PROUD has some brief updates that we would like to share with you!
I Broadcastability Season Three
The PROUD Project’s podcast, Broadcastability, has begun releasing its third season! Broadcastability is a podcast by, for, and about persons with disabilities. This season, Broadcastability is focusing on researchers whose work is related to disability.
In the first episode, we spoke to Isabelle Avakumovic-Pointon, a PROUD Research Associate and PhD candidate in History at the University of British Columbia; Kayla Saunders, a PROUD Fellow and Master of Library Science student at the University of Toronto; Matthew Palynchuk, a PROUD Fellow and PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Toronto; and a Parnian Safaraifard, a PROUD Placement Student and Occupational Therapy student at the University of Toronto.
During our second episode we speak to three medical physicians and researchers who use stem cell transplant to “cure” autoimmune diseases. Their work has been motivated by through the witnessing of the disabling experiences of many of their autoimmune patients.
Our third episode features Eliza Chandler, an artist, curator, and professor at Metropolitan Toronto University. She is also Director of the Office of Social Innovation at TMU. Chandler provides fascinating commentary about how art and disability commingle in the social and political realms. It is a high level but very accessible discussion. We could have talked for hours!
There are more episodes of Broadcastability’s season three to come.
Broadcastability is available on major podcast platforms, YouTube, and Broadcastability.ca
II Accessible Mapping Project
The Accessible Mapping Project is now live on our website! During our collaboration with the University of Toronto’s Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, placement OT students surveyed Toronto’s Queer Village, taking note of the granular details that are often overlooked by people without disabilities but can have big impacts on how people with disabilities navigate public spaces. The placement OT students digitally mapped these spaces so that individuals can strategize about how they can “access” physical environments. We are currently working on a collaboration with Apple to integrate the information into their mapping application.
To learn more about the experience of our placement OT student’s experience, listen to Parnian Safaraifard’s interview in season three episode one of Broadcastability!
You can find the interactive map under our “Current Projects” tab on our website.
III The 5 Country, 4 Year Study on DIsability and Employment 2019-2023
A large summary article of our research was submitted in February 2025 and is currently under review at Disability and Society.
We are now working on articles in both French and English which capture:
(1) the Canadian portion of the study;
(2) the difference between Anglophone and Francophone jurisdictions;
(3) the lessons which can be derived from France and;
(4) the strength of centralized disability policies as seen in the US, UK, and France.
IV WHO: Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities
Finally, we would like to acknowledge the recent World Health Organization Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities. This report vocalizes the experiences that people with disabilities have been facing for years. But the more high-level attention that can be brought to the experiences of people with disabilities, the more progress that can be made towards health equity for all, as “Countries have an obligation under international human rights law to address the health inequities faced by persons with disabilities.”
Read the full report here.