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Student Awards

Each year the School of Disability Studies and the Faculty of Community Services offers a broad range of in-program and faculty-wide student awards and grants to recognize the achievements of our students and to facilitate their education through financial support. The School of Disability Studies offers over 12 different awards benefiting up to 35 students, ranging from $1,000 to $2,000 per recipient.

Application Process

  • The deadline to apply for these awards is January 19, 2024. 
  • In order to apply, make sure to register on Awardspring.
  • After registering you will be matched to the awards for which you qualify.
  • Many awards have financial need criteria or other qualifications. If the system is not matching you with awards for which you think you are eligible, make sure to update the appropriate criteria.
  • Students cannot apply for awards they have already received in the past.

Resources

See the FCS awards website for more information on the application process or email your questions to eignagni@torontomu.ca.

Beth Foulkes Community Living Award

This award recognizes Beth Foulkes, both the challenges she has encountered and her passionate embrace of the everyday opportunities life has to offer. She demonstrates through her own participation what full inclusion means. Though her accomplishments are many, they have not come easily. Inclusion is still a work in progress.

The award will be given to a graduate of the Disability Studies program who is pursuing further studies and demonstrates a commitment to: engage in the longstanding struggle to promote true community inclusion through advocacy, community development, research, education and/or practice; extend the boundaries of what community living means; address the marginalization/devaluation/exclusion that still exists within our communities; and to challenge existing societal perceptions and responses to disability.

Bill and Lucille Owen Award in Public Policy

This Award recognizes Bill and Lucille Owen and their lifetime work to secure social justice through public policy. This will be awarded to a student in the Disability Studies Program who has achieved high academic standing and who shares their commitment to equity through social policy. The Award will enable a Disability Studies student to attend a conference and present a paper on a policy issue of major concern to people with disabilities.

Canadian Foundation for Physically Disabled Persons Disability Studies Award

This award is open to all undergraduate students enrolled in Toronto Met's Disability Studies Program with strong consideration for disabled students. This endowed award is intended to provide support to students in good academic standing who would benefit from financial assistance toward the completion of their studies.

Applicants must submit a 250-word statement on how this award will support their broad based efforts for disability rights and justices. Applicants must be actively registered in courses toward degree completion.

David and Sylvia Pollock Disability Studies Entrance Award

This award is in recognition of personal perseverance and community engagement. Recipients are selected on the basis of their application letter at time of admission to the program. There is no application for this award. Eligible students must be enrolled in DST 501: Rethinking Disability.

Emma Hardie International Disability Award

This Award, established in 2009, honours the memory of Emma Hardie: budding intellectual, passionate disability advocate, gifted mentor, international traveler, activist for peace and committed volunteer. Emma graduated posthumously from the DST program in the spring of 2009, following her death in a tragic car accident in December 2008. The award recognizes an up-and-coming scholar and activist in the disability studies program who possesses the qualities and interests so associated with Emma herself. These include:

  • Aspiration to academic excellence
  • Curiosity about disability in a global context
  • Personal commitment to social inclusion, human dignity and peace
  • Mentoring/helping others to be the best they can be
  • Demonstrating a commitment to those who are socially and economically disadvantaged through volunteering in the community

Harry E. Foster Memorial Award

This award recognizes the lifetime work of Harry E. Foster, and in particular his efforts to initiate and coordinate research and education projects in intellectual disability at universities across Canada.

Helen Henderson Award in Writing for Disability Activism

This awards celebrates Helen Henderson, Disability Studies posthumous graduate and Toronto Star journalist. It remembers the disability activism she accomplished throughout a lifetime of writing for public audiences.

Jake Edelson Award in Community Organizing

This will be awarded to an undergraduate student in the School of Disability Studies who is committed to collective work through community organizing and who has demonstrated academic excellence. The recipient will have:

  • Participated in a community campaign to remove barriers for people with disabilities
  • Demonstrated by example how collective action can build towards social justice
  • Engaged with creative initiatives and/or projects for social change

Karen Tench Memorial Award in Community Inclusion and Advocacy

This will be awarded to a student who has achieved high academic standing and who possesses the qualities so associated with Karen Tench herself. Students must demonstrate:

  • Leadership by example
  • Innovation
  • Personal commitment
  • Respect for families
  • Courage to speak out for others
  • The capacity to embrace life with laughter

Malcolm Jeffreys Memorial Leadership Award

This will be awarded to a student who demonstrates excellence and leadership promise, through:

  • Achieving a high academic standing
  • Exhibiting potential leadership qualities
  • Demonstrating, by example, a commitment to improving the quality of life for disabled Canadians

M.K.Chant Disability Studies Awards

The MK Chant Disability Studies Awards are for returning students who demonstrate a commitment to working with or on behalf of people with disabilities coupled with openness to new ideas and approaches.