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July/August 2023

Growing out of it

If others don't notice my stutter, can I really call myself a stutterer at all?

Isabel Armiento

I was walking home from the grocery store when a well-dressed man politely stopped me to ask for directions. “Could you tell me which way to Bloor and…” He struggled to get the next word out, a pained expression on his face, but I knew better than to try to finish his sentence for him. […] More »
March-April 2019

Staging a comeback

After her multiple sclerosis diagnosis, Debbie Patterson quit acting. Twenty years on, her second act is transforming Winnipeg’s theatre scene.

Hannah Foulger

Debbie Patterson stands in a circle with her castmates, swaying from side to side, from crutch to crutch. The group is performing The Threepenny Opera, a 1928 German musical critiquing capitalism. The cast consists mostly of disabled theatre artists—and that’s especially powerful in this context: Living with a disability directly challenges capitalism, according to Patterson, […] More »
May-June 2018

For Canadians with disabilities, accessibility is still a recurring issue

What still needs to change in even our biggest cities across the country

Susan Mockler

On August 20, 1995, I slipped into the passenger seat of my friend’s rusty old hatchback. It was nine o’clock at night. As we pulled onto the highway, heading from Ottawa toward Montreal, I wriggled to get comfortable on the vinyl seat, smooth against my bare legs. Fastening the seatbelt, I settled in. By ten […] More »
March-April 2018

Why can’t Canadians afford long-term sick leave?

Erica Mojzes found herself in trouble when she needed to take time off work for an illness. She's not alone—and many Canadians are sick, tired, and struggling just to get by

Erica Mojzes

I used to dream about owning a house someday. Nothing extravagant, just a roof over my head that belongs only to me—a millennial’s dream of a room of my own. In 2012, that dream was on the horizon. I had finished my education and was living at home with my mother. She owns a modest […] More »

Toronto’s Disability Pride sheds light on municipal shortcomings for those with disabilities

In its seventh year, the march serves as a reminder of just how much change still needs to be made

Emily Macrae

“My disability is not your punch line.” This hand-lettered sign set the tone for the seventh annual Toronto Disability Pride March. On a sweltering Saturday afternoon in September, disabled activists and allies gathered in the shade of Queen’s Park for politically-charged speeches and personal celebrations before marching down Bay Street. The event emerged from Toronto’s […] More »
January-February 2017

2017 Kick-Ass Activist: Andrew Gurza

He has sparked a much-needed conversation about sex and disability, leaving no kinky question untouched

Amanda Scriver@amascriver

All too often, people with disabilities are left out of the body positivity conversation. That’s why when Andrew Gurza was asked to pose in Toronto alt-weekly Now magazine’s “Love Your Body” issue in January 2015 completely naked, he felt excited and hopeful to start a dialogue about bodies that are not typically considered beautiful. “I like […] More »
September-October 2016

What a radical restructuring of Canada’s health care system would look like

More hospital funding, empathy, intersectionality, and more

Kaleigh Trace@KaleighTrace

For our special 50th anniversary issue, Canada’s brightest, boldest, and most rebellious thinkers, doers, and creators share their best big ideas. Through ideas macro and micro, radical and everyday, we present 50 essays, think pieces, and calls to action. Picture: plans for sustainable food systems, radical legislation, revolutionary health care, a greener planet, Indigenous self-government, […] More »
September-October 2016

It’s time to have an honest discussion about disability, Canada

Many of us are too afraid to talk about disability. Let's change that

Andrew Gurza@andrewgurza

For our special 50th anniversary issue, Canada’s brightest, boldest, and most rebellious thinkers, doers, and creators share their best big ideas. Through ideas macro and micro, radical and everyday, we present 50 essays, think pieces, and calls to action. Picture: plans for sustainable food systems, radical legislation, revolutionary health care, a greener planet, Indigenous self-government, […] More »
May-June 2016

Is welfare sexist?

Some provincial governments will cut off social and disability assistance if a woman’s partner makes too much money—a 1950s era policy that curbs independence, reinforces the marry-rich cliché, and can even put women in danger

Amanda Van Slyke

Independence has never come easy for me—but it’s always been vital. I was born premature in 1989 with undiagnosed dyspraxia, a neurological disorder that permanently affects memory, coordination, and processing speed. Because my development was delayed and I was held back in kindergarten, I heavily relied on my classmates throughout school. I nodded my head […] More »

Wanted: Social Justice All-Stars

This Magazine Staff

Do you know an all-star Canadian working for social justice action? Our upcoming issue will feature Canadians from across the country who are working to make Canada a better, more progressive place. We’re focusing on issues of: diversity and multiculturalism, disability and LGBTQ rights, mental health, women’s rights, youth, poverty and income disparities, housing—and so […] More »
January-February 2014

Let’s (not) talk about sex

Java Nguyen

Inside the silence behind sex, dating, and disability It took less than 30 seconds for the date to go from promising to very bad. After some online chatting, Steve* was excited to meet Kayla, the 24-year-old law clerk he connected with on Plentyoffish. They’d decided on Toronto’s Bull and Firkin Pub, one early evening in […] More »