2026 Keynote Lecture
Date
Thursday March 12, 20261:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Location
1966 Reading Room, Douglas LibraryWe are thrilled to announce Patty Douglas as the 20th Inquiry@Queen's Conference Keynote speaker!
The Power of Storytelling Research: Connecting Across Diversity
In this talk I will share about the storytelling research I do with diverse autistic and neurodivergent communities in Canada, England and Aotearoa New Zealand. Research can sometimes feel like a distant or unconnected activity controlled by universities and unconnected to everyday lives and the things that matter most to communities. Storytelling research invites participant-storytellers to take ownership of the research process through making and sharing multimedia stories (videos, zines, art) about the issues of importance to their lives and communities. Participant-storytellers own their stories and often choose to participate with the research team to help share their stories with decision makers and professionals who are in a position to improve teaching, learning and other conditions for thriving. This matters because storytelling research has the power to change worlds and connect communities in ways that create kinder and more equitable worlds. You can see more about the storytelling projects I do here: www.restoryingautism.com
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Patty Douglas is Associate Professor, Inaugural Chair of Student Success and Wellness and Director of the Centre for Community Engagement and Social Change in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University. Her work focuses on cultivating access and disability justice in research, practice, and policy through critical arts-based, disability studies, decolonial, storytelling and other critical and creative approaches. Among others, Patty founded and currently leads the Re•Storying Autism project (www.restoryingautism.com), a longitudinal multimedia storytelling project transforming educational practice in Canada, New Zealand, and the UK. Patty brings dynamic experience to her roles as a former special education teacher, neurodivergent individual, and mom of two neurodivergent sons, one of whom attracted the label of autism Her book, Unmothering Autism, is available from UBC Press. For more information see https://educ.queensu.ca/people/patty-douglas |
