We All Need a Home

Since 2018, the Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship (CIIC), the Community Living Society (CLS) and the Massey Theatre have collaborated on devising, producing and researching two critical participatory theatre projects. The first production was Romance, Relationships and Rights (RRR), and the second production was We Deserve to Work! Spurred by the learning, growth and impact of these two successful disability theatre for social change productions, and upon the urging of the theatre company comprised of a diverse group of actors and co-creators with intellectual disabilities (self-advocates), we are embarking on a third disability theatre project focused on self-advocates’ right to inclusive housing.

The housing crisis in British Columbia and Canada impacts many Canadians and impacts members from equity-deserving groups including self-advocates disproportionately. Canada’s National Housing Strategy recognizes housing as a “cornerstone of inclusive communities.” In BC, the Inclusive Housing Task Force (2018) points out that “lack of affordable housing has resulted in a large number of individuals [with intellectual disabilities] remaining within their families’ homes long past their same-aged peers or living in a housing situation not of their choice.”

At its core, disability theatre embraces the profound recognition that disabled lives and experiences are inherently valuable (Johnston, 2016). Moreover, disability theatre necessitates that the topic and messages come from the people most affected: we must lift up, listen to, follow and highlight the perspectives of those who are most impacted by the systems of ableism and other forms of oppression (Sins Invalid, 2019). Informed by disability justice principles (Sins Invalid, 2019), the self-advocate co-creators from CLS have identified the topic, housing. With the support of UBC researchers, theatre students and the Massey Theatre, these co-creators will create a production through disability theatre for social justice.