Nancy Hansen - Author
Untold Stories: A Canadian Disability History Reader, explores the history of Canadian people with disabilities from confederation to current day. This collection focuses on Canadians with mental, physical, and cognitive disabilities, and discusses the ways in which they lived, worked, and influenced public policy in Canada.
https://www.amazon.ca/Untold-Stories-Canadian-Disability-History/dp/177338046X
Dr. Nancy Hansen has an academic background in Human Geography, the study of the human time machine. The story of the book started about 14 years ago. She went on an International Disability Holocaust Tour of Germany. A shocking statistic from the tour was that a quarter of a million disabled people were killed at the start of the Holocaust before any others were focused on and marked for death. This drove Nancy to document the history of the disabled in Canada.
There are 1.5 billion disabled people worldwide. In Canada, 15% to 18% of the population has some sort of disability, the indigenous community is higher. The book was completed with the help of friends and academics from various disciplines. They included stories from people that were deaf, intellectually disabled and physically disabled.
Manitoba is the cradle of the disability rights community world wide. People in the province have ensured that the rights for the disabled are included in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They have been leaders in the disability rights pertaining to transportation, housing and education.
The disabled have always led vital, interesting lives. They have always been activists. A lot of history has been written over time removing any reference to disabilities. A small fact here; Admiral Lord Nelson was missing an arm and an eye due to a battle injury. Not usually mentioned in historical writings.
Nancy`s goal with this book was to make it sexy, interesting and historical all at the same time. Quote from Brad McCannell - Rick Hansen Foundation “People with disabilities are the world's largest minority group, the only one any person can join at any time”.
In the late 1960`s and early 1970`s, Canada…especially Manitoba due to its high polio rate, was the birthplace of disability recognition. A lot of the people working in the area of disabled rights and accommodation were polio survivors from the 1950`s outbreak.
JANET SPENCE – Life & Times
Janet has been interested in peace and equality in different cultures for most of her life. She has moved around a fair bit during her life. She was born in Haiti during the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the rule of President Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier. Her father stood up to the TonTon Macoutes, a volunteer special police force of President Papa Doc, that tortured and killed people with impunity.
At the age of 3-years-old, the family moved back to Belfast, Northern Ireland during the time of the “Troubles”. During this time period there were threats of bombs in schools. Janet remembers standing in cold fields while the bomb units would check the school for any explosives. There were road blocks / check points and soldiers everywhere.
At 10 years of age they moved to Canada. She lived in the small town of Bowden, Alberta. Population of 600 at the time. This was a real culture shock compared to everything that was going on at the time back in Northern Ireland.
Janet attended the University of Calgary from 1980 -1984 to get her Nursing degree. She then married her first husband and moved to Watson Lake to work in the hospital there. The daily routine involved drawing blood, taking x-ray films, and assisting with baby deliveries. She spent two years there.
The next move was to Churchill, Manitoba to a larger hospital with 30-plus beds. This was general practice nursing at Churchill. Janet can remember trying to converse with the Inuit patients that had no English-speaking skills, and she couldn`t speak their language either. By the time some interviews/treatments were over she and the patient were laughing at their situation.
Janet decided to continue her education and travelled down to Winnipeg to take a one-year postpartum nursing course. When that was completed, she began working at Grace Hospital Emergency Department for 12 to 15 years. She loved working there, but it was exhausting. Her next professional move was to teach nursing at U. of Manitoba for 2 years. She then moved over to Red River College and taught nursing there for 17 years with a focus on community nursing.
Janet has had a passion for working with the lower socio-economic groups in the population. They require help around the world.
She met her second husband, Brian Campbell, and has been lucky since then. They have 10 grandchildren that keep them busy.
Q/A
1.- Paul Brault- to Janet S. - Paul has had interaction with people living in Winnipeg core area, specifically Point Douglas. What are some of the issues seen there and what can be done to help them.
A.- Mental health issues are fairly common. Adequate low-income housing is also an issue. Improving literacy would go a long way to help.
2.-Martin Labossiere – to Nancy H. – Where do you hope to see your book in time?
A.-Every library in Manitoba and across Canada. This would help to awaken people to realize that people with disabilities have always been present in society.
3.-Lloyd Talbot – to both Janet S. & Nancy H. – People in the North experience amputations at a fairly high rate. Diabetes is running out of control. What can help?
A.-Janet S. advised that reducing the cost of healthy foods would go a long way. Also, the ability to grow their own local healthy foodstuffs. A 4L jug of milk can cost $17, while pop is much cheaper.
A.- Nancy H. expressed that education is the key. Must pay attention to diet and increase education regarding why a person must eat a healthy diet. Show the consequences of a poor diet over time.
4.-Lloyd Talbot expressed that historically, the people in the North had a high protein diet from traditional hunting and conservation. There is a need to increase these skills again.
A- Nancy H. – The answer for them is to consider what they were doing prior to the arrival of Europeans.
5.- Omeid Deen asked both presenters, what can we do to assist the disabled?
A.-Nancy H. advised that all infrastructure must be made accessible for all disabled people. Event locations must also be selected to allow for disabled access. Disability is present, expect it.
A.-Janet S. believes that we all support by means of being part of Rotary and what Rotary stands for and supports locally and around the world.
Will Kurtz stood and advised the group that both presentations reminded him of important facts and events in his life and extended family history. The first remembrance is regarding the quarter million disabled people killed early on in WWII in Poland, as mentioned by Nancy H.. Two of those individuals were from Will`s family. They were his 8-year-old uncle and 12-year-old aunt.
Will K. was reminded of an anniversary of sorts, by Janet`s presentation that focused on peace in her life and for the world. The presentation reminded him of an event that took place on November 15, 1986 that he and his wife have but don`t think much about. They walked into Washington DC with several thousand others, having started in Los Angeles on March 1 of that year. The cause was global nuclear disarmament. Will K. said “It`s come to the fore again, given the tensions around the world”.
