Families and Memory
Edmonton Public Library, Alberta
October 24, 2008
This public workshop, cosponsored by Neighborhood Bridges and the Alberta Assocation for Community Living, was held at the downtown branch of the Edmonton Public Library in October 2008. It was a small, intimate workshop that centred on the stories and experiences of those who have suffered sterilization, institutionalization, and other aspects of marginalization or exclusion from family life as a result of real or perceived disabilities. Closed captioning for these talks is in preparation.
Keynote presentations were given by Simo Vehmas, University of Jyväskylä, Finland, a specialist in the intersection of bioethics, eugenics, and disability, and Dick Sobsey, Director of the John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre, University of Alberta, who is a specialist on violence, institutionalization, and disability. The workshop itself focused on informal talks given by several community members who did not wish to have video or audio-recordings of their talks broadcast, in part for reasons of privacy, and in part because they are involved in ongoing struggles with public agencies over personal matters.