Tanya Titchkosky (born 1966) [1] is a disability studies scholar. As of January 2025, she is a professor of disability studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
Titchkosky earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Augustana University College (1988), a Master of Arts in sociology from York University (1992), and a Doctor of Philosophy from York University (1997). [2]
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, sensory, or a combination of multiple factors. Disabilities can be present from birth or can be acquired during a person's lifetime. Historically, disabilities have only been recognized based on a narrow set of criteria—however, disabilities are not binary and can be present in unique characteristics depending on the individual. A disability may be readily visible, or invisible in nature.
Charles Margrave Taylor is a Canadian philosopher from Montreal, Quebec, and professor emeritus at McGill University best known for his contributions to political philosophy, the philosophy of social science, the history of philosophy, and intellectual history. His work has earned him the Kyoto Prize, the Templeton Prize, the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy, and the John W. Kluge Prize.
Disability studies is an academic discipline that examines the meaning, nature, and consequences of disability. Initially, the field focused on the division between "impairment" and "disability", where impairment was an impairment of an individual's mind or body, while disability was considered a social construct. This premise gave rise to two distinct models of disability: the social and medical models of disability. In 1999 the social model was universally accepted as the model preferred by the field.
Men's studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to topics concerning men, masculinity, gender, culture, politics and sexuality. It academically examines what it means to be a man in contemporary society.
Wilfred Cantwell Smith, was a Canadian Islamicist, comparative religion scholar, and Presbyterian minister. He was the founder of the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University in Quebec and later the director of Harvard University's Center for the Study of World Religions. The Harvard University Gazette said he was one of the field's most influential figures of the past century. In his 1962 work The Meaning and End of Religion he notably questioned the modern sectarian concept of religion.
Aaron W. Hughes is a Canadian academic in the field of religious studies and history. He holds the Dean's Professor of the Humanities and is the Philip S. Bernstein Professor in the Department of Religion and Classics at the University of Rochester. He was the Gordon and Gretchen Gross Professor at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York from 2009 to 2012, and, from 2001 to 2009, professor of religious studies at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.
Morgan Holmes is a Canadian sociologist, author, and a professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario. She is also an intersex activist and writer, and former member of Intersex Society of North America. Holmes participated in the first public demonstration by intersex people, now marked by Intersex Awareness Day.
Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are fundamentally shaped by power dynamics between dominant and oppressed groups. Beyond just understanding and critiquing these dynamics, it explicitly aims to transform society through praxis and collective action with an explicit sociopolitical purpose.
Mad studies is a field of scholarship, theory, and activism about the lived experiences, history, cultures, and politics about people who may identify as mad, mentally ill, psychiatric survivors, consumers, service users, patients, neurodivergent, and disabled. Mad Studies originated from consumer/survivor movements organized in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and in other parts of the world. The methods for inquiry draw from a number of academic disciplines such as women's studies, critical race studies, indigenous epistemologies, queer studies, psychological anthropology, and ethnography. This field shares theoretical similarities to critical disability studies, psychopolitics, and critical social theory. The academic movement formed, in part, as a response to recovery movements, which many mad studies scholars see as being "co-opted" by mental health systems. In 2021 the first academic journal of Mad Studies, The International Journal of Mad Studies, was launched.
Anita Ghai was an Indian academic who was the former president of Indian Association of Women's Studies. She was a professor at School of Human Studies, Ambedkar University, Delhi. She was also a disability rights activist in India working in the areas of sexuality, gender, health and education rights. She has authored three books.
Francesca da Rimini is an Australian artist. With Josephine Starrs, Julianne Pierce, and Virginia Barratt she co-founded VNS Matrix, and the four artists coined the term cyberfeminist in 1991 to describe their art practice. Da Rimini has been working in new media since 1984.
Transmedicalism is the idea that being transgender is primarily a medical issue related to the incongruence between an individual's assigned sex at birth and their gender identity, characterized by gender dysphoria. There are divides and debates within the transmedicalist community on the exact definition of who is or is not transgender. Many transmedicalists believe individuals who identify as transgender without experiencing gender dysphoria or desiring to undergo a medical transition through methods such as hormone replacement therapy or sex reassignment surgery are not genuinely transgender. They may also exclude those who identify themselves as non-binary from the trans label.
Laura U. Marks is a philosopher and scholar of new media and film. She is the Grant Strate University Professor at Simon Fraser University (SFU). Previously, she was the Dana Wosk University Professor of Art and Cultural Studies at SFU. Among her theoretical contributions is the concept of haptic visuality, according to which a spectator's contact with media is conceived of as touching, as opposed to seeing. Marks is also a curator, and has developed exhibitions of Arab cinema.
Liat Ben-Moshe is a disability scholar and assistant professor of criminology, Law, and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Ben-Moshe holds a PhD in sociology from Syracuse University with concentrations in Women and Gender Studies and Disability Studies. Ben-Moshe's work “has brought an intersectional disability studies approach to the phenomenon of mass incarceration and decarceration in the US”. Ben-Moshe's major works include Building Pedagogical Curb Cuts: Incorporating Disability into the University Classroom and Curriculum (2005), Disability Incarcerated: Imprisonment and Disability in the United States and Canada (2014), and Decarcerating Disability: Deinstitutionalization and Prison Abolition (2020). Ben-Moshe is best known for her theories of dis-epistemology, genealogy of deinstitutionalization, and race-ability.
Eli Clare is an American writer, activist, educator, and speaker. His work focuses on queer, transgender, and disability issues. Clare was one of the first scholars to popularize the bodymind concept.
Kim E. Nielsen is an American historian and author who specializes in disability studies. Since 2012, Nielsen has been a professor of history, disability studies, and women's studies at the University of Toledo. Nielsen originally trained as historian of women and politics, and came to disability history and studies via her discovery of Helen Keller's political life.
Tanis Doe was a Métis academic, and activist. She worked as a professor at several institutions across the United States and Canada. She was known for her research on participatory action, and worked covering topics in the categories of disability, abuse, genders, sexualities, employment, assistive technology, and advocacy.
Daniel Goodley is a scholar in the field of critical disability studies. As of 2024, he is a Professor of Disability Studies and Education in the University of Sheffield's School of Education. He also co-directs the university's iHuman research group, which explores the intersections of the following disciplines: "science and technology studies, sociology of health and illness, critical disability studies, or co-production".
Margrit Shildrick is an academic in interdisciplinary gender studies whose research spans feminism, bioethics, and post-structuralism, among other fields of thought. Since 2018, she has served as a guest professor at Stockholm University.
Rod Michalko is a Canadian scholar in the field of disability studies.