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Dora Keogh's, 141 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, ON
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Cash bar | Snacks provided | Launch followed by live music
Join Madeline C. Burghardt for the Toronto launch of her new book, Broken: Institutions, Families, and the Construction of Intellectual Disability. The event will be held at Dora Keogh's, near Broadview Station.
Beginning with a thorough history of the rise of institutions as a system to manage difference, Broken provides an overview of the development of institutions in Ontario and examines the socio-political conditions leading to families' decisions to institutionalize their children. Through this exploration, other themes emerge, including the historical and arbitrary construction of intellectual disability and the resulting segregation of those considered a threat to the well-being of the family and society; the overlap between institutionalization and the workings of capitalism; and contemporaneous practices of segregation in Canadian history, such as Indian residential schools. Drawing from people's direct, lived experiences, the second half of the book gathers poignant accounts of institutionalization's cascading effects on family relationships and understandings of disability, ranging from stories of personal loss and confusion to family breakage.
Madeline C. Burghardt teaches disability studies at King’s College at the University of Western Ontario.