Lead Advisor on Disability, Accessibility and Inclusion

Sociology

Image description a photo of Fiona, white female settler smiling, grey-brown hair, wearing dark rimmed glasses, blue shirt, and blue scarf around neck.

I am a disabled scholar who teaches in the sociology department. I am passionate about teaching, inclusion, and disability rights.

Because of this I created Including All Citizens Pathway in 2016. I am also the university’s Lead Advisor on Disability, Accessibility, and Inclusion and past president of Inclusion BC. My main area of focus is fully inclusive and accessible post-secondary opportunities for all students including students with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. A key aspect to all of my work is creating strong connections with the community.

In addition to teaching disability issues in all of my courses, my other areas of research include women and beauty, popular culture and film, social inequality, and community/academic research partnerships. I have also examined the history of disability representation in film starting with how Hollywood films portray people with intellectual/developmental disabilities/differences. This is a collaborative, participatory research project with the Bodies of Film Club a film club that has a wide range of membership including people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. 

I have a long history working in the community both in B.C. and in Ontario. Starting out working in a segregated school and group home for children and young adults with developmental disabilities, I eventually became involved in the inclusion movement of mainstreaming children into their neighbourhood schools in North Vancouver. Inclusion forms the foundation of my professional and personal philosophy.

I have also been privileged to have been on several provincial and national Boards of Directors for non-profit organizations that advocate for the full inclusion of people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. I was a member of the Board of Directors for Inclusion BC from 2014-2023 and was its president of the Board from 2019-2023. I was a Member of the Board of Directors for Inclusion Canada (2018-2023) and am currently the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for New Society Institute (formerly the Institute for Research and Development on Inclusion and Society (IRIS)).

All aspects of my work involve collaboration with community.

Publications

Hardwick, J., Whittingtonton-Walsh, Watson, K., Zaffer, L. (2023). Accessible Admissions: Fostering Equitable, Accessible, and Inclusive Admissions Through Disability Justice. Report Prepared for British Columbia Council on Admissions & Transfer. https://www.bccat.ca/publication/accessibleadmissions/

Whittington-Walsh, F., Lead Author with KPU’s Accessibility Committee. (2023). KPU’s Accessibility Plan. https://www.kpu.ca/accessibility-plan

Whittington-Walsh, F., K. Bezanson, J. Hardwick, K. Miller, and E. Sawatzky. (2022). Designing for Inclusion: Lessons from Including All Citizens. Morris and Walji (Eds), Designing for Care. Hybrid Pedagogy Books.

Whittington-Walsh, F. (2020). COVID-19 highlights the need to switch to a community-living care model. In, Rabble.ca Blogs, May 07, 2020.

Whittington-Walsh, F. (2020). COVID-19 and the Crisis in Memory and Compassion. In, Rabble.ca Blogs, April 22, 2020.  

Whittington-Walsh, F. and Bezanson, Burton, MacKendrick, Miller, Sawatzky, Turner . (2019). The Bodies of Film Club: Disability, Identity and Empowerment. Goggin, Elis, Haller (Eds), Disability and the Media. Routledge. 

Whittington-Walsh, F. (2018). One of Us or Two? Conjoined Twins and the Paradoxical Relationship of Identity in American Horror Story: Freak Show. In, Leeson-Schatz and George, Eds, Media and Disability (pp. 11-27). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Press.

Warfield, K., Whittington-Walsh, F. (2016). Stich the Bitch: #girls#socialmedia#body#human. In, N. Mandell and J. Johnson (Eds), Feminist Issues: Race, Class, and Sexuality. Sixth Edition (pp.99-118). Toronto: Pearson Education Canada.

Mandell, N., Whittington-Walsh, F. (2014). Building Alliances: A Resource to Help Enhance Community-Academic Research Partnerships. In, Berman, R. (Ed), “Corridor Talk”: Canadian Feminist Scholars Share their Stories of Research Partnerships (pp. 98-125). Toronto: Iannna Publications and Education Inc. 

Whittington-Walsh, F. (2012). Reality Television and the Armchair Flâneur. In, Greenberg, J. and Elliott, C (Eds), Communications in Question: Canadian Perspectives on Controversial Issues in Communication Studies. Second Edition (pp. 268-274). Toronto: Thomson-Nelson. 

Whittington-Walsh, F. (2010). Beautiful Ever After: “Extreme Makeover” and the Spectacle of Rebirth. In, Pomerance and Sakeris (Eds), Popping Culture: Sixth Edition (pp.179-190). Boston: Pearson Education. REVISED.

Whittington-Walsh, F. (2008). Beautiful Ever After: “Extreme Makeover” and the Spectacle of Rebirth. In, Pomerance and Sakeris (Eds), Popping Culture: Fifth Edition (pp.113-126). Boston: Pearson Education. REVISED.

Whittington-Walsh, F. (2008). Guilty by Assumption: Style By Jury and Makeover Reality TV. In, Greenberg, J. and Elliott, C (Eds), Communications in Question: Canadian Perspectives on Controversial Issues in Communication Studies(pp.273-282). Toronto: Thomson-Nelson. 

Whittington-Walsh, F. (2007). Beautiful Ever After: “Extreme Makeover” and the Spectacle of Rebirth. In, Pomerance and Sakeris (Eds), Popping Culture: Fourth Edition. Boston: Pearson Education. REVISED.

Whittington-Walsh, F. (2006). The Broken Mirror: Young Women, Beauty, and Facial Difference. In, Women’s Health and Urban Life (Special Issue. pp. 7-24 ). Vol. 6, No. 2. December, 2006. 

Whittington-Walsh, F. (2006). Beautiful Ever After: “Extreme Makeover” and the Spectacle of Rebirth. In, Pomerance and Sakeris (Eds), Popping Culture: Third Edition. Boston: Pearson Education. REVISED

Whittington-Walsh, F. (2004). Beautiful Ever After: “Extreme Makeover” and the Spectacle of Rebirth. In, Pomerance and Sakeris (Eds), Popping Culture: Second Edition. Boston: Pearson Education.

Mandell, N., Whittington-Walsh, F. (2004). Building Alliances: A Resource to Help Enhance Community-Academic Research Partnerships. Supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, resource distributed by Joint Centre for Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS) across Canada to community groups, Working Paper #33, pp. 1-34. 

Whittington-Walsh, F. (2002). From Freaks to Savants: Disability and Hegemony from the Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) to Sling Blade (1997). In, Disability & Society. (695-707). Vol. 17 No. 6.  

Zitzelsberger, H., Odette, F., Rice, C., Whittington-Walsh, F. (2002). Building Bridges Across Difference and Disability. In, Abbey, S. (Ed), Ways of Knowing In and Through the Body: Diverse Perspectives on Embodiment (pp.259-261). Toronto, Canada: Canadian Association for the Study of Women and Education.

Zitzelsberger, H., Rice, C., Whittington-Walsh, F., and Odette, F. (2002). Building Bridges Across Difference and Disability: A Resource Guide for Health Care Providers. Toronto, Canada: Regional Women’s Health Centre and AboutFace International.

Whittington-Walsh, F. (1997). The Miracle Workers. In, Today’s Parent. Vol. 14, No. 9.

Whittington-Walsh, F. (1997). The Miracle Workers (reprint). In, Rehabilitation Digest. Volume 27, Issue 4. 

Whittington-Walsh, F. (1997). The Miracle Workers (reprint). In, Brampton Caledon Community Living Journal. December 1997.