Presentations & Invited Talks

The Disrupting the Cycle team has shared findings from the first phase of research across four U.S. states and two countries. We continue to share this work in both academic and community settings.

Media Engagement

In July 2024, the Disrupting the Cycle team recorded a podcast episode with Dr. Caryn Bell, associate director of Tulane University’s Partners for Advancing Health Equity. Dr. Khalilah Johnson, Tajze Johnson, and Olivia Cleveland offer insights into the method and findings of the Disrupting the Cycle research collaborative. The episode discusses how Black people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) navigate the health services system and how to best support these individuals in a way that is culturally affirming, anti-ableist, and also affirms their ability to actively participate in their own healthcare. In the episode, Co-Researcher and Community Advocate Olivia Cleveland shares her firsthand experiences in navigating the healthcare system and discusses what providers can do to allow all the opportunity to effectively advocate for themselves. The podcast episode is available on Spreaker and YouTube.

Presentations

Understanding the spectrum of community engagement: From conceptualization through dissemination and action (October 2024)

American Occupational Therapy Foundation Engage Summit

Dr. Khalilah Johnson and Tracey Hawkins presented on Disrupting the Cycle’s model as part of a panel at the 2024 AOTF Engage Summit. The panel articulated strategies for developing and sustaining partnerships within community-engaged research projects. Together they spoke to the Disrupting the Cycle team’s strategies for making engagement accessible, inclusive, and participatory for diverse community members from minoritized communities.

Johnson KR, Harkins, T, Farrar-Edwards D, Gaines C. Understanding the spectrum of community engagement: From conceptualization through dissemination and action, October 2024 American Occupational Therapy Foundation Engage Summit, Alexandria, VA

Research as advocacy: An ideal space for occupational therapy practitioners (November 2023)

North Carolina Occupational Therapy Association Conference

The Disrupting the Cycle team led a short course at the 2023 NCOTA conference. The presentation helped occupational therapy practitioners see how participatory action research can be a form of advocacy in their own practice. As part of the presentation, Tajze Johnson and Dr. Chinno Ingram shared their experiences engaging in Disrupting the Cycle as co-researchers.

Johnson KR, Johnson T, Ingram C, Mitchell S, Parkin R. Research as advocacy: An ideal space for occupational therapy practitioners, November 2023 Fall North Carolina Occupational Therapy Association Conference, Salisbury, NC

Disrupting the Cycle: Using critical participatory action research to advance the equity agenda in occupational science research (October 2023)

Society for the Study of Occupation: USA Conference

In a panel at the SSO:USA 2023 conference, the Disrupting the Cycle team discussed critical participatory action research. The panel addressed challenges and strategies and concluded with Courtney Chavis and Kylah Comer powerfully sharing their perspectives about the project. Disrupting the Cycle was the only team with representation from the community at the conference.

Johnson KR, Mitchell S, Parkin R, Peak K, Chavis C, Comer K, Disrupting the Cycle: Using critical participatory action research to advance the equity agenda in occupational science research, October 2023 Society for the Study of Occupation: USA conference, St. Louis, MO

Virtual inclusive research: Two years of lessons learned (June 2023)

Kramer J, Johnson KR, Ausderau K. Virtual inclusive research: Two years of lessons learned, June 2023 American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Conference, Pittsburg, PA

Advancing health equity for minoritized people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (November 2022)

North Carolina Occupational Therapy Association Conference

On November 5th, 2022, Disrupting the Cycle presented preliminary findings to occupational therapy practitioners and students at the North Carolina Occupational Therapy Association (NCOTA) conference. The presentation used the World Café method to generate a large group discussion among attendees around health, unhealthiness, and equitable healthcare. Attendees then broke into small groups to dialogue about occupational therapy’s role in the health of Black people with IDD, on facilitators, and on barriers to health.

Invited Talks

More Than a Seat at the Table: Advancing Race Equity in Health Services Research (June 2024)

Disrupting the Cycle members Alicia Jones and Dr. Khalilah Johnson were invited as featured speakers to the 12th annual Occupational Therapy Summit of Scholars hosted by the University of Florida Department of Occupational Therapy, June 6-8, 2024. Their presentation, entitled “More Than a Seat at the Table: Advancing Race Equity in Health Services Research,” highlighted the ways in which critical participatory action strategies enhance engagement of multiply marginalized communities toward emancipatory action.

More than a seat at the table: Advancing race equity in health services research, invited talk, 12th Annual Occupational Therapy Summit of Scholars, Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Florida, June 6-8, 2024

Collaborative partnerships with multiply marginalized communities: A case for critical participatory action research with minoritized people with IDD (April 2023)

Dr. Chinno Ingram, Tajze Johnson, and Alicia Jones presented at the 2023 OT Scholarship of Practice Day at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Deja Barber, Kylah Comer, and Courtney Chavis also provided content. This presentation provided OT students and faculty with a better idea of co-researchers’ experiences with participatory research in Disrupting the Cycle.

Collaborative partnerships with multiply marginalized communities: A case for critical participatory action research with minoritized people with IDD, invited keynote, OT Scholarship of Practice Day, Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Illinois at Chicago, April 4, 2023

Invited Panels

From policies to people: Approaches to center systematically oppressed populations (February 2023)

From policies to people: Approaches to center systematically oppressed populations, February 2023 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Research, Evaluation, and Learning (RELevant 2) Conference (virtual)

Unprecedented-possibilities in facing sociocultural inequalities with emphasis on social markers of gender/sexuality, ethnic-racial and class (November 2022)

Unprecedented-possibilities in facing sociocultural inequalities with emphasis on social markers of gender/sexuality, ethnic-racial and class, invited panelist, 5th Annual Social Occupational Therapy Symposium, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Brazil, November 9-11, 2022