This workshop explores the history and ongoing journey of disability rights and experiences in Canada, spanning from the 1800s to today. We will explore major turning points, such as the creation and closure of institutions, the impact of eugenics policies, and the introduction of key laws like the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Accessible Canada Act. We’ll highlight the power of grassroots disability activism, showing how community organizing and lived expertise have driven policy change and challenged ableist systems

The workshop will also unpack how different ways of understanding disability – including the medical and social models, as well as reclaimed identities like “crip” and “mad” – have shaped public attitudes, government policy, and the disability rights movement. We’ll discuss how intersectionality and disability justice frameworks, such as the 10 principles from Sins Invalid, have broadened our understanding of disability to include the experiences of people who are also racialized, queer, Indigenous, or otherwise equity-denied populations.

Throughout, we’ll center disabled people’s autonomy, leadership, and ongoing resistance. By connecting the past to present-day advocacy and accessibility challenges, this workshop will help participants see disability history as a living, collective struggle for equity, justice, and community belonging.

Learning objectives:

• Explore the historical trajectory of disability policy in Canada from institutions to today’s accessibility legislation and laws.
• Find out about important court cases and legal decisions that shaped disability rights in Canada.
• Compare and contrast medical and social models of disability
• Understand the political nature and history of the reclaimed terms crip and mad
• Learn about the emergence and evolution of disability rights movements in Canada,
• Explore how how intersectional frameworks have expanded disability awareness
• Brief overview of SinsInvalid’s 10 Disability Justice principles
• Speak to current disability issues, ongoing challenges, and potential opportunities