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Author: Stephanie Nixon, PhD

Stephanie Nixon, PhD is Vice-Dean (Faculty of Health Sciences) and Director (School of Rehabilitation Therapy) at Queen’s University. Prior to joining Queen’s in 2022, Stephanie was a professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto for 15 years. Stephanie is a straight, white, middle-class, able-bodied, cisgender, settler woman who tries to understand the pervasive effects of privilege. She draws on the humanities to explore how systems of oppression shape health care, research and education, and the role of people in positions of unearned advantage in disrupting these harmful patterns. Stephanie developed the Coin Model of Privilege and Critical Allyship as a way to translate core ideas about anti-oppression with others who, like herself, occupy multiple positions of unearned advantage.

Considerations for Addressing Cisgenderism and Heterosexism in Canadian Outpatient Physiotherapy Clinics

This thought-provoking article by Elizabeth Houdling-Braunberger and Colleen Greasley, et al, presents the results of interviews with individual patients and practitioners regarding Queer and
Trans health issues in physiotherapy clinics throughout Canada. The authors offer guidelines for change at three levels: the micro (individual clinics); meso (physiotherapist training and practice); and macro (community activism), to address specific inequities and improve overall
healthcare for patients adversely affected by cisgenderism and heterosexism.

Exploring How Racism Structures Canadian Physical Therapy Programs: Counter-Stories From Racialized Students

The authors of this study conducted in-depth interviews with racialized students or recent graduates of Master’s-level physical therapy programs in Canada. The students described their experiences of white culture, and how well-meaning fellow students simply weren’t aware of the institutionalized racism around them. In compelling quotes, the students detail their feelings of frustration and resignation based on repeated exposure to race-related stereotypes.

‘Making Strange’: Exploring the Development of Students’ Capacity in Epistemic Reflexivity

Engaging in epistemic reflexivity, or the ability to question the ways in which we practice, and their association with organizational and social structures, is the key to gaining a clear perspective on the profession, according to these authors. How can students take a step back, and gain true insight into their professional world? This study employed a 7-step framework to introduce learners to the process of “making strange.”