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Item Open Access A Critical Review of the Austim Support Mechanism in Ontario(2024-06-14) Kabir, M. MoktadirIn a scenario of increasing prevalence of autism in Canada, as well as in the world, this Major Research Paper (MRP) makes an attempt to critically review Ontario Autism Program which is the provincial autism support mechanism in Ontario. Using a critical disability lens this paper explores the challenges of autistic people including their families to receive services while the program is influenced by neoliberal ideology and a dominant biomedical model that aims to rectify and cure autism instead of creating a supportive environment by acknowledging their neurodiversive identity. The Ontario Autism Program mostly supports Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) based therapy for children but fails to accommodate many of them and put them in a gradually increasing waitlist. Autistic people are abused, stigmatized and often denied from their rights to have proper education, employment and social inclusion. Moreover, there is very limited support for autistic adults from the government which makes them live their lives in uncertainty. Recently, the Federal Government has taken initiative to develop a national autism framework. It is important to include the voices and concerns of the autistic community while developing the framework and ensure diversified services, social acceptance and inclusion.Item Open Access Ableism, Intersectionality, Power and Knowledge: The Complexities of Navigating Accommodations in Postsecondary Institutions(2020-10-27) Brown, Zahra J.; Gorman, Rachel; Isrealite, NeitaAlthough post-secondary educational institutions have been mandated by law to accommodate, the issue of students with disabilities receiving accommodation remains problematic. One factor that is relevant, but often overlooked, is how power functions in the process of seeking and receiving accommodation. My interest is to critically examine selected parts of my lived experiences with accommodation at three post-secondary institutions to shed light upon how power, knowledge and intersectionality function for students seeking and receiving accommodation. I argue that a successful navigation of accommodation at postsecondary institutions does not depend only on the institution’s duty to accommodate but also on these factors. My literature review employs constructs proposed by several scholars to explain the complexities of accommodation. These include: 1) Kimberlé Crenshaw’s Black Feminist conceptualization of intersectionality and the need for a multiple axis framework to understand the dilemma that Black women present, 2) Patricia Hill Collins’ Black Feminist Thought and its emphasis on categories of analyses that address unequal power relationships between parties, 3) Richard Clark Eckert and Amy June Rowley’s notion of audism as embodying supremacy, 4) Michel Foucault’s articulation of discourse analyses of knowledge and power, and 5) Teri Hibbs and Dianne Pothier’s analysis of how power functions in the accommodation process. I apply these notions to an auto-ethnographic case study of my own experiences in postsecondary institutions as black, woman and student with disabilities. The results of my analysis as well as my recommendations will advance scholarship in the area of accommodation and disabilities.Item Open Access Accessible Tourism in Nepal: Deconstructing Space and the Meaning of Risk(2018-01-30) McIntyre, Emily; Rioux, Marcia; Treviranus, JuttaThe following research paper explores the intersections among inclusive design, critical disability theory, constructions of risk, and accessible tourism in Nepal. The research applies disability theories and rights to tourism to highlight how spaces are disabling and contextualizes attitudinal barriers to accessible tourism. It also aims to better understand how risk is perceived for people with disabilities in Nepal. The literature review provides a context specific to Nepal and its tourism industry and environment. A qualitative analysis was undertaken through fieldwork and observation in Nepal, including interviews of 10 service providers in the tourism industry, non-governmental organizations (NGO), and disabled people’s organizations (DPO). The findings suggest that spaces were either inaccessible or inequitably available to not only people with disabilities, but also other minority groups such as women or individuals from a certain caste. Service providers in this study not only had a willingness but also a passion to become more inclusive. However, they felt that structural barriers and a general lack of awareness about disability rights hindered accessible services. The findings show the ways in which creative workarounds and experimentation can be used to navigate understanding inclusive tourism and how co-communication can be a tool for inclusivity in both sensitivity training and cross-cultural training. This study suggests future areas of research including better understanding tourists with disabilities experiences in Nepal, researching employment numbers of individuals from different minority groups, and reporting on the technical nuances of space. It also aims to present recommendations that could be implemented to help mitigate barriers to service provision. It presents ways to re-think space, inclusivity in that space, and deconstructs social