Barbara Gibson, PhD, MSc, BMR(PT)
Professor
Department of Physical Therapy
160-500 University Avenue
Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1V7
Email: barbara.gibson@utoronto.ca
Phone: 416-978-1819
Fax: 416-946-8562
Barbara Gibson, Professor, is a physical therapist with a PhD in bioethics. She is a Senior Scientist at the Bloorview Research Institute at the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital where she directs the Critical Disability and Rehabilitation Studies unit (CDARS). Barbara holds the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Foundation Chair in Childhood Disability Studies. Her research investigates how social, cultural, and institutional practices intersect in producing health, inclusion/exclusion, and identity with disabled children and youth.
Mosleh, D., Gibson B.E. Abnormal-Becoming-Normal: Conceptualizations of Childhood Disability in Children's Rehabilitation Textbooks. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research.2022 April: 24(1), 122–135. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/sjdr.877
Setchell J., *Mosleh D., McAdam L., Thille P., Abrams T., McMillan H., Mistry B., Gibson B.E. Enhancing human aspects of care with young people with muscular dystrophy: An evaluation of a participatory qualitative study with clinicians. PLOS ONE. 2022 Feb: 17(2): e0263956. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263956
Gibson B.E., Fadyl J., Terry G., *Waterworth K., *Mosleh D., Kayes N.M. A posthuman decentring of person-centred care. Health Sociology Review. Special issue: Progressing critical posthuman perspectives in health sociology. 2021 Nov: 30 (3): 292-307. https://doi.org/10.1080/14461242.2021.1975555.
Jóhannsdóttir A.,Egilson S., Gibson B.E. What’s shame got to do with it: The importance of affect in critical disability studies.Disability and Society. 2021 Oct ; 36 (3): 342-357 https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2020.1751076.
Gibson B.E., Terry G., Setchell J., Bright F.A.S., Cummins C., Kayes N.M. The micro-politics of caring: Tinkering with person-centred rehabilitation. Disability & Rehabilitation Special Issue: Ultrabilitation. 2020 June: 42 (11): 1529-1538. DOI: 10.1080/09638288.2019.158779310.1080/09638288.2019.1587793
Fadyl J., Cunningham H., Nakarada-Kordic I., Reay S., Waters T., *Waterworth K., Gibson B.E. Settled and unsettling: Design and flows of affect in a hospital waiting area. Design for Health. 2020 Apr: 4:1, 63-81 . DOI: 10.1080/24735132.2020.1733345.
Teachman, G., McDonough, P., Macarthur, C., & Gibson, B. E. Interrogating inclusion with youth who use augmentative and alternative communication. Sociology of Health and Illness. Apr 2020. Early Online. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.13087.
Gibson B.E. Worlding disability: Categorizations, labels, and the making of people. American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience. 2019 Jun: 10(2):85-96.
Setchell J, Abrams T, McAdam LC, Gibson B.E. Cheer* in Health Care Practice: What It Excludes and Why It Matters. Qualitative Health Research. 2019 Sept; 29(13): 1890-1903.
Abrams, T., Setchell J, Thille, P, Mistry, B., Gibson, B.E. Affect, intensity, and moral assemblage in rehabilitation practice, BioSocieties. 2019 14(1), 23-45.
Books/Chapters
Montforte J, Gibson BE, Smith B, Goodley D. Exercise, rehabilitation and posthuman disability studies: Four responses. In B Powis, J Brighton and D Howe, editors. Researching Disability Sport. Routledge. In press.
Gibson BE. Post-Critical Physiotherapy Ethics: A Commitment to Openness. In: BE Gibson, D Nicholls, J Setchell, KS Groven, editors. Manipulating Practice; A Critical Physiotherapy Reader. Oslo (Norway): Cappelen Damm Academic publishing. Jan 2018. https://press.nordicopenaccess.no/index.php/noasp/catalog/book/29.
Gibson BE, D Nicholls, J Setchell, KS Groven, editors. Manipulating Practice: A Critical Physiotherapy Reader. Oslo (Norway): Cappelen Damm Academic publishing. January, 2018. Open Access: https://press.nordicopenaccess.no/index.php/noasp/catalog/book/29
Gibson BE. Rehabilitation; A critical approach. Boca Raton (United States): CRC Press; 2016.
McPherson, K, Gibson BE, Leplege A, editor(s). Rethinking Rehabilitation Theory and Practice. Boca Raton (United States): CRC Press; 2015.
Barbara’s research draws from critical and posthuman theories to examine the social and ethical dimensions of disability, rehabilitation and community care. Her work investigates the intersections of social, cultural, and institutional practices in producing health, inclusion/exclusion, and identity with disabled young people. The aim is to improve the wellbeing of disabled young people through a critical interrogation of key concepts (e.g. disability/normalcy, in/dependence, quality of life) underpinning children’s rehabilitation and societal understandings of disability. The work is interdisciplinary and intersectional; drawing upon sociological studies of health, bioethics, postmodern scholarships, and critical disability studies.
Social, Political, Ethical and Cultural (SPEC) Dimensions of Health and Healthcare - Cross Curricular Theme. Faculty of Medicine, Dept of Physical Therapy
Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Foundation Chair in Childhood Disability Studies, Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital
Professor - Department of Physical Therapy, University of Toronto
Full Member – Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto
Senior Scientist - Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital
Adjunct Fellow, Centre for Critical Qualitative Health Research, University of Toronto
Associate Member – University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics
Research Associate, CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research
Associate Professor, Person Centred Research Centre, AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand