with AJ Withers, Anna Malla & Laurence Parent
THURSDAY, MAY 24, 6pm
at the Centre Culturel Georges-Vanier
2450 rue Workman (métro Lionel-Groulx)
The venue is wheelchair accessible.
Childcare available on request (phone 514-848-7585 to reserve)
Whisper translation into English & French
Get in touch about access needs and requests (info@qpirgconcordia.org)
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About “Disability Politics and Theory”:
An accessible introduction to disability studies, Disability Politics and Theory provides a concise survey of disability history, exploring the concept of disability as it has been conceived from the late 19th century to the present. Further, A.J. Withers examines when, how and why new categories of disability are created and describes how capitalism benefits from and enforces disabled people’s oppression. Critiquing the model that currently dominates the discipline, the social model of disability, this book offers an alternative: the radical disability model. This model builds on the social model but draws from more recent schools of radical thought, particularly feminism and critical race theory, to emphasize the role of intersecting oppressions in the marginalization of disabled people and the importance of addressing disability both independently and in conjunction with other oppressions. Intertwining theoretical and historical analysis with personal experience this book is a poignant portrayal of disabled people in Canada and the U.S. — and a radical call for social and economic justice.
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About the panelists:
AJ Withers is a Toronto-based anti-poverty and disability justice organizer and author. They have worked with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) for many years and their book Disability Politics and Theory will be out this spring through Fernwook Publishing.
Anna Malla has lived in Montreal for the past ten years, and until recently, was the full-time Coordinator at QPIRG McGill. Prior to her job at QPIRG, Anna was a union organizer and support staff member at the Migrant Farmworkers’ Support Centre in St-Remi. She is also a long-time member of the Justice for Adil Charkaoui Coalition, and has worked on various other migrant justice and anti-racism campaigns. For the past four years, Anna has been contending with a long-term, chronic pain condition diagnosed as Fibromyalgia. She is committed to challenging herself and those around her to re-vision the ways in which chronic illness impacts our relationships to each other and the world around us.
Laurence Parent is a PhD student in Humanities at Concordia University. She holds a MA in Critical Disability Studies from York University and a BA in Political Science from Université du Québec à Montréal. She lives in Montréal and is involved within the Québec Disability Rights Movement. In 2009, she co-founded a disability rights organization called RAPLIQ which aims to challenge ableism by doing direct actions and using creative means.
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Part of the Montreal Festival of Anarchy (www.anarchistbookfair.ca)
Presented by QPIRG Concordia
INFO: www.qpirgconcordia.org
514-848-7585 – info@qpirgconcordia.org
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