On Disability Arts & Culture (WIHIC)

On Disability Arts & Culture

A 'What is Happening in Canada?" Event

With Dr. Emilia Nielsen, Associate Professor, Health & Society, York University

Tuesday December 9, 2025 | 12:00 - 1:00 pm EST | Register Here

Disability arts and culture constitute a vibrant force in Canada with recent examples of this generativity emblematic of a commitment to make creative worlds for disability and disabled people—in the past, in the present and in the future. This presentation will be less of a lecture and more of an invitation to explore together the rich cultural landscape of disability arts and culture in Canada with specific attention paid to just a few of the great many artists, creators, and organizations at work today. It could be argued there is still much to do to reimagine the place of disability arts and culture within critical, interdisciplinary studies of Canada. As such, there are opportunities to envisage collaborative research projects that incorporate a critical disability studies framework when engaging with Canadian disability arts and culture.

This talk will be moderated by Jean Michel Montsion, Associate Professor in Canadian Studies at Glendon Campus (York University) and Director of the Robarts Centre.

Speaker Biography

Dr. Emilia Nielsen is an associate professor in the Health and Society program at York University. She is the author of two critically noted collections of poetry, Body Work and Surge Narrows, and her scholarly book, Disrupting Breast Cancer Narratives: Stories of Rage and Repair (University of Toronto Press, 2019), received the Elli Köngäs-Maranda Prize. Her most recent funded research explores experiential knowledge of chronic illness, hybrid forms of life-writing, and critical-creative approaches. She hosts and executive produces the podcast “On Being Ill”: Conversations on Creativity, Disability and Identity with support from the Creative Entanglement Collaboratory.