Lindsay Stephens
Lindsay Stephens
RESEARCHER/ COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SPECIALIST/Equity and Access Professional
An experienced researcher, educator, community engagement and social policy specialist with 5+ years of experience as an assistant professor in Urban Planning and Geography at the University of Toronto. I use participatory methods, action research, and a critical intersectional and justice informed approach to facilitate community engagement, equitable knowledge production, and social and policy change.
Areas of Expertise
RESEARCH DESIGN and METHODS
Research design, research methods and qualitative data analysis including interviews, focus groups and surveys. Uniquely skilled in the use of innovative qualitative methods including visual methods like drawing and mapping; photo elicitation; participatory design including design charette; observational and ethnographic methods; archival, document and media analysis. Also leading, teaching and training others in these approaches.
SOCIAL POLICY and SOCIAL CHANGE
Social policy analysis, policy briefs and recomendations. Focus on the intersection of citizen engagement and policy processes. Understanding processes of social change and operationalizing theories of change in organizations and communities.
EQUITY and ACCESS
Anti-oppression and social justice analysis; intersectional feminist, anti-racist, critical disability and Disability Justice informed critique of policy, practices, institutions and governance approaches. Extensive experience with understanding disability access for children, and in higher education institutions and workplaces.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT and COMMUNITY BUILDING
Outreach and engagement activities including participatory design; multimedia engagement including advising on video or social media content; in person and virtual event and meeting facilitation; community building; mediation and conflict resolution strategies.
Research
Research Areas
In my research I have explored the micro politics of community processes and social change. How do information, accessibility, emotion, conflict, and ways of coming together influence community capacity, engagement, and possibilities for building more just and inclusive practices and policies?I have examined micro politics through evaluating community engagement processes and used that to uncover hidden ableism; helping us rethink how we understand power in groups and how we do collaboration. My work also aims to strengthen relational and Disability Justice informed understandings of Disability.Finally, I have contributed to scholarship around critical qualitative research methods and other processes of knowledge production through my use of creative, reflexive, embodied, and relational research approaches.
Recent Grants
Connections Grant (SSHRC). “AcTinSite Community of Practice”. Co-Applicant (PI Melanie Baljko, York University, 2021-2023)
Insight Grant (SSHRC). “Accommodation to include students with disabilities in practicum Sites (AcTinSite): A participatory design toolbox”. Co Applicant (PI Iris Epstein, York University, 2020-2024)
Academic Innovation Fund (York University). “Collective Access-Centered (CAC) Resource: YorkU_CAC”. Collaborator (PI Iris Epstein, York University, 2022-2024)
New Frontiers in Research Fund (Tri Council). “Strategies for increasing Accessibility and Equity in Health and Human Services: A National Perspective”. Collaborator (PI Tal Jarus, University of British Columbia, 2020- 2023)
Academic Innovation Fund (York University). “A multidisciplinary experiential-education resource to support the communication needs of students with disabilities and instructors in placement”. Collaborator (PI Iris Epstein, York University, 2020 -2021)
Insight Development Grant (SSHRC). “Understanding the nursing landscape of clinical practice for students with disability and instructors”. Collaborator (PI Iris Epstein, York University)
AcTinSite is a multi-centred interdisciplinary research study about accessibility and accommodation in work-integrated learning. The partners on this project are two hospitals, two universities, and a college. Together they collaborating to build knowledge and skills needed for practitioners and students to make work-integrated learning sites more accessible and accommodations easier to access. This project is funded by a 3 year SSHRC Insight Grant For more info go to https://actinsite.eecs.yorku.ca
ActOn arose from a York University Academic Innovation Fund project. This work used participatory video to create and share knowledge about access in placement. This work is connected to my co-authored publication titled “Thinking Rhizomatically and Becoming Successful with Disabled Students in the Accommodations Assemblage: Using Storytelling as a method.” To see the press book click here.
Publications
Refereed Publications
Stephens, L. Epstein, I., Baljko, M., Smith, H (2024) Micropolitics in participatory processes: the impact of ablism and other ‘hidden’ power structures on equitable participation and outcomes. Planning Theory and Practice. 1-19 https://doi.org/10.1080/14649357.2024.2421514Epstein, I., Stephens, L., Baljko, M., Procknow, G., Mastrilli, P. (2024) Ableism and the discourse of risk and safety in patient‐facing work‐integrated learning. Nursing Inquiry. e12671 https://doi.org/10.1111/nin.12671Jarus,T., Stephens, L., Edelist, T., Katzman, E., Holmes, C., Kamenetsky, S., Epstein, I., Zaman, S., (2024) Strategies for increasing accessibility and equity in health and human service educational programs: protocol for a national, mixed methods study Disabilities 4(3) 444-458. https://doi.org/10.3390/disabilities4030028Stephens, L. (2023) What does community do? Reconsidering community action on the Toronto Islands using assemblage theory. Community Development Journal. 59(3), 457-474 https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsad014Stephens, L., Smith, H., Epstein, I., Baljko, M., Mcintosh,I., Dadashi,N., Narayani Prakash, D. (2023) Accessibility and Participatory Design: Time, Power and Facilitation. Codesign 19(4), 287–303 https://doi.org/10.1080/15710882.2023.2214145Bulk, L.Y., Franks, A., Stephens, L., Baljko, M., Smith, H., Dadashi, N., Epstein, I., (2023) The invisible work of co-creating disability access in work integrated learning. Advances in Health Sciences Education (Online first, April 2023) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-023-10216-zSpicer, J. Stephens, L. Kramer, A. (2022) Oranges are not the only fruit: Varieties of housing land trusts? Journal of Planning Education and Research. 44(3), 1775-1790 https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X221119819Epstein, I., Baljko, M., Magel, B., Stephens, L., Dadashi, N., Smith, H., & Bulk, L.Y. (2022). Document Landscape: Exploring What Shapes Disabled Students’ Experiences in Practice-Based Education. Canadian Journal of Disability Studies. 11(1) 53-90 https://doi.org/10.15353/cjds.v11i1.851Epstein, I.; Ross, J.; Juergensen, L.; Mykitiuk, R.; MacEntee, K. Stephens, L. (2021). Thinking Rhizomatically and Becoming Successful with Disabled Students in the Accommodations Assemblage: Using Storytelling as Method; Nursing Inquiry https://doi.org/10.1111/nin.12475Mack, T. L., Stephens L., Epstein I. (2021) Removing ableist barriers in nursing education: Clinical essential requirements. Canadian Journal of Disability Studies 10(3), 147-176. https://doi.org/10.15353/cjds.v10i3.820Ruddick, S., Stephens, L., McKeever, P. (2021). Diagramming disability: A Deleuzian approach to researching childhood disability. Deleuze Studies.15(1), 15-39. https://doi.org/10.3366/dlgs.2021.0427Epstein I., Stephens, L., Severino, S., Jennings, A., Dadashi, N., Khanlou, N. (2020) “Ask Me What I Need”: A Call for Shifting Responsibility and Creating Inclusive Learning Environments in Clinical Placement, 92, Nurse Education Today. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104505Stephens, L. (2019). Becoming acrobat, becoming academic: an affective, autoethnographic inquiry into collective practices of knowing and becoming. Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies. 19(4), 264-274. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532708618784332Stephens, L., Spalding, K., Aslam, H., Scott, H., Ruddick, S., Young, N., McKeever, P. (2017). Inaccessible childhoods: Evaluating accessibility in homes, schools and neighbourhoods with disabled children. Children’s Geographies, 15(5), 583-599. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2017.1295133Stephens, L., Scott, H., Aslam, H., Yantzi, N., Young, N., Ruddick, S., McKeever, P. (2015). The accessibility of elementary schools in Ontario, Canada: Not making the grade. Children, Youth and Environments, 25(2), 153-175. https://doi.org/10.7721/chilyoutenvi.25.2.0153Stephens, L., Ruddick, S., McKeever, P. (2015). Disability and Deleuze: An exploration of becoming and embodiment in children’s everyday environments. Body and Society, 21(2), 194-220. https://doi.org/10.1177/1357034X14541155Stephens, L. (2015). The economic lives of circus ‘artists’: Canadian circus performers and the new economy. Canadian Journal of Communication, 40(2), 243-260. https://doi.org/10.22230/cjc.2015v40n2a2817Doherty, S., McKeever, P., Aslam, H., Stephens, L., Yantzi, N. (2014). Use of GPS tracking to interactively explore disabled children’s mobility and accessibility patterns. Children Youth and Environments, 24(1), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.7721/chilyoutenvi.24.1.0001Blain, S., Kingsnorth, S., Stephens, L., McKeever, P. (2012). Determining the effects of therapeutic clowning on nurses in a children’s rehabilitation hospital. Arts & Health, 4(1), 26-38. https://doi.org/10.1080/17533015.2011.561359Charise, A., Witteman, H., Whyte, S., Sutton, E.J., Massimi, M., Stephens, L., et al. (2011). Questioning context: A set ofinterdisciplinary questions for identifying contextual factors affecting health decision-making. Health Expectations, 14(2), 115-132. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1369-7625.2010.00618.xReports and Non-refereed PublicationsFernandes, S.. Johnson, SJ. Jiang, C.; Wong, H; Cort, K.. Stephens, L. Epstein, I (2024) Transforming Academic Access: Findings and Recommendations from the CIPA ProjectFuller, S. and Stephens, L. (2004). Women’s employment in B.C.: Effects of government downsizing and employment policy changes 2001-2004. Vancouver: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, B.C. Office.Brewin, A. with Stephens, L. (2004). Legal aid denied: Women and the cuts to legal services in B.C. Vancouver: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, B.C. Office and West Coast Legal Education and Action Fund.Fuller, S. and Stephens, L. (2002). Cost shift: How British Columbians are paying for their tax cut. Vancouver: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, BC Office.
Teaching
Teaching
My teaching success rests on co-creating meaningful and accessible learning experiences that impact and enrich students and simultaneously transform society. I deliver inclusive and accessible education that is part of a building accessible, antiracist and decolonizing institutions.What this means in practice is that I meet students where they are at, understanding that traditional education may not be in forms that allow all students to thrive; I offer the scaffolding and support students need to develop their full capacity. My student-centered approach is especially effective given students are often overwhelmed with information, anxiety, and pressures that complicate the post-secondary educational experience.My pedagogical approach is focused on three key areas 1) learning as a process not just an outcome, 2) the role of the whole self in learning and 3) recognizing barriers and co-producing accessible and equitable learning.
Description of courses designed and taughtGraduate coursesJPG1812 Planning for Change ( Full year 2023/24)A full year service learning course. Students are placed in public sector, non profit and community-based organizations to complete placements that serve the needs of those organizations. As the course instructors I was responsible for building and maintaining relationships with placement partners, teaching students how to navigate the non profit and public sector workplace including managing conflict, understanding issues of power and equity, and facilitating scholarly learning alongside the placement experience.PLA 1108 Communication in the Face of Power (Fall 2021, Winter 2022, 2023)A core planning course for 30 students in the Masters program at the University of Toronto St. George. This course focuses on key skills for working with communities in the face of structural inequality and oppression including community engagement, community-based research, participatory action research, political strategy, participatory planning, indigenous planning, working with Indigenous rights holders, anti-oppression and decolonial practice.PLA 1101 Planning History, Thought and Practice (Fall 2019, 2020)This core planning course is taken by all 30 students in the first year of the Masters program at the University of Toronto St. George. It introduces these students to key ideas in planning history, thought and practice and aims to prepare them to build their planning practice on a foundation informed by planning’s rich history and theory.PLA 1107 Current Issues Paper (Full Year 2012, 2013, 2016-present)The graduate masters’ capstone research project course. This course involves lecturing, advising and coordinating 30 Urban Planning Masters students and their committees towards the completion of their final “Current Issues Papers”. Topics range across four sub-disciplines of social, economic, environmental and urban planning.JPG 2150 Special topics – Qualitative Research Methods (Winter 2016)A graduate level qualitative methods class for approximately 10 Masters and PhD students in Geography and Planning. The class focuses both on the complex philosophical questions that are embedded in research methods and practical skills for conducting research.PLA 1106 Workshop in Planning Practice (Co-instructor)(Fall 2013)This is the capstone group project for the Planning Masters Program. For this course I developed and supervised in-the-field group projects for 30 graduate students in the second year of the Masters Program. This position involved advising students, supervising their research, and grading final projects.Undergraduate coursesGGR 271 Social Research Methods (Winter 2011, 2021)A second-year undergraduate course for approximately 200 students. Topics covered include ontology and epistemology for different social research, research design and ethics, sampling theory, questionnaire design, interviewing, observational research, focus groups and participatory methods, content analysis and basic data coding.GGR 452 Space, Power, Geography: Understanding Spatiality (Winter 2020)A fourth year undergraduate seminar style course for up to 20 students. This course explores how understanding of space and power have shifted radically in the past half century using close readings of the texts of Foucault and Deleuze.GGR C31 Qualitative Geographic Methods: Place and Ethnography (Winter 2013, 2017-2019)A third year undergraduate course for up to 60 students. This course explored the practice of ethnography within and outside the discipline of geography, and situates this within current debates on methods and theory.GGR B13 Social Geography (Summer, Fall 2012, 2013, 2015-2018)A second year undergraduate course for approximately 100 students. This course examined the role of social divisions such as class, race, gender and sexuality in shaping the social geographies of cities and regions.GGR C45 Local Geographies of Globalization (Fall 2016 -2018)A third year undergraduate course for approximately 60 students. This course introduces the histories, politics, economics, values and ideas that underlie processes of globalization, explores the intersection between the global and the local and encourages the evaluation of specific globalization processes in relation to questions of equity, resources, and justice.CIT B03 Social Planning and Community Development (Winter 2014)A second year undergraduate course for approximately 110 students. This course provides an overview of the history, theory, and politics of community development and social planning.GGR 328 Labour Geography (Winter 2012)A third year undergraduate course for approximately 80 students. Topics included theories of labour; post-Fordism; precarious work, flexibility, and risk; worker agency and unionization; race and gender; globalization and the movement of labour; emotional labour; and alternatives to dominant economic paradigms.
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