Marcia H. Rioux

Marcia Rioux is the Chair and Professor of the School of Health Policy and Management, Atkinson Faculty, York University. She is the Graduate Program director, M.A. (Critical Disability Studies). With Bengt Lindqvist, she is the co-Director of Disability Rights Promotion International, a multi-year project to monitor disability rights. From 1987-2000, Dr. Rioux was President and Executive Director of the Roeher Institute, a Canadian research and policy institute that has worked extensively on issues of importance for people with disabilities. She has been the Benjamin Meeker Visiting Professor at the University of Bristol, England.

Marcia Rioux's research has addressed a broad range of public policy issues including education for all, the impact of globalization on welfare policy, deinstitutionalization, violence and abuse, employment, and income support for people with disabilities. She has been concerned with the development of a theoretical framework of disability that is grounded in equality and the recognition of disability as a socio-political and human rights issue. She has recently completed a study of inclusive education in Mumbai, India, the first phases report of Disability Rights Promotion International, and the Atlas of Disability and Literacy.

She has been a consultant and advisor to a number of national and international bodies including the State Government of Victoria, the Indian Human Rights Commission, the Disability and Rehabilitation Division at the World Health Organization, the U.N. High Commission on Human Rights, and the U.N. Social Development Commission. She is on the editorial boards of a number of international journals including Abilities Magazine (Canada), Disability and Society (U.K.), the European Journal of Mental Disability (France) and the Disability Studies Quarterly (U.S.), and has published many articles as well as being the editor of several books. She is currently the co-editor of a U.K Klewer book series on Inclusive Education, and is co-authoring a book on law and disability rights.

Dr. Rioux has prepared reports for and provided expert advice to bodies such as the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Royal Commission on Equity in Employment. She has addressed Parliamentary committees, the World Bank and the Interamerican Development Bank, and has spoken at conferences around the world.

Degrees and Academic Qualifications:

1993                PhD, Jurisprudence & Social Policy, Boalt Hall, School of Law,

                        University of California, Berkeley

1973                MA, Sociology, Carleton University

1970                BA (Hons), Sociology, Carleton University

1968                BA, Sociology, Carleton University

Academic and Professional Positions:

2001-2004       Chair and Professor, School of Health Policy and Management, Atkinson College, York University (appointment effective July 1, 2001)

2003-2008       Graduate Programme Director, M.A. (Critical Disability Studies)

2003-2006       Director, York Center for Health Studies

2002-               Co-Director (with Bengt Lindqvist) of Disability Rights Promotion International

1999-2002       Policy Advisor, Inclusion International, Geneva (Ferney-Voltaire)

1999-2001       Research Associate, Robarts Centre on Canadian Studies, York University

2001-2003       Advisor to CIDA on Pilot Study of Inclusive Education Project, India and Canadian Principle Investigator of study.

2000                Policy Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur for International Expert

                        Meeting on Human Rights Abuses, Stockholm, Sweden and rapporteur for meeting

1999-2002       Principle Coordinator, Canada, National Resource Center for Inclusion (India)

                        Project, Bombay, India (Roeher Project funded by CIDA)

1987-2000       President; Executive Director (1987-1997), The Roeher Institute

1997                Benjamin Meeker Visiting Professor, University of Bristol, England

1986-1987       Visiting Scholar, The Roeher Institute

1979-1986       Consultant [Canadian Human rights Commission; B.C. Human Rights Branch; Royal Commission on Equality in Employment; National Council of Welfare, and others]

1982-1986       Ph.D. Student, University of California, Berkeley

1977-1979       Policy Analyst, Law Reform Commission of Canada

1974-1977       Director of Research, Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women

1968-1974       Researcher and policy consultant

1971-1972       Special Instructor, Carleton University

1968-1970       Research Assistant, Royal Commission on the Status of Women