My guest today was Leilani Farha, Global Director of the Shift and former UN Special rapporteur on the Right to Housing. The Shift is a newly formed coalition of various stakeholders who advocate on the principle of housing as a human right and work on the basis of International Human Rights law. 

We talked in depth about the financialization of housing and the role of private equity firms, with billions of dollars to invest in residential real-estate. This has driven up housing prices in Canada and in other parts of the world. It’s a truly interesting way to conceptualize the things we already know: housing is getting more expensive and fewer people can afford to live in their own city. We endeavour to answer the question: why is that. 

In the second half, we discussed what this lack of affordable housing means for people with disabilities. I think we don’t focus sufficiently on the prevalence of homelessness and under-housing within the disability community. By adopting a human rights based approach, we can ensure that all housing (new builds as well as retrofits) are made as barrier-free as possible and also look at changing attitudes and ensure that landlords comply with human rights laws. 

I asked Leilani how we might tackle the problem of housing affordability and eradicate homelessness, with less than 4 minutes left on the clock. She didn’t disappoint.  

Having worked in the housing sector for close to 10 years now, I was delighted to welcome Leilani to the program. You can catch our conversation on your favourite podcast platform and also find Leilani’s new podcast “Pushback Talks.” 

I spoke today to Professor Jackie Kennelley from Carleton University and undergraduate student Leif Morris about some exciting ongoing research into the linkages between affordable housing and experiences of homelessness and under-housing. Their efforts are part of a larger national project funded as part of the National Housing Strategy.  

Jackie was candid about the causes and consequences of homelessness. Leif, who has lived experience of homelessness in his youth, shared his story and lessons learnt. 

If you recall our previous interview about the social determinants of health, it is key to start thinking about housing as a way to ensure healthy individuals and communities. Homelessness is as costly to us as Canadians and the impact on communities and families cannot be done justice in this brief entry. 

As a person with a disability, I realized that I was a few lucky coincidences away from a very different life path. I had spent close to a decade on provincial social assistance which was so meagre that it was inconceivable for me to consider being able to rent anything suitable.  

Had I additionally needed a wheel-chair accessible unit, which also needed to be affordable for someone on fixed income, I would have been quite lost. 

I don’t want to close on a somber note. I hope that Jackie’s research and the efforts of other housing advocates will mean that we turn a corner and seriously re-invest in affordable housing across this country. 

My guest today was McMaster University Communications student Jess Rauchberg. Jess is currently doing her PH.D in the ways in which people with disabilities use social media to organize and build community. 

My conversation with Jess was amongst one of the most fun I’ve had. It kept me on my toes and quite organically made connections with an earlier interview with Moya Bailey I did a few weeks ago. 

The key take away I think is that the ability to engage in activism for people with disabilities from the comfort of their own home, or even from bed, is something that cannot and should not be taken for granted. 

Jess’ energy and passion for activism and community building came across clearly in our conversation.  

You can catch that conversation on your favourite podcast platform! 

My guest today was Sam Brunet. Sam is a contributor to Knots, the Undergraduate Journal of Disability Studies at the University of Toronto. We discussed the value in assessing cultural conceptions of motherhood through the lens of disability.

I’m very keen to allow space on The Pulse for both established voices in the Disability community and also for emerging thinkers and advocates.

Sam described how ideas of good motherhood are linked with notions of eradicating disability. If you failed to diminish disability, it was determined you had failed as a mother.

We all know something about motherhood. This is a conversation we can all take part in. So much time, energy and money goes into providing a good childhood, all in the hopes that those children will grow up to be productive members of society. What happens when disability enters the picture?

We’ve touched on motherhood in various other conversations on the program before so feel free to scroll through our podcast achieves and pick the shows that interest you!

My guest today was Professor Dennis Raphael from the Faculty of Health at York University. Professor Raphael joined us to discuss the most up-to-date version of the Social Determinants of Health.

Now before your eyes gloss over, this was in fact a really insightful conversation, especially if you care about social justice and disability rights. For example, did you know that a country like Norway spends four times more on people with disabilities compared to Canada? Imagine how much difference four times the investment in people with disabilities could make to all of us!

The interview is packed with useful information like the above, but what I genuinely appreciated about our conversation was its accessibility to ordinary people. You don’t have to be a policy wonk to appreciate another framework to consider concepts of health and well-being. Rather than considering an absence of disease, social determinants of health considers 17 factors like income inequality, employment, gender, geography and disability to name a few, as contributors to public health.

There are concrete recommendations to go along with each of the 17 indicators. We find out how Canada is doing on each of the indicators and what can be done to make improvements.

To my dismay, we couldn’t get to all the indicators, or even most, but our conversation was both in-depth and fruitful,