perceptions on risk, tourism participation and employment for people with disabilities.Item Open Access Accessorizing Accessibility: Flexible Tools For Your Everyday(2017-04-10) Ferreirinha, Jason; Halifax, Nancy; Baljko, MelanieDiscussions with friends and other allies in the disability community lead to the discovery of barriers related to one of the modern symbols of accessibility, the Electronic Door Opener (EDO). As such my research became concerned with physical accessibility to and through the built environment. To develop a greater understanding of the concern this project initiated a thorough audit of EDOs by reviewing their functionality in the built environment with respect to peoples’ bodies. Round table discussions between community members (who identified as being a part of, or allied with the disability community) revealed a range of concerns regarding EDO remotes. Major concerns included how the remote would affect privacy, social stigma, personal security and the risk for abuse. Despite some differences, the discussion satisfied most group concerns and showed strong evidence that the concept could improve environmental access.Item Open Access Analyzing Health Financing and the Implications on Health Access and Equity in Canada, Nigeria and Ghana(2017-09-01) Onilude, Yemisi; Schraa, Ellen; Raphael, DennisThis major research paper examined health financing and the implications for health equity and access to care in North America and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries with emphasis on Canada, Nigeria and Ghana. Relevant scholarly journal articles and books were reviewed to meet the objectives of this paper. Literature analysis was used to examine the data obtained for this study. Research findings show that health financing is driven by free market economy (neoliberalism) in both SSA and Canada. Moreover, in making comparison of health financing in the developed and developing nations from 2000 to 2014, the study revealed that the total health expenditure as a percentage of GDP for both Nigeria and Ghana is less than half that of Canada. Also, the government of Ghana is stronger than Nigeria in terms of public health care funding, although both countries are making positive progress in health financing. Generally, the public health financing in Canada is larger than in both Ghana and Nigeria. In the perspective of global health financing, this indicates the presence of inequality in government health expenditure in HICs and LMICs. Furthermore, the analysis shows there are many barriers to the attainment of health financing objectives. This study recommends reform of health care financing systems and giving higher priority to health in government budgetary allocations in various countries as a way of addressing these barriers. In conclusion, it is appropriate for governments of every nation to utilize resources efficiently and equitably for healthcare and ensure prudent spending of money for proper policies in health finance and enhanced health care delivery.Item Open Access Applying a Health Justice Framework to Examine Visitation Policies in Canadian Federal Penitentiaries and Psychiatric Facilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic(2021-11) Bailey, Megan; van Dreumel, Lynda; Shnier, AdrienneThe COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated inequities in policy development and implementation of emergency intervention strategies. This study addresses the equitable access to visitation in COVID-19 emergency intervention strategies between comparable total institutional settings. This multiple-case design encompassed two selected custodial environments and was compared using the implemented emergency policies surrounding visitation. In comparing the institutionalized settings of psychiatric hospitals and federal penitentiaries in Ontario, it draws appraisals for equity and health justice-based analysis. These emergency intervention policies focused on visitation vary based on institutional influence, interests, and ideas that are consequently highlighted within this study. The findings of this study reflect a lack of consistency in emergency responsesurrounding visitation policies across psychiatric facilities and federal penitentiaries located within Ontario and uncover discrepancies in policies within the various Ontario psychiatric facilities. These findings lead to an analysis rooted in the framework of human rights and social justice that propel a unique discussion surrounding health justice in the context of Canadian institutionalized settings. The study concluded by considering health justice as a framework in practical and theoretical policy development and implementation to promote health equity and the approach to social justice from a health and equity perspective.Item Open Access Applying a Health Justice Framework to Examine Visitation Policies in Canadian Federal Penitentiaries and Psychiatric Facilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic(2021-11) Bailey, Megan; van Dreumel, Lynda; Shnier, AdrienneThe COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated inequities in policy development and implementation of emergency intervention strategies. This study addresses the equitable access to visitation in COVID-19 emergency intervention strategies between comparable total institutional settings. This multiple-case design encompassed two selected custodial environments and was compared