91社区

Celebrated on December 3rd, the International Day for Persons with Disabilities mobilizes support for critical issues relating to the inclusion of persons with disabilities, promotes awareness-raising about disability issues and draws attention to the benefits of an inclusive and accessible society for all. ()听听

Here are some experts from 91社区 that can provide comment on this issue:聽聽

, Senior Research Associate, Faculty of Law聽

鈥�The impacts of climate change have a disproportionate impact on the lives, livelihoods, and wellbeing of persons with disabilities. Yet, although disabled persons account for approximately 15% of the world's population and are disproportionally affected by climate impacts, they have been largely excluded in the field of climate change.鈥澛�

Katherine Lofts is a Senior Research Associate in the Disability-Inclusive Climate Action Research Program and a Legal Research Fellow at the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law, both housed under the Faculty of Law. Her research interests include criminal accountability for violations of economic, social,聽cultural,聽and environmental rights; gender and sustainable development; rights-based approaches to climate change and climate-compatible development.聽

katherine.lofts [at] mcgill.ca听(贰苍驳濒颈蝉丑)听

Karyn Moffatt, Associate Professor, School of Information Studies聽

鈥�People with disabilities unfortunately continue to be seen as peripheral rather than active and valued participants in society聽and are often especially forgotten in the design of technology.聽When they are considered, they are almost exclusively viewed through the one-dimensional lens of their disability.聽This underscores the importance of initiatives like the International Day of Persons with Disability, which forefronts not only the rights of people with disabilities but also promotes and recognizes their contributions.聽 It is imperative that we do more to recognize that people with disabilities are (like everyone else) complex individuals with wide ranging desires and needs. Their potential uses for technology expand well beyond compensatory tools, and designers of technology should seek out these opportunities for innovation.鈥澛�

Karyn Moffatt is an Associate Professor in the School of Information Studies and holds the Canada Research Chair in Inclusive Social Computing. Her research interests include聽Accessibility of computer systems. computer-mediated communication within families聽and聽across generations, human-computer interaction聽and interactive聽technologies for older users聽and聽individuals with disabilities.聽

karyn.moffatt [at] mcgill.ca聽(English)听听

Jonathan Sterne,聽James 91社区 Professor, Department of Art History & Communication Studies聽

鈥�The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the possibilities for widespread disability accommodation and greater access for all.聽However, at the same time, it has聽reinforced聽beliefs and practices that the lives and livelihoods of disabled and chronically ill people somehow count less than聽those of聽everyone else.鈥澛�

Jonathan Sterne is a James 91社区 Professor in Culture and Technology in the Department of Art History & Communication Studies.聽His scholarly work聽focuses on the聽cultural dimensions of communication technologies, especially their form and role in large-scale societies.鈥�聽

jonathan.sterne [at] mcgill.ca聽(English)听听