Assistant Professor 
School of Occupational Therapy
Western University
Room 2531, Elborn College
Associate Director
Centre for Critical Qualitative Health
Research
Dalla Lana School of Public Health
University of Toronto
155 College St.
Phone: 519-661-2111 x 88958
Email: gteachma@uwo.ca
Biosketch
Gail Teachman, OT Reg. (Ont.) is an Assistant Professor at the School of Occupational Therapy, Western University. Gail completed a CIHR Postdoctoral Fellow with McGill University’s VOICE (Views on Interdisciplinary Childhood Ethics) team. Her current research draws from social theory, critical disability studies, occupational science and social studies of childhood to advance interdisciplinary studies of childhood ethics in the context of disability and rehabilitation. She has developed innovative methodological approaches for doing qualitative research with disabled children and youth, including those with communication impairments.
As a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar, Gail obtained her PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Toronto in 2016. She was a trainee with the Critical Disability and Rehabilitation Studies (CDARS) lab at Bloorview Research Institute, Toronto. Her doctoral work, which examined the effects of dominant social inclusion discourses on the lives of disabled youth who have little or no speech, was recognized by a 2016 Governor General’s Gold Medal, one of Canada’s highest awards, and Honorable Mention in the 2016-2017 competition for the Joan Eakin Award for Methodological Excellence in a Qualitative Doctoral Dissertation.
Research Interests
• Critical social theory applied to children’s health, illness, and disability
• Interdisciplinary Childhood Ethics
• Childhood disability and rehabilitation
• Qualitative methodologies with children
CQ Teaching
Winter 2017: “Theory and Method for Qualitative Researchers: An Introduction” (JRP1000)
Co-Instructor, Show and Tell: Articulating Your Methods to Reveal the Quality of your Research. Two-day CQ workshop in association with the Critical Health Research Group, Congress on Critical Theory and Health Research, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Mallorjca, Spain. (2015, June 8 – 9).
Co-Instructor (with Brenda Gladstone), Doing Qualitative Research with Children and Youth, full-day workshop, part of a CQ series in partnership with the Wilson Centre, University of Toronto. (2014, June)
Selected Publications & Media
Teachman, G., McDonough, P., Macarthur, C., & Gibson, B. E. (2017, early online). A critical dialogical methodology for conducting research with disabled youth who use augmentative and alternative communication. Qualitative Inquiry, Special issue titled: “Reclaiming Disability” in Critical Qualitative Research. doi/abs/10.1177/1077800417727763
Teachman, G. (2017). Doing research with people who have communication impairments using photo elicitation methods [Streaming video]. Retrieved from SAGE Research Methods. http://methods.sagepub.com/video/doing-research-with-people-who-have-communication-impairments-using-photo-elicitation-methods
Teachman, G. (2016). Interrogating inclusion: Critical research with disabled youth who use augmentative and alternative communication (Doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto). Available from http://hdl.handle.net/1807/73207
Globe & Mail Interview (Wency Leung interviewer) (2016, Aug 26) Creating inclusive classrooms is a complicated, nuanced process. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/parenting/back-to-school/inclusive-classrooms-cookie-cutter/article31579175/
Teachman, G., Mistry, B., & Gibson, B. E. (2014). Doing Qualitative Research with People who have Communication Impairments. In SAGE Research Methods Cases. London, United Kingdom: SAGE Publications, Ltd. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/978144627305013514660
Teachman, G., & Gibson, B. E. (2014) ‘Communicative competence’ in the field of augmentative and alternative communication: a review and critique. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 49(1), 1-14.
Teachman, G., & Gibson, B. E. (2013). Children and youth with disabilities: Innovative methods for single qualitative interviews. Qualitative Health Research, 23(2), 264-274.
