ACCESS Lab

Lead: Dr. Chavon Niles
Community-engaged research on disability, caregiving, and health systems

Research Overview

The ACCESS Lab focuses on how disability, race, caregiving, and health systems shape access to rehabilitation and support across local and global contexts.

Our work is grounded in community-engaged research. We work with people with lived experience, community organizations, and public health and system leaders to understand how people actually move through systems in everyday life and during times of disruption, including public health emergencies.

Across our work, we pay attention to where systems break down, how people work around them, and what needs to change.

Research Areas

Disability, Race, and Access to Health and Rehabilitation Systems

We examine how disabled immigrants and Black and racialized disabled  communities navigate rehabilitation, health, and social services in Canada and globally.

Caregiving, Care Work, and Health Systems

We focus on the experiences of people who are both caregivers and care receivers, and how caregiving is shaped by health and social systems.

Health Systems, Public Health Emergencies, and Equity

We examine how systems respond during public health emergencies and how those decisions shape access to care.

Education, Training, and Evaluation in Rehabilitation

We develop and study approaches to teaching that better prepare students and clinicians to engage with disability, equity, and health systems.

Selected Projects

Collective Futures: Disability, Race, and Immigrant Health

This program brings together community members, service providers, and public health leaders through roundtables, storytelling, and zines to inform more equitable health and rehabilitation systems.

Rehabilitation Access in Guyana

This project looks at how people with disabilities and rehabilitation providers in Guyana navigate access to services, and supports efforts to strengthen rehabilitation systems.

Caregiving and Disability

This program explores the experiences of people who are both caregivers and care receivers, with a focus on how systems respond to caregiving.

Untold Stories: Immigrants with Disabilities During COVID-19

This project documents how Black and racialized immigrants with disabilities in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area navigated services and support during the pandemic.

Join our Lab

The ACCESS Lab welcomes graduate students interested in disability, health equity, and community-engaged research.

Dr. Niles is currently accepting students through the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute (RSI). Please submit a cover letter, writing sample, CV, and unofficial transcript to:  chavon.niles@utoronto.ca

Contact

For more information, contact chavon.niles@utoronto.ca