Understanding Ableism at the University and in Law, with Dr. Jennifer Gagnon and the UBC Law Disability Alliance
The CFLS invites you to join us for our upcoming lecture and discussion on Monday, February 28. We welcome Dr. Jennifer Gagnon, Lecturer in the UBC School of Journalism, and Katherine Benson, Co-President and Co-Founder of the UBC Law Disability Alliance.
How can we make academia, law school, and the legal profession more accessible for people with disabilities? Join us for an interactive workshop and discussion exploring what a more accessible experience would look like. This facilitated conversation will focus on ableism, while centering disability justice, intersectionality, and activism both within the academy and the legal profession.
For any accommodation needs or requests during the lecture, please feel free to contact the event organizers at cfls@allard.ubc.ca.
Dr. Jennifer M. Gagnon (she/her/hers) (PhD, Political Science, University of Minnesota, BA, University of British Columbia) is a Lecturer in the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She has taught in a wide range of programs including Political Science, Classics, Academic Writing, International Education and more. Her research is interdisciplinary and embraces topics in political theory, classics, critical disability studies, qualitative methods, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), feminism, and gender. Her main area of research is in the intersections between ancient political thought and disability studies, especially as concerns gender, inclusion and exclusion, violence, and visible and invisible disabilities. As an advocate, she is involved in efforts and workshop facilitation on Disability Justice, accessibility, a culture of consent, and LGBTQ2SIA+ inclusion both on and off campus. She is the creator and chair of UBC’s Disability Affinity Group for disabled faculty and staff which works towards the goals of community care and Disability Justice. She is a recipient of the 2021 Killam Teaching Prize at UBC which recognizes excellence in teaching innovation. Dr. Gagnon identifies as a bisexual settler and disabled woman and strives to bring her whole self to her teaching and research.
Katherine Benson is a part-time disabled law student in her third year at the Peter A. Allard School of Law. She is a brain injury survivor who is involved in a range of disability focused activism. She is also the co-president and co-founder of the UBC Law Disability Alliance (ULDA), which is a student group that aims to remove the barriers students with disabilities face at law school. She also holds an Honours BSocSc in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from the University of Ottawa.