Maddie's Insights: Strategies for Challenging Ableism in Companion Animal Welfare

When: Nov 9, 2023 from 12:00 PM to 01:00 PM (PT)

Associated with Animal Welfare Professionals

Maddie's Insights: Practical tips based on current research to help pets and people

Strategies for Challenging Ableism in Companion Animal Welfare

Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 12n PDT

Many animal shelters and rescues unwittingly perpetuate ableism through their engagements with disabled animals, even when they are trying to help these animals. In this session, we will explore how animal shelters and rescues contribute to problematic representations of disability and engage in practices that harm these animals. We will explore strategies for challenging ableism and better serving disabled animals.

Bonus: Earn continuing education credit from The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association and in jurisdictions which recognize Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) approval.

Learning Objectives:
By the conclusion of this session, participants should be able to
1. Define ableism and the dis/ability system
2. Recognize ableist representations of animals and people
3. Identify and rework personal or organizational practices that support ableism to support better outcomes for disabled animals

Presented By:
Katja M. Guenther
Professor of Gender & Sexuality Studies, University of California, Riverside, and author of The Lives and Deaths of Shelter Animals

Professor Katja M. Guenther's research focuses on gender, social movements, human-animal relationships, and the state. Her work centers on improving our understanding of how and why inequalities of gender, race, class, dis/ability, and species reproduce so reliably, and what we can do to challenge these inequalities. She is best known in the animal well-being community as the author of The Lives and Deaths of Shelter Animals. Her scholarly work has been published in journals such as Disability Studies Quarterly, Ethnic & Racial Studies, Gender & Society, Mobilization, Politics & Gender, Signs, Social Problems, Sociological Forum, and Women's Studies International Forum, among others. Prof. Guenther teaches courses in introductory gender & sexuality studies and gender & disability studies, as well as upper-division courses in feminist and grassroots organizing, gender and the state, and feminist animal studies.