This workshop will explore the role of art for the disabled community, imagining new possibilities for thinking about disability. We will be screening Rob Viscardis' short documentary, The Power of the Walk, followed by a short discussion with disabled artists and abled artists who are creating work about disabled people, focusing on attitudinal change through art and expression. This will be an opportunity for interactive sharing of knowledge and ideas. Guest speakers include Derek Newman-Stille, Adelle Purdha, Luka Stojanovic, and Rob Viscardis.

Derek Newman-Stille (they/them) is a Queer, Nonbinary, Disabled, Fat, Femme settler Canadian (Turtle Island) author, poet, academic, editor, visual artist, and activist. They are the 9-time Aurora Award-winning creator of the digital humanities site Speculating Canada and the associated radio show. They frequently use fantasy and science fiction as a means of elucidating possibilities and potentials, reimagining the way that we situate identities and ideas. Derek has published poetry in fora such as Fat Studies In Canada: (Re)Mapping The Field (Inanna), Whispers Between Fairies (Renaissance Press), and Polar Borealis. They have performed and published poetry for Artsweek Peterborough's SHIFT: Post-Code Tour, and performed poetry for Peterborough's Arts Ability: Taking the Stage. Derek Newman-Stille's artwork will be on display at the library for the month of May. You can come early to check out the artwork before the event.

Adelle Purdham (she/her) is an educator, parent disability ally, and bestselling author of the memoir-in-essays I Don’t Do Disability And Other Lies I’ve Told Myself (Dundurn Press, 2024), which was named a Fall 2024 ‘Most Anticipated’ Memoir & Biography by Indigo and 49th Shelf. Her prose and poetry appear in literary journals, anthologies, magazines, newspapers and online. Adelle is a Sessional Course Instructor at Trent University where she teaches creative writing. She lives and writes in her hometown, Nogojiwanong (Peterborough), Ontario.

Luka Stojanovic (he/they) is a crip, mad, queer artist, activist, and scholar whose work explores the intersections of disability, mental health, and social justice. His arts-based research is generously funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Scholarship and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Doctoral Scholarship. Through various mediums, Luka's interdisciplinary approach blends personal experience with scholarly insight to nuance and challenge conventional narratives surrounding crip and mad lives.

Rob Viscardis is an award-winning filmmaker and editor whose work has been screened at leading festivals such as Hot Docs and DOC NYC. His latest film is a short doc called Power of the Walk (Director, Editor, Producer) which premiered at DOC NYC in 2024. His latest feature documentary My Dad’s Tapes (Producer, Editor) premiered at Hot Docs in 2024 and was the #11 Audience Favourite. It received an award from the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, and won Best Feature Documentary by North East International Film Festival. The Canadian Labour Film Festival awarded 3 awards to his 2019 doc Town of Widows (co-director, co-producer, editor, DP) which had its broadcast premiere on CBC Docs POV. There is a thread of social justice running through much of Rob's work, and many of his projects have been financed and produced resolutely outside of traditional funding sources and often with minimal resources, showing a keen determination to get projects made and completed.