Artist Overview
Mona Dehghanzadeh Sahi is an Iranian multidisciplinary artist working across interactive sculpture, installation, performance, sound, and video. She is currently pursuing her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Alberta. Mona’s art is grounded in activism, resistance, and a deep commitment to social justice. Drawing from personal experiences growing up under a patriarchal and dictatorial regime, her work confronts systems of oppression including censorship, fascism, racism and systemic inequality. At its core, her practice is a call to action, using art as a tool for disruption, connection, and transformation.
Brooke Leifso is a Disabled/Crip performance artist and producer, Expressive Art Practitioner, access consultant, and academic. She has made artwork with youth, disability communities, communities in conflict, as well as through collective creation and as a solo performance and theatre artist. In 2024, she was a fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude (Stuttgart, Germany), and Arts Quarter Budapest (Budapest, Hungary).
For the McMullen Gallery, Mona and Brooke will present a new collaborative video work that explores the current state of disability support within our region. With an emphasis on care and reflection rather than resolution, the work questions our shared responsibility in shaping a society that is thoughtful, inclusive, and accountable to individuals with different abilities and forms of embodiment.
Resources, Supports, and Advocacy from Brooke Leifso
This document includes some information about disability and social support initiatives and organizations in Edmonton, Alberta. It is an in process document that may be updated as new information is added. If you have other resources you recommend we add to this list, please email adwg@ualberta.ca
Need Immediate Support?
If you need immediate support or you’re in a crisis, please reach out to the Canadian Mental Health Association through one of their helplines.
- 211 – they can transfer you to the people who can help you best.
- 9-8-8 – Suicide Crisis Helpline. If you’re thinking about suicide or worried someone you know might be, we provide free, confidential support. Trained responders available 24/7.
- The Distress Line – When you’re facing a personal crisis, worried about someone, or don’t know where to turn, there is always someone ready to listen. Call 780-482-HELP (4357) 24/7.
Where else can you find support?
- Join the People’s Alliance for Disabled Albertans to access food and financial support through their mutual aid activities.
- Contact Voice of Albertans with Disabilities for one-to-one consultations and form assistance with AISH, ADAP, or the Canada Disability Benefit.
- Visit Albertans Advocating for Change Together’s website to find resources for managing stress and learning about self-advocacy.
- The Alberta Disability System Breakdown website provides plain-language accessible news updates on where the AISH to ADAP transition sits and what it might mean for you.
- Join a Canadian Mental Health Association information session on Understanding AISH & ADAP.
What can you do to take action and stand up for people with disabilities in Alberta?
- Talk to people in your network and community about what is happening to social supports like AISH.
- Contribute to Edmonton food banks, accessible housing initiatives, or mutual-aid campaigns that support and resource disability communities directly.
- Share information about community organizations, support advocacy groups, or become a member.
- Attend rallies, make flyers and signs! Write a letter to your local newspaper!
- Send emails, letters, or make phone calls to your MLA, MP, and Cabinet Ministers. Find letter templates on Zachary Weeks’ Blog about ADAP or through The Alberta Disability System Breakdown. They have fillable templates in their “take action” section.
- Join the People’s Alliance for Disabled Albertans and donate gift cards or money to their mutual aid activities.
Alberta Ability Network
Website: https://www.ababilitynetwork.ca
Alberta Ability Network (an initiative of Cerebral Palsy Alberta) collaborates with people living with disabilities and those who support them in community, medical practice, and government.
Share information about your experience with the transition from AISH to ADAP on their website to help them with their advocacy work or join as a member to directly support their activities.
Alberta Ability Systems Breakdown
Website: https://albertadisabilitysystembreakdown.netlify.app/#top
The Alberta Disability System Breakdown is a community-built record of what’s happening — for disabled Albertans, the people who love them, advocates, and journalists tracking the changes.
Their website includes FAQ’s, legislation documents, and compiles news and advocacy campaigns about the AISH-to-ADAP transition, FSCD/PDD waitlists, healthcare access, and the federal CDB clawback in Alberta
Albertans Advocating for Change Together
Website: http://www.albertaact.com/
Albertans Advocating for Change Together (AACT) is an Alberta self-advocacy network of people with developmental disabilities and their allies. AACT hosts monthly council meetings, as well as a monthly members’ meeting to learn and organize around advocacy issues.
If you are a person with a developmental disability or an ally and would like to become a member or donate to AACT, you can find more information on their website.
Canadian Mental Health Association Edmonton
Website: edmonton.cmha.ca
The Canadian Mental Health Association is the leading community mental health organization in Alberta. They offer mental health support, education and training, wayfinding, and collective action.
They run an information session called “Understanding AISH & ADAP”. It is a practical, plain‑language course for people with disabilities, caregivