Our Team
Dr. McConnell is a University of Sydney alumnus, now Professor of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta. Internationally, Dr. McConnell is among the most highly cited researchers in the family and disability field. His primary research interests include parents and parenting with intellectual disability; children with disabilities and the fabric of everyday family life; and more broadly, disability-inclusive health and social care. Dr. McConnell was the co-creator of Healthy Start, a world-first national strategy to build systemic capacity to support parents with intellectual disability and promote a healthy start to life for their children. His research on disability and discrimination in the child welfare system has been replicated on three continents. In one his more recent contributions, Dr. McConnell and co-author, Dr. Shanon Phelan (Dalhousie University), explore continuities and discontinuities in the history of intellectual disability, casting light on the legacy of 20th century eugenics.
Dr. Phelan is Associate Professor, School of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University. Her program of research focuses on understanding and improving opportunities for inclusion, belonging, and voice for children and youth who experience disability and their families. This program is informed by clinical experience working with children and families experiencing disability in schools and communities, and a trajectory of research in childhood disability. Within her program she has three main objectives: 1) to re-envision inclusion in the context of child culture and childhood disability; 2) to develop methodological expertise and innovative methods to engage child and youth voices in research; and 3) to contribute to theoretical advancements in childhood disability and inclusion. Dr. Phelan uses a disability justice approach and draws heavily on critical disability and feminist theories to illuminate inequities and injustices experienced by the disability community.
Forthcoming
Dr. Aunos is a psychologist, researcher, speaker, and consultant on accessibility and inclusion. She became a feminist disability activist through public speaking and alliances of disabled parents and addresses ableism through the initiatives such as events to Amplify the Voices of Parents with disabilities, a Parenting Done Differently Podcast where she interviewed Scholars, parents with disabilities and children of parents with disabilities and a TEDx Talk entitled What we can Learn from Parents with Disabilities that has over 325 000 views. Dr. Aunos is the Chair of the Parents and Parenting with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Spécial Interest Research Group of IASSIDD. She has taught at several universities, presents at scientific conferences, and publishes her research in renowned academic journals. She has recently published her book Mom on wheels: The Power of Purpose as a Parent with Paraplegia and regularly shares on her social media accounts about issues around accessibility.
Dr. Pacheco (she/her) is Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, Memorial University. She holds a BSW and MSW from McGill University and a PhD in Rehabilitation Medicine from the University of Alberta. Laura’s research interests are around reproductive justice and mothering with a disability, intersection of parenting with an intellectual disability and the child welfare system, structural and intimate partner violence against women with disabilities, intersecting identities and social justice, aging and neurodiversity, critically reflective practice and community engagement, narrative inquiry, critical discourse analysis and participatory approaches to research. Another focus of her research is on the health and social service system – roles of professionals, accessibility of services and the critical examination of professionals’ power and privilege.
Dr. Feldman is a Professor Emeritus in the Dept. of Applied Disability Studies, Brock University. He is a registered clinical psychologist in Ontario and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. He has over 170 peer-review publications and 250 invited addresses, conference presentations/posters, and workshops. He is considered a world-leader on parenting by persons with learning difficulties. The evidence-based Step-by-Step© Parenting Program he and his colleagues developed and evaluated is emulated worldwide. He conducts parenting assessments of parents with learning difficulties and has written the only book on this topic (Feldman & Aunos, 2010). He is a Brock Distinguished Researcher and Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association. Dr. Feldman received the United States National Distinguished Disability Researcher Award as well as career research awards from the Ontario Association for Developmental Disabilities (OADD), the Ontario Association for Behaviour Analysis (ONTABA) and The Association for Successful Parenting (TASP).
Forthcoming
Dr. Laliberte is the Executive Director of the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare in the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota. Her work is focused on child welfare practice and policy with special interest in comprehensive family assessment, system change, permanency for children in out of home care, and work with children and parents who have disabilities. She has served as principal investigator on studies of comprehensive assessment, evidence-based practice in treatment foster care settings, child welfare leadership, and the intersection of child welfare and disability.
Dr. Savage is senior researcher for the Government of Alberta Ministry of Seniors, Community and Social Services. Her work informs program and policy decisions impacting disability services, housing and homelessness, income and employment services, and family violence prevention in Alberta. Her broader research interests include social justice and equity for vulnerable populations; understanding and addressing disability inclusion, participation, and rights realization at the population level and across the life course; and effective translation and dissemination of research to incite meaningful systemic change.
Lyndsey Hahn, PhD
Dr. Hahn completed her PhD in Rehabilitation Science, in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta, in 2020, and is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Medicine. Prior to her PhD, Dr. Hahn completed a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy and a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction at the University of Alberta. Her research interests include parents and parenting with disability, the social epidemiology of child and youth well-being, and disability-based discrimination. Dr. Hahn has methodological expertise in structural equation modelling and more broadly, the analysis of population-based data.
Dr. Breitkreuz is Professor and Chair, Department of Human Ecology, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Alberta. Her primary research interests are in the areas of Gender, Family and Policy. Her past research includes studies of the impact of child care policy on family well-being and maternal employment. In addition, Dr. Breitkreuz has done international work, exploring the impacts of social policy on marginalized citizens in developing countries. Her previous research on the gendered nature of welfare-to-work, the work-family integration of those in marginalized employment, and child care policy has been published in leading inter-disciplinary social science journals, including Critical Social Policy, Community, Work & Family, Journal of Family Issues, and Development Policy Review. With funding from the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council and the Worldwide University Network, Dr. Breitkreuz is exploring the economic empowerment of women in seven countries across the globe.
Dr. Rinaldi is Professor of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Alberta. Her research focus is in the area of social and emotional learning and development of children and adolescents. Her professional and scholarly experience working in schools, hospitals, and community settings has informed her research. Dr. Rinaldi’s current research projects examine (a) children’s school readiness in both academic and non-academic areas, (b) how mother-child and father-child relationships promote adaptive social and academic behaviours over time, and (c) parents’ and students’ understanding of bullying and the various strategies and supports they use to help promote healthy relationships.