Dr. Jeff Preston delivers keynote address at staff conference

The Motion Specialties 2018 National Sales Conference was held February 6, 2018 in in Niagara-on-the-Lake. 

Dr. Preston, Professor in Disability Studies, delivered the keynote address entitled “You’re sick but I can help: a virology of ‘normalcy’”.

In his talk, Dr. Preston presented a playful exploration of his research into normal and disability binaries. He used intertwining personal narrative to explore the ways perceptions of ‘normalcy’ impact service delivery in therapeutic settings.

During the 2017-2018 academic year, Dr. Preston is teaching three courses at King’s: Exploring Disability; Disability, Media and Madness; and Changing Contexts and Practices. He is also a popular media commentator, a social media communicator @jeffpreston and blogger/motivational speaker. Born in Port Elgin, Ontario, Jeff Preston was diagnosed with Congenital Muscular Dystrophy at the age of three months. This requires him to use an electric wheelchair. Throughout his life, he has advocated for the needs of himself and others with disabilities hoping to live an independent and barrier-free life. He has completed a Masters' in Media Studies program at UWO, where he wrote about disability and the body in his Master’s thesis entitled “Augmented Ability, Integrated Identity: Understanding Sapienism, Adaptive Technology, and the Construction of Disability.” In 2014, Dr. Preston completed a Doctorate in Media Studies, successfully defending his dissertation “Fantasizing Disability: Representation of Loss and Limitation in Popular Television and Film.”

Dr. Preston's first book, "The Fantasy of Disability" was published by Routledge in 2016.