using the implemented emergency policies surrounding visitation. In comparing the institutionalized settings of psychiatric hospitals and federal penitentiaries in Ontario, it draws appraisals for equity and health justice-based analysis. These emergency intervention policies focused on visitation vary based on institutional influence, interests, and ideas that are consequently highlighted within this study. The findings of this study reflect a lack of consistency in emergency responsesurrounding visitation policies across psychiatric facilities and federal penitentiaries located within Ontario and uncover discrepancies in policies within the various Ontario psychiatric facilities. These findings lead to an analysis rooted in the framework of human rights and social justice that propel a unique discussion surrounding health justice in the context of Canadian institutionalized settings. The study concluded by considering health justice as a framework in practical and theoretical policy development and implementation to promote health equity and the approach to social justice from a health and equity perspective.Item Open Access Are physicians ready for patients with Internet-based health information?(Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2006-09-29) Ahmad, F; Hudak, PL; Bercovitz, K; Hollenberg, E; Levinson, WBackground: An increasing number of patients bring Internet-based health information to medical consultations. However, little is known about how physicians experience, manage, and view these patients. Objective: This study aimed to advance the understanding of the effects of incorporating Internet-based health information into routine medical consultations from physicians’ perspectives, using a qualitative approach. Methods: Six focus groups were conducted with 48 family physicians practising in Toronto. The data were analyzed using qualitative methods of content analysis and constant comparison, derived from grounded theory approach. Results: Three overarching themes were identified: (1) perceived reactions of patients, (2) physician burden, and (3) physician interpretation and contextualization of information. Physicians in our study generally perceived Internet-based health information as problematic when introduced by patients during medical consultations. They believed that Internet information often generated patient misinformation, leading to confusion, distress, or an inclination towards detrimental self-diagnosis and/or self-treatment. Physicians felt these influences added a new interpretive role to their clinical responsibilities. Although most of the physicians felt obliged to carry out this new responsibility, the additional role was often unwelcome. Despite identifying various reactions of patients to Internet-based health information, physicians in our study were unprepared to handle these patients. Conclusion: Effective initiatives at the level of the health care system are needed. The potential of Internet-based health information to lead to better physician-patient communication and patient outcomes could be facilitated by promoting physician acknowledgment of increasing use of the Internet among patients and by developing patient management guidelines and incentives for physicians.Item Open Access Assessing patient attitudes to computerized screening in primary care: psychometric properties of the computerized lifestyle assessment scale(Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2008-04-18) Ahmad, F; Hogg-Johnson, Sheilah; Skinner, HABackground: Computer-based health-risk assessments are electronic surveys which can be completed by patients privately, for example during their waiting time in a clinic, generating a risk report for the clinician and a recommendation sheet for the patient at the point of care. Despite increasing popularity of such computer-based health-risk assessments, patient attitudes toward such tools are rarely evaluated by reliable and valid scales. The lack of psychometric appraisal of appropriate scales is an obstacle to advancing the field. Objective: This study evaluated the psychometric properties of a 14-item Computerized Lifestyle Assessment Scale (CLAS). Methods: Out of 212 female patients receiving the study information at a family practice clinic, 202 completed a paper questionnaire, for a response rate of 97.6%. After 2 weeks, 52 patients completed the scale a second time. Results: Principal component analysis revealed that CLAS is a multidimensional scale consisting of four subscales (factors): (1) Benefits: patient-perceived benefits toward the quality of medical consultation and means of achieving them, (2) Privacy-Barrier: concerns about information privacy, (3) Interaction-Barrier: concerns about potential interference in their interaction with the physician, and (4) Interest: patient interest in computer-assisted health assessments. Each subscale had good internal consistency reliability ranging from .50 (2-item scale) to .85 (6-item scale). The study also provided evidence of scale stability over time with intraclass correlation coefficients of .91, .82, .86, and .67 for the four subscales, respectively. Construct validity was supported by concurrent hypotheses testing. Conclusions: The CLAS is a promising approach for evaluating patients’ attitudes toward computer-based health-risk assessments.Item Open Access Autism And Its Associated Symbols(2017-04-27) Weaver, Courtney; Halifax, Nancy; Rioux, MarciaThis paper aims to explore four symbols associated with autism: the puzzle piece, umbrella, jigsaw puzzle ribbon, and the three coloured rainbow. Western secular societal assumptions regarding autism will be analysed in each symbol. This will be accomplished via a semiological critical visual methodology that will involve taking into account each symbol’s site of creation, the materials used, their surrounding socio-historical discourses, and their colours and shapes. Given that there is currently an Autism Awareness Month and Day in which one or more of these symbols are present, it is important to understand what is being conveyed about autism to national and international audiences. This paper will ultimately reveal that there needs to be more consistent clarification of symbol meanings, especially in regards to colours, and that commendatory alternate symbols can be associated with autism for the future.Item Open Access Awakening Hope: A Critical Analysis of the Stigmatization of Children with Disabilities in Nigerian Families and Communities(2016-06-16) Imade, Victor; Gorman, Rachel; Reaume, GeoffreyThis Major Research Paper (MRP) in York University’s graduate program in Critical Disability Studies (CDS) explores the stigmatization and marginalization imposed on Nigerian-Canadian children living in Canada. Canada has attempted to recognize the rights of people with disabilities, but people with disabilities still face discrimination and substantive barriers. For many Nigerian families living in Canada, as with some other Canadian families, when a child is diagnosed as having a disability the entire family faces immediate stigmatization and rejection within the local community. This problem may be greater for Nigerian families living in Nigeria but this MRP focuses primarily on the issue within Canada’s borders. Aspects of this MRP are applicable to anyone living with a disability but it focuses primarily on Nigeria-Canadian children and families. Utilizing a multilayered methodological approach that is auto-ethnographic, historical and comparative, this MRP explores the disabling impacts of the stigmatization and marginalization that are imposed on Nigeria-Canadian children with disabilities living in Canada. The auto-ethnographic component of this MRP is based on a narrative of the author’s personal experiences of disability in order to expose a variety of barriers that impede the ability of people with disabilities to participate in an inclusive environment, institutions and communities. On the basis the author’s personal experience working with Nigerian families having children with disabilities, it is evident that some Nigerian immigrants bring attitudes of shame and rejection towards people with disabilities with them when they migrate to Canada. Nigerian families with disabled children also face disabling expressions of racism and exclusion in the Canadian educational, medical and immigration systems. After exploring the multiple factors causing isolation and rejection in the lives of Nigerian children with disabilities, this MRP suggests a number of strategies to foster inclusion and awaken hope in the lives of these children.Item Open Access Beyond barriers in studying disparities in women's access to health services in Ontario, Canada: a qualitative metasynthesis(SAGE, 2013-04) Angus, JE; Lombardo, AP; Lowndes, RH; Cechetto, N; Ahmad, F; Bierman, ASWomen live within complex and differing social, economic, and environmental circumstances that influence options to seek health care. In this article we report on a metasynthesis of qualitative research concerning access disparities for women in the Canadian province of Ontario, where there is a publicly funded health care system. We took a metastudy approach to analysis of results from 35 relevant qualitative articles to understand the conditions and conceptualizations of women’s inequitable access to health care. The articles’ authors attributed access disparities to myriad barriers. We focused our analysis on these barriers to understand the contributing social and political forces. We found that four major, sometimes countervailing, forces shaped access to health care: (a) contextual conditions, (b) constraints, (c) barriers, and (d) deterrents. Complex convergences of these forces acted to push, pull, obstruct, and/or repel women as they sought health care, resulting in different patterns of inequitable access.Item Open Access Beyond Empathy to System Change: Four Poems on Health by Bertolt Brecht(2023-06-21) MacGregor, William; Horn, Martin; Raphael, DennisBertolt Brecht’s poem “A Worker’s Speech to a Doctor” is frequently cited as a means of raising awareness among health workers of the effects of living and working conditions upon health. Less cited is his trilogy of poems entitled Call to Arms which calls for class-based action to transform the capitalist economic system that sickens and kills so many. In this article we show how “A Worker’s Speech”, with its plea for empathy for the ill, contrasts with the more activist and often militant tone of the Calls to Arms Trilogy: “Call to a Sick Communist”, “The Sick Communist’s Answer to the Comrades”, and “Call to the Doctors and Nurses”. We also show that while “A Worker’s Speech” has been applied in the training of health workers, its accusatorial tone towards health workers’ complicity in the system the poem is critiquing risks alienating them. In contrast, the Call to Arms Trilogy seeks common ground, inviting these same workers into the broader political and social fight against injustice. While we contend that the description of the sick worker as a “communist” risks estranging these health workers, our analysis of the Call toAction poems nevertheless indicates their use can contribute to move health workers’ educational discourse beyond a laudable but fleeting elicitation of empathy for the ill towards a structural critique and deeper systemic understanding in order to prompt action by health workers to reform or even replace the capitalist economic system that sickens and kills so many.Item Open Access Breast and cervical cancer screening in Hispanic women: a literature review using the health belief model(Elsevier, 2002-05) Austin, LT; Ahmad, F; McNally, MJ; Stewart, Donna EileenThe aim of this study was to review published studies that examined factors influencing breast and cervical cancer screening behavior in Hispanic women, using the Health Belief Model (HBM). MEDLINE and PsycINFO databases and manual search were used to identify articles. Cancer screening barriers common among Hispanic women include fear of cancer, fatalistic views on cancer, linguistic barriers, and culturally based embarrassment. In addition, Hispanic women commonly feel less susceptible to cancer, which is an important reason for their lack of screening. Positive cues to undergo screening include physician recommendation, community outreach programs with the use of Hispanic lay health leaders, Spanish print material, and use of culturally specific media. Critical review of the literature using the theoretical framework of the Health Belief Model identified several culturally specific factors influencing cancer screening uptake and compliance among Hispanic women. Future interventions need to be culturally sensitive and competent.Item Open Access ‘Broken Trust’ –A critical policy analysis of the difficulties faced by disabled intergenerational families seeking education and accommodation(2021-08-26) Lincoln, J N; da Silveira Gorman, Rachel; Parekh, GillianAs a result of the presence of racialized, gendered, and socio-economic bias within educational policies intended to assist disabled individuals, many students and their families often encounter abusive and negative accommodation experiences. These failures are particularly damaging during the transition out of high school and even more so within post secondary institutions themselves.Employing the educational policy analysis model created by Diem, Young, Wilton, Mansfield, and Lee (2014) in their paper entitled “The intellectual landscape of critical policy analysis” this major research paper explores several policies which impact students during these transition periods and highlights the failures that they repeatedly encounter. The personal story of the author is also woven into the analysis to show that there is a human side of this experience which must be included to truly expose the brutal nature of these policy failures. It is shown throughout that even though policy is crafted with rhetoric that may seem beneficial to the disabled recipient, the intent is often one of control, suppression, and reinforcement of the aforementioned negative biases.Item Open Access The burden of cancer in Austria(Wolters Kluwer, 1999-02) Vutuc, C; Waldhoer, T; Haidinger, G; Ahmad, F; Micksche, MThe aim of this study was to assess the overall progress against cancer in Austria by analysing changes in age-adjusted mortality rates from 1970 to 1996. For the years 1970 to 1996, age-adjusted rates for all malignant neoplasms and for selected sites were calculated for men and women, according to year, age and sex. The number of cancer deaths were obtained from the Austrian Central Statistical Office--age-adjusted mortality rates of all malignant neoplasms decreased in men between 1971 and 1996 by 13% (from 289.1 to 251.4 deaths per 100,000), and in women between 1970 and 1996 by 19.1% (from 276.6 to 223.7 deaths per 100,000). Among older people (> or = 55 years) the mortality decreased by 13% in men and by 17% in women; among younger people (< 55 years) by 12% and 30%, respectively. The decrease in total cancer mortality is promoted by three tumour sites (the leading causes of cancer deaths in 1970). In both sexes, the decrease of stomach cancer mortality had the major impact, followed by colorectal cancer in women and by lung cancer in men. The observed changes in mortality are primarily related to changing incidence and early detection, rather than improvements in treatment. Unfortunately, there is evidence that prevention is losing ground in Austria. The implementation of the well-established knowledge of cancer prevention and the strengthening of preventative research is urgently needed.Item Open Access "Can't Nobody Even Spread Their Wings Here": Thinking Disability Alongside Environmental Racism, Collectively Acquired Impairments, and Injustice in Flint, Michigan(2019-08-14) Kovesi, Caroline; Scott, Dayna; Dryden, JaneThe unjust production of impairments has historically posed a theoretical and political problem for a Disability Studies committed to normalizing and de-stigmatizing disability. This discursive schism serves to reinforce the discipline’s tendency towards “epistemic whiteness” (Puar, 2017, p.xix). However, it is imperative that the field consider situated experiences of disability inextricably linked to contexts such as environmental racism currently invisibilized and/or overlooked in the field. The following paper attempts to address some of these gaps by studying the water crisis in Flint, Michigan that began in 2014 - and resulted in 30 000 children being exposed to lead poisoning, along with a Legionnaire’s Disease outbreak that killed twelve people - as a case study on collectively acquired impairments. How does the Flint water crisis challenge Disability Studies theory to better account for impairments acquired – or more accurately, imposed - through environmental racism? I pay particular attention to the phenomenology of living with collectively acquired impairments, and utilize the concepts of disorientation, disposability, and debility in my analysis to foreground the varied implications involved when already marginalized and racialized populations acquire impairments. Experiences of Flint residents call on the discipline of Disability Studies to pay greater attention to how situations of injustice affect embodiment in ways that may not neatly fit into the rubric of impairment.Item Open Access "Can't Nobody Even Spread Their Wings Here": Thinking Disability Alongside Environmental Racism, Collectively Acquired Impairments, and Injustice in Flint, Michigan(2019-08-14) Kovesi, Caroline; Scott, Dayna; Dryden, JaneItem Open Access Cancer screening behaviours among South Asian immigrants in the UK, US and Canada: a scoping study(Wiley, 2015-02) Crawford, J; Ahmad, F; Beaton, D; Bierman, ASSouth Asian (SA) immigrants settled in the United Kingdom (UK) and North America [United States (US) and Canada] have low screening rates for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers. Incidence rates of these cancers increase among SA immigrants after migration, becoming similar to rates in non-Asian native populations. However, there are disparities in cancer screening, with low cancer screening uptake in this population. We conducted a scoping study using Arksey & O’Malley’s framework to examine cancer screening literature on SA immigrants residing in the UK, US and Canada. Eight electronic databases, key journals and reference lists were searched for English language studies and reports. Of 1465 identified references, 70 studies from 1994 to November 2014 were included: 63% on breast or cervical cancer screening or both; 10% examined colorectal cancer screening only; 16% explored health promotion/service provision; 8% studied breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening; and 3% examined breast and colorectal cancer screening. A thematic analysis uncovered four dominant themes: (i) beliefs and attitudes towards cancer and screening included centrality of family, holistic healthcare, fatalism, screening as unnecessary and emotion-laden perceptions; (ii) lack of knowledge of cancer and screening related to not having heard about cancer and its causes, or lack of awareness of screening, its rationale and/or how to access services; (iii) barriers to access including individual and structural barriers; and (iv) gender differences in screening uptake and their associated factors. Findings offer insights that can be used to develop culturally sensitive interventions to minimise barriers and increase cancer screening uptake in these communities, while recognising the diversity within the SA culture. Further research is required to address the gap in colorectal cancer screening literature to more fully understand SA immigrants’ perspectives, as well as research to better understand gender-specific factors that influence screening uptake.Item Open Access Care Work in the Camp: An Institutional Ethnography of Care Work in Developmental Services through a Critical Examination of the Problematizations in SIPDDA and QAM(2020-08-24) Fernandes, Sabine A.; da Silveira Gorman, Rachel; Tam, LouiseIn this Major Research Paper (MRP) I provide an institutional ethnography of care work in developmental services in Ontario through a critical examination of the Services and Supports to Promote the Social Inclusion of Persons with Developmental Disabilities Act (SIPDDA, 2008) and the Act’s Quality Assurance Measures regulation (QAM). In accessing ways of knowing produced by Black and Indigenous history, critical race/ disability/ queer theory, political philosophy and economy, Black and brown anarchist and abolitionist knowledge, Afrofuturism, and autoethnographic narrative, this work is my attempt to affirm the tidal wave of collective rage, grief, resilience, and hope I am swept up in, crashing against the brittle, unimaginative, violent, and deadly landscapes of white supremacy. I use Carol Bacchi’s “What’s the Problem Represented to be?” (WPR) approach (Bacchi, 2012) as the outline for this MRP. The application of WPR is grounded in the understanding that the ways in which problems are identified reveal specific biases, shaping how we know ourselves and others (Bacchi, 2012). I engage Agamben’s (1998) theory of bare life in conjunction with WPR, to locate carceral sites and categories of political life in the settler state. In my subversion of the epistemological foundations of SIPDDA and QAM – white supremacist, cisheteropatriarchal, eugenic, and ableist ways of knowing – I advocate Fritsch’s (2010) envisioning of intercorporeality as a process of abolishing the carceral conditions of care work and caring with people labelled with developmental disabilities.