Precarious bodies, Precarious Work: Episodic Disabilities in the Global Economy (2010-2013)
Principal Investigator: Ernie Lightman, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto
Co-Investigators: Kwong-Leung Tang, University of British Columbia; Adrienne Chambon, University of Toronto; Bonnie Kirsh, University of Toronto; Karen Yoshida, University of Toronto
Collaborator: Frank Wang, National Yang-Ming University
Funded by: SSHRC Standard Grant
While significant scholarship explores precarious work among the nondisabled population, little research examines precarious employment among persons with 'episodic' or fluctuating disabilities despite findings that increasing numbers of Canadians live with episodic disabilities and are more likely to face contingent and part-time work opportunities. This program of research explores the relationship between precarious employment and episodic disabilities within a globalized economy.
Specifically, this project explores and documents the links between episodic disability and precarious work in relation to: income support and mental health policy barriers; institutional relationships, processes, and representations of 'disability' and 'employment'; the culture of illness, particularly that of fibromyalgia; the embodied experience of work barriers; the nature and outcome of income assistance eligibility claims; the historical influences of precarious work; and the empirical impacts of training, education, and workplace supports on employment outcomes among persons with episodic disabilities. Six distinct but complementary studies utilize both qualitative and quantitative approaches. This study will advance new empirical and theoretical knowledge to increase understanding of the links between episodic illness (precarious bodies) and precarious work.