Category Archives: Disability Justice & Mental Health
Social Trustice, The Struggles of Detangling
Anonymous wants to highlight their positionality as an economically privileged and financially dependent disabled settler of colour with other significant intersections; Anonymous uses all the pronouns, but prefers “he/they”. I’ll stand up to the white men the rich men the Old Boys and the new start a magazine and stop eating so many bloody […]
resisting the university: an alternative orientation booklet (Downloadable Digital Version)
In this alternative orientation package, we aim to provide a map for the engagement of incoming and returning students and community members of UBC, especially since youth and students are commonly written off as apolitical and apathetic. Through this alternative orientation, we provide a platform for student movements and innovative groups to reach out to […]
Rubbed Raw: Depression and Suicide, from the Eyes of a Lover
Trigger warning: Suicide/self-harm/depression One: The Meeting It’s never like it is in the movies, is it. Except it was, wasn’t it? Just like a high-school rom-com gone wrong, everything went right, didn’t it? Except it didn’t… did it A High school history class turned hell, you turned around and asked me for… something. I can’t […]
How Your Partying Alienates Your Friends Who Live With Disabilities or Chronic Health Issues
I’m the type of person who gets great joy from spending time with friends, it’s a way to relax and decompress particularly after a long week. In theory, I like the idea of partying, and going out dancing as a way of letting loose. But because of the way parties are or what going out […]
Community Speaks Out Against Displacement in the DTES
It has been more than two weeks since the City of Vancouver’s decision to crack down on survival street vending on 0-400 blocks of East Hastings St. According to the City, the once-common act of selling wares on the sidewalk will no longer be tolerated, as police presence is set to increase in order to […]
Why I took my favorite charity to the Human Rights Tribunal
In September 2014, I took the British Columbia Lions Society for Children with Disabilities to the BC Human Rights Tribunal on the grounds of disability discrimination. I chose to seek legal action after internally voicing my concerns regarding the hiring processes of their summer camps, BC Easter Seals Camps that grossly favour able-bodied applicants. In […]
my father, the creationist
trigger warnings for substance abuse/drug addiction and eating disorders his eyes are the destruction after the dust settles his eyes are black holes sucking up daughter’s love, swallowing loyalty whole the wrinkles on his forehead betray a nonsensical roadmap folded again and again and deliberately ripped out of frustration at never being able to see […]
Institutional Burden Politics: A look at UBC’s disability structures
How do UBC’s bureaucratic and institutional structures perpetuate ableist assumptions such as burden discourse? Burden discourse is when disabled bodies don’t feel entitled to ask for support. This can be due to language use, interpersonal interactions, and/or structures in the institution, which is what this article will focus on. It is critical to look closely […]
Putting My Own Oxygen Mask on First: Reflections on Suicide, Support, and Being Publicly Mentally Ill
Content Warning: This piece is a personal account of depression, anxiety, and suicide in the context of contemporary student life. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide please call 1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433) or contact Vancouver Coastal Health’s SAFER services. In the chaotic return to campus for the fall term, September 10th, Suicide […]
The Problem with Social Work
My name is Morgan Yee, a name that is representative of both my Chinese and Caucasian ancestry. I am in my last term of my Bachelors of Social Work at UBC, and am specializing in child welfare. I grew up in the small, primarily First Nations community of Hazelton, British Columbia, on the traditional lands […]
