-authored article with Jessica Hogan and Heather Willis in the Fall 2008 issue of "Disability Studies Quarterly" about teaching disability studies at Ryerson University. Read the article here.

Tom Proszowski continues to be the Director of Employment Equity & Diversity at CIBC Bank.

Stephanie Renner is pursuing a doctoral degree in Cultural Foundations of Education at Syracuse University.

Christopher Riddle completed a doctoral degree in Philosophy at Queen's University and will be Assistant Professor at Concordia University starting this September 2011.

Hila Rimon-Greenspan has moved to Philadelphia and gave birth to a boy in January 2007. She is currently the Coordinator of Scattergood Program for the Applied Ethics of Behavioral Health, University of Pennsylvania.

Meenu Sikand won the 2011 Humanitarian of the Year Award presented by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce.

Helen Silbiger is currently working at Stephen Lewis Foundation as Grandmother's Campaign Assistant. Before joining the Foundation, Helen held a position as HIV/AIDS Advisor with the Ministry of Education in Malawi on its project entitled "Equity in Education Project in Malawi". This project addresses the needs of girls and vulnerable students in primary education through HIV/AIDS programming. Her profile is available here . She had a major success with the first ever World AIDS Day event held on December 1st, 2006. For details, please refer to this link.

Michelle Singh works at Reena a support worker in Thornhill. This is an agency that works with people with developmental disabilities.

Andrea Stafford continues to be the Program Coordinator and Academic Advisor of the Law and Security Administration Program at Sheridan College.

Aleksandra Stanimirovic works at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre as Research Coordinator. She has recently co-authored two articles entitled "Expression of the TMPRSS2:ERG fusion gene predicts cancer recurrence after surgery for localised prostate cancer" and "A genome-wide association screen identifies regions on chromosomes 1q25 and 7p21 as risk loci for sporadic prostate cancer"

Jennifer Walker works as Content Developer at Canadian Mental Health Association (Ontario).

Samantha Walsh is pursuing a doctoral degree at OISE, University of Toronto.

Libo Wu is a Research Assistant for the Gap Analysis Project on Employment Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities in the Region of Peel.