Design innovator receives Premier's award

If you're living with a disability in Alberta, in one way or another Megan Strickfaden has your back.

Throughout a bustling career, she has designed objects and devised solutions to make lives easier for people with disabilities; she has rigorously trained her students to do the same; and she has promoted making communities inclusive through a bevy of ingenious projects in Canada and abroad.

All those accomplishments will be celebrated on Dec. 2, when Strickfaden receives the Award of Excellence in Education from the Premier's Council on the Status of Persons With Disabilities.

"She has a capacity to come up with creative, innovative design solutions; she's committed to high quality solutions and she works very well in a collaborative way," said Deanna Williamson, chair of the Department of Human Ecology, where Strickfaden teaches.

"As a key part of her work, whether she's working with people who are visually or mobility challenged, she looks for them to guide the solutions. She really draws on the expertise of the people with challenges."

"Megan is an important example of how the research and innovation in this faculty continues to showcase the emphasis we put on supporting the human experience," said Stan Blade, dean of the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences. "Her dedication to supporting individuals' abilities, rather than disabilities, is outstanding and we are very proud of not only her career achievements, but also this important recognition."

Strickfaden joined the Department of Human Ecology in 2009 and is an associate professor of Material Culture and Design Studies. Yet her title doesn't completely encapsulate the array of expertise she has amassed by studying design from the perspective of anthropology, art, engineering and sustainability, and by working as an industrial designer full time for a decade before attaining her PhD.

Using that knowledge, she's applied her research to practical outcomes. Her most recent project is the design and co-creation of outdoor sportswear that's comfortable, fashionable and user-friendly for people with limited mobility who want to engage in winter sports such as sit-skiing or trail riding.

A year ago, Strickfaden and her master's student Nicole Gaudet, along with Edmonton filmmaker Steven Hope, were the first researchers ever to gain liberal access to De Hogeweyk, a world-renowned facility near Amsterdam commonly known as Dementia Village. With the footage they shot at this 1.6-hectare "town"-where residents with mild to severe dementia move freely and safely through seemingly normal streets that are actually part of an enclosed facility-she produced a film intended to convince government policymakers that there are merits to this controversial style of housing.

For another project, in order to meaningfully improve the world's understanding of people's abilities rather than their disabilities, Strickfaden produced a short video and a photo exhibition that have been shown around the world.

Light in the Borderlands was shot by three legally blind people as they navigated such urban spaces as a shopping mall, a public gym and art gallery. It masterfully conveys both the obstacles they encounter and their coping strategies. The photo exhibit reproduces views of the world as experienced by visually impaired people from Canada, France and Australia.

Strickfaden says that her intimate understanding of disability stems from having family members who only ever portrayed "ability" rather than their disability.

"Disability is merely a construct of society and culture," she said. "The designed world has the power to enable, support, alienate and/or disrupt people's behaviors, interactions and relationships with objects, environments and people."

Since 2002, the Premier's Council awards have recognized individuals, groups, businesses and organizations who are helping develop barrier-free, inclusive communities in the province. The public recognition is also meant to provide ideas, inspiration and encouragement.