Memories of Tanis Doe, Renaissance Woman

The International Disability Movement lost a gifted leader on August 4, 2004. Tanis Doe passed away at her home in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada from a pulmonary embolism. She was 37 years old. I will share some of my memories about Tanis and excerpt from her articles and those of her colleagues and friends.

Tanis was widely known to love sunflowers and Snapple-- a beverage perhaps not as well known to the rest of us. Her tastes suggest her wry sense of humor. Tanis and I often met at Society for Disability Studies (SDS) meetings. Usually she brought me a gift, sometime a copy of her most recent book or article, sometimes a good story. At one meeting, she gave me a gift of ear cuffs! This year at the June SDS meeting in St. Louis, Missouri in the U.S., she handed me the books she had edited on community research in assistive technology (http://www.atnet.org). Her publications reflect her skills as a sociologist who is comfortable with both qualitative and quantitative research. When I was Director of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation (NIDRR), Tanis Doe introduced herself as a researcher capable of doing participatory action research (PAR). PAR recognizes that the process of change is researchable and those affected by the research should be involved in very step of the research process. In 1998, she and Sally Kimpson undertook a study of the Canadian women's experience with the Canadian Pension Plan, Canada's disability benefits program. The heart of the report is the section on the complex reality of being women living with disability and their testimony about enforced uselessness and a consensus of fear around policies that curtail work.

Tanis was a Fullbright Scholar. She was active in the disability, queer and feminist movements internationally. She was a Professor of sociology and disability studies at the University of Victoria, and in recent years also taught at Royal Roads College, Ryerson University and the University of Washington. According to the Ragged Edge, Tanis accepted a research position at the World Institute on Disability in California in 1994, having "defected from the land of socialized medicine (Canada) to the land of the brave (no insurance)."

In Western terms, Tanis might simply be described as a renaissance woman. But she was not simple and did not fit any historic profile, Tanis was an evolving person. She was a radical who strived to be open-minded. She was an advocate social scientist who loved to dance. She had multiple identities: deaf and a wheelchair user along with other disabilities, international, multicultural and Canadian and mother, feminist and lesbian. While she may have maintained her position as pro choice, Tanis was a fierce critic of pre-screening for fetal disability and subsequent abortion.

So Tanis, you made your mark although you had so little time. For those of us who have been in the Movement for a long time, you gave us hope as a younger leader. We will "move on" but with sadness. For readers who have access to the Internet, you may want to ask www.google.com to tell you more about Dr. Tanis Doe. For readers who want to share their thoughts and feelings, about Tanis Doe, go to her memorial webpage and guestbook at http://dawn.thot.net/tanis. A memorial chat will take place, probably in September.

Postscript

Tanis Doe, Ph.D. (and her pseudonym/alter Vicky D'aoust), who died on August 4, 2004, left behind many friends, colleagues, students, mentees, and admirers. She will be remembered for her innovative research (in which she used participatory action research to amplify the voices of people most directly affected by programs and policies); for her advocacy (speaking internationally about topics such as parenting with a disability, bioethics, disability and Deafness, and the value of diversity); for her inspired teaching (at the University of Victoria, Ryerson University, the University of Washington, and Royal Roads College, among others) -- but also for her brazen sense of humor, her creativity, her dancing, and her fondness for bumper stickers, sci-fi television, sunflowers and Snapple. People will have a chance to remember and share their experiences, thoughts and feelings about Tanis (a.k.a. Vicky) in one of her favorite environments -- cyberspace.

An online Tanis Doe memorial chat will be held on Wednesday, October 6, 2004, from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. PST (that's 3:00 to 8:00 MST; 4:00 to 9:00 CST; and 5:00 to 10:00 EST). The chat will take place in an Internet chat room using AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). To join the chat, send an instant message (IM), anytime during that time period, to TanisDoeMemChat, and ask to be invited in. Then you will get a message inviting you into the chat room to share stories and memories. You can come and go at any time during the session. This will be an experiment in virtual community, of which Tanis would approve heartily! Bring your own Snapple. ;-)

 printer-friendly format