Are you ready to deepen your understanding of disability awareness and inclusion in the workplace? We are excited to announce an online workshop developed for faculty, staff, and learners at the Faculty of Medicine, led by Dr. Jon Breen, Equity Advisor with the Dean’s Office.
“Building our awareness and understanding of disability and inclusion within the Faculty of Medicine community is essential to creating respectful and equitable learning and work environments that are free of discrimination, where all people are accepted, valued and empowered to thrive.”
- Dr. Dermot Kelleher, Dean, Faculty of Medicine and Vice-President, Health, University of British Columbia
Workshop Details
🎓 Facilitator: Dr. Jon Breen, Equity Advisor, Dean’s Office, FoM
🗓️ Dates: Register below for any of the following sessions. (The sessions offer a repeat of the workshop.)
🕒 Duration: Two hours per session
📌 Platform: Live via Zoom
👥 Capacity: Limited to 25 participants per session
Workshop Facilitator
Dr. Breen boasts a wealth of experience within the realm of disability and employment. With a career spanning both private and public sectors, he has served as a practitioner, researcher, and author. Dr. Breen’s expertise promises an engaging and enlightening workshop experience.
Read Dr. Breen’s bio
Dr. Jonathon S. Breen, PhD, MSW, BA, is an Equity Advisor with the Dean’s Office and an Honorary Research Associate inthe Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, UBC.
His research interests focus on the theoretical and practical understandings of disability, particularly as these apply in the workplace. Included in this work has been the development of a self-report questionnaire designed to measure workplace attitudes toward people with disabilities (PWDs) and a new model of disability that supports organizational reform regardingdisabled job seekers and employees.
Dr. Breen’s academic work follows an extensive career in both the public and the private sectors. He has served as theExecutive Director of a supported employment agency, as the Yukon Government manager of disability employment services, and as the principal of an ongoing consultancy within the field of employment and disability. He began his career,in Winnipeg, as the owner and operator of a healthcare manufacturing and export company, within which he implemented apolicy of hiring only individuals who identified as PWDs.
Over the course of his career, Dr. Breen has served as the chair of a number of boards of directors within the non-profitsector. These have included the Yukon Health and Social Services Council, the Yukon Council on Disability, and Options for Independence (a housing project serving adults living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder). He has also served as the chairof the Yukon Human Rights Commission. In 2013, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal for his community service work.
View Dr. Breen’s publications
Breen, J. & Forwell, S. (2023). Disability and the workplace: The politics of difference. New York, NY: Routledge.
Breen, J. & Forwell, S. (2021). The difference model of disability: A focus on employment. In N. Ferreira, I. Potgieter, & M. Coetzee (Eds.), Agile coping in the digital era: Emerging issues for research and practice. (pp. 275-298). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Breen, J., & Forwell, S. (2020). The Difference Model of disability: A change in direction for vocational rehabilitation practice. Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling, 26(1), 12-17.
Breen, J. (2019). Developing the Co-Worker Acceptance of Disabled Employees (CADE) Scale. Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling, 25(1), 1-14.
Breen, J., Havaei, F., & Pitassi, C. (2019). Employer attitudes toward hiring persons with disabilities in Armenia. Disability and Rehabilitation, 41(18), 2135-2142. Published online (2018) at doi:10.1080/09638288.2018.1459882
Breen, J. (2018). Attitudes toward employees with disabilities: A systematic review of self-report measures. Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling, 24(2), 67-87.
Breen, J. (2018). The co-worker acceptance of disabled employees (CADE) scale: A study to gather evidence of content validity. (PhD dissertation) http://hdl.handle.net/2429/67749
Breen, J. (2017). Disability as difference – a fictional representation. The Qualitative Report, 22(10), 2722-2741.
Breen, J. (2015). The exoskeleton generation – disability redux. Disability and Society, 30(10), 1568-1572.
Breen, J. (2015). On-demand American Sign Language interpreting services: Creating social policy in the Yukon. Sign Language Studies, 15(3), 348-362.
Workshop Highlights
- Interactive Discussions with fellow Participants
- Insightful Interviews with Researchers and Individuals with Disabilities
- Sharing Key Resources for Inclusive Workspaces
- Exploring the Concept of Disability
- Analyzing Workplace Realities Related to Disabilities
- Addressing the Impact of Low Self-Report Rates on Performance and Morale
- Navigating the Challenges of Disability Disclosure
- Identifying Structural and Procedural Barriers
- Exploring Solutions and Organizational Strategies
- Discussion on Integration at Individual, Departmental, and Faculty Levels within the FoM
Active Participation Required
Come prepared to contribute your thoughts, insights, and recommendations to enrich our discussions.
Registration & Additional Information
Upon successful registration, you will receive a confirmation email and a link to a brief questionnaire ahead of each session.
Accessibility Needs
If you have any accessibility requirements for these sessions, please do not hesitate to contact the Centre for Workplace Accessibility at 604.822.8139 or workplace.accessibility@ubc.ca
Don’t miss this opportunity to enhance your awareness, understanding, and commitment to disability inclusion in the workplace. Join us on this enlightening journey towards a more inclusive FoM community.