Join us in the Dunker Family Lounge (REN 1303) to hear Dr. Margaret Gibson speak on the dynamics of LGBTQ+ studies and disability studies. Refreshments will be provided and there will be a chance to meet with her following the presentation.
Presentation Topic:
What can we learn from the experiences of people whose experiences cross and combine separate but related forms of oppression? This talk explores the tensions and overlaps between LGBTQ+ studies and disability studies, and argues that bringing these fields together will encourage us to examine our social worlds and practices with greater complexity and nuance. Research on the experiences of LGBTQ+ parents of disabled children will be presented. These findings suggest that parents do extensive work to strategize and navigate through everyday encounters and institutional documents, responding to and anticipating homophobia, transphobia, and ableism. Race, gender, family structure, and class infuse the ways in which parents narrate their encounters with providers and forms, sometimes making it difficult to pinpoint oppression and privilege, while at other times bringing their impact into stark focus. Fundamentally, inadequate disability supports across systems such as schools, housing, and healthcare increase the stakes for all, and add to the potential strain of each encounter between service users and providers. The talk will also reference the speaker’s involvement in other research projects: LBQ women and trans people’s access to mental health services, eugenic histories in psychology and social work, and arts-based approaches to re-storying autism and education.
About the Presenter:
Margaret F. Gibson is a Visiting Scholar and Lecturer in the School of Social Work at York University. She has a BA from Harvard University and an MSW and PhD from the University of Toronto. Her research interests include disability and ableism, LGBTQ+ communities, parenting and family studies, the impact of colonial and eugenic legacies, and inequity in access to healthcare and social services. Her work has been published in academic journals including Disability & Society, the British Journal of Social Work, Signs, Clinical Social Work, Disability Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Homosexuality, Feminist Formations, and Culture, Health, & Sexuality. She is the collection editor for the book Queering Motherhood: Narrative and Theoretical Perspectives (Demeter Press, 2014). Margaret practiced as a social worker for over a decade, primarily with youth and families.