Fionn Crombie Angus & Alice Schippers

Fionn Crombie Angus

Fionn Crombie Angus is an extraordinary young man with Down syndrome. Combining his interests in traditional Irish music and wildlife ecology, he has played his fiddle from the Amazon to Zanzibar.

Though himself Irish, he was instrumental in the passage of the UK's Down Syndrome Act 2022, he consults with the Dept of Health and Social Care, conducting focus groups with his peers from around England. His Happiness Project is a series of 700 interviews, including with many of his heroes in music, film making, literature, and academia, asking each what they love about their life.

He is the inaugural chair of IASSIDD's newest Special Interest Research Group, on Inclusive Research, and recipient of the 2022 Distinguished Achievement Award for Service to his community.

Alice Schippers

Alice Schippers is Professor by Special Appointment of Disability Studies at the University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, and Executive Director Disability Studies in the Netherlands. Her background is in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences. From an early age she is interested in living with disabilities, as natural part of her life. As a teenager, she started with a voluntary job in the disability field. From that experience onwards, she was engaged with this field in many roles: as a researcher and leader, as a volunteer and activist, as a mother and friend.

Her research focus is on Quality of Life, Social Inclusion and Inclusive Research. She is a strong advocate of inclusive and collaborative research with and by people with disability and neurodiverse experience. Alice is Member of the Board of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. She is associate editor with two international journals and also active in several (inter)national committees.

Jonathan Angus

Jonathan Angus has a passion for inclusion, and feels that academia is one of the final frontiers. An elementary school teacher for 25 years, he started a Social Enterprise with his son Fionn, called Fionnathan Productions, so that Fionn could become the first citizen of Ireland with intellectual disability (Down syndrome) to self-direct his own support service.

They work with multiple countries' governments to help make emancipatory policies. Having lectured at over thirty universities internationally, they are now exploring, with two universities, working together on a single dissertation to earn a joint doctorate.

Panel: Lieke van Heumen

Lieke van Heumen is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Disability and Human Development at the University of Illinois Chicago. She received both her undergraduate and master degrees in psychology with a specialization in gerontology from the Radboud University in the Netherlands. Lieke then worked as a psychologist in five group homes for people with intellectual disabilities in the Netherlands. She completed her PhD in Disability Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago in 2015. She was a 2019-2020 American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow and Health and Aging Policy Fellow, placed with the U.S Senate Special Committee on Aging in the Office of Ranking Member Senator Bob Casey. Lieke’s research interests include aging of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, inclusive research methodology, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. She is a fellow of AAIDD (the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities) and the Secretary of the Inclusive Research Special Interest Research Group of IASSIDD.

Panel: Courtney Krueger

My name is Courtney Krueger, I'm 40 years old and I am from Evanston, Illinois. I live in my own condo with my boyfriend Aaron. I have worked for 15 years at the Mcgaw YMCA Children's center as an associate teacher with infants and toddlers. In my spare time I'm a Special OIympics athlete leader and health messenger. I run track and field doing shot put and the 1500-meter race. I also play tennis. I've been to Washington D.C. to speak about health and fitness to different senators and legislators to get different laws passed. I have also been a co researcher for inclusive research projects for the last five years. I have helped write papers and given presentations about research.

Panel: Leo Cardinaal

Leo Cardinaal is a junior researcher Disability Studies in the Netherlands. He recieved his undergraduate and master degrees in cultural sciences from Maastricht University in the Netherlands, specializing in political culture, sciences and technology. His thesis focus was on institutional accountability and accessible digital education for neurodiverse students in the Netherlands. He has since worked for Foundation Disability Studies in the Netherlands. Leo's research interests include accessible education, inclusive research methodologies, and the design of sustainable accessible technologies for and by persons with intellectual disabilities. He is a trainer in inclusive research via the CABRIO-program and has assisted in multiple inclusive projects.

Panel: Rachael Wanjagua

My name is Rachael Wanjagua from Kenya. I recently completed my PhD in Disability Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago. I also hold a Master’s degree in Disability Studies from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. I have worked for 15 years providing physiotherapy services to people with disabilities in Laikipia and Nyandarua Counties in Kenya. I have also lived with people with intellectual disabilities for 10 years in Kenya, France, Italy, Canada and the United States. I am a member of the Families and Inclusive Research Special Interest Research Groups at IASSIDD. I contributed to the development of the package of interventions for people with intellectual disabilities by the World Health Organization. My research interests include inclusive research and disability discourses in Africa.

Fionn Crombie Angus & Alice Schippers

Keynote 1

"The Method is the Message - Inclusive Research Today"