5 Scholarly Community-Engaged Research and Publications

Co-Authored Writings on COVID-19 and Disability

McMaster faculty, students, colleagues, and self-advocates labeled / with intellectual disabilities co-authored pieces for publication. Two groups of self-advocates labeled / with intellectual disabilities approached Dr. Ann Fudge Schormans and Sue Hutton (Coordinator of the Respecting Rights initiative hosted by the ARCH Disability Law Centre) to collaborate on writing about their experiences of the pandemic leading to two publications:

• COVID-19 at the Intersections of “Social Work”, “Woman” and “Disability”: Kitchen Tables, Advocacy and Activism.
• Social Isolation Continued: COVID-19 Shines a Light on what Self-Advocates Know Too Well.

Contributors: Bernier, A., Blake, M., Fudge Schormans, A., Hunt, R., Hutton, S., Infusino, P., McCormick, D., & Sattaur, F., Bernier, A. (SW Doctoral Student), Earle, K. & Head, K.J.

DiStory: Then and Now – A Community-Engaged Research Project

DiStory: Then and Now is an inclusive project led by Dr. Ann Fudge Schormans that brings together institutional survivors and younger people labeled / with intellectual disabilities, artists, community members, and academic researchers to develop education materials for post-secondary students to learn about institutionalization and ongoing struggles, and resistance of people labeled/with intellectual disabilities to institutions and institutionalization.

COVID-19 safety protocols and a lack of access to technology for most co-researchers labeled / with intellectual disabilities remain a significant barrier to collaborative ways of working. A planned theatre performance was cancelled, so we shifted our planned performance to a virtual art exhibit with some performance pieces. We distributed art supplies and completed art pieces through the mail, are engaging in phone conversations about completed art pieces, and are putting these on our website. DiStory co-researchers, Erin Kuri (SW, doctoral candidate) and Ann Fudge Schormans, also wrote a found poetry piece “Justice versus Injustice” which was accepted for publication in Bones, P.D.C. & Smart Gullion, J. (Eds.), Re-defining Disability, Brill/Sense Publishing.

Contributors: Dr. Ann Fudge Schormans (School of Social Work), Erin Kuri (Social Work Doctoral Candidate), and DiStory Co-Researchers (14 in total)

Resources for Coaches in the Special Olympics Ontario and Canada Network

The pandemic has shifted how the world works, connects, and socializes. For many people, recreational activities, such as sports, are a key way that they are active in the community. However, coaches may not have the skills to adapt their sports programs to an online space. Thus, this multi-phase project aims to develop an educational resource for coaches within the Special Olympics Ontario and Canada network to learn about using online tools to enhance and connect with their athletes. This project is ongoing and uses a participant-driven approach to ensure the resource’s sustainability and usability for the target coaches.

Contributors: Dr. Krystn Orr (Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Social Work, McMaster University), and Dr. Ann Fudge Schormans (School of Social Work, McMaster University)

Resisting Unmet Expectations as Service User Ethics: Implications for Social Work

This paper takes up a call from activists and scholars in Mad and Disability Studies to pay more explicit attention to resistance. Drawing on conceptualizations of predictive, normative, and ideal expectations, we describe three ways 2SLGBTQ service users who have experienced psychosis resist unmet expectations of just treatment. These include: (1) defending self-respect through resistant thinking and resentment; (2) reducing discrepancy through lowering expectations of just treatment from others; (3) and protecting selves through distrust and self-reliance.

This paper expands our understanding of the ‘everyday’ forms of resistance that service users engage in and explores opportunities for collectivizing the values underpinning service users’ ‘moral talk’ into ethics. Supporting the creation and affirmation of these service user ethics is one way for social work to address the exclusion of service users from the creation of social work ethical guidelines.

Contributors: Alise de Bie (School of Social Work/MacPherson Institute, McMaster University), Andrea Daley (Renison University College, University of Waterloo), Lori E. Ross & Sean Kidd (University of Toronto)

Delivering Rehabilitation Services to Diverse Communities: A Cross-Sectional Survey 

A cross-sectional survey was designed to: (1) understand the challenges of delivering rehabilitation services to diverse communities, and (2) assess cultural awareness and competency (scale out of 7) among Canadian physiotherapists and chiropractors. In total, 808 physiotherapists and 3143 chiropractors completed the survey. Male chiropractors accounted for 54% of our sample, as compared to physiotherapists where 77.8% were female. Most practitioners identified as white, with all other races under-represented. Cultural awareness and sensitivity scores were high with a mean of 6 for physiotherapists, and 5.7 for chiropractors. Cultural competency was lower for chiropractors with a mean of 4.2 and 4.5 for physiotherapists. Cultural health disparities were observed in pain and clinical outcomes, satisfaction with care, and overall health status. Our results suggested a lack of educational programs for clinicians regarding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). This study will help policymakers and educational institutions improve the delivery of inclusive and equitable rehabilitation services.

Contributors: Nora Bakaa, Luciana Macedo, Lisa Carless, Joy MacDermid, Danielle Southerst, Silvano Mior, Pierre Cote, (McMaster Institute for Research on Aging, McMaster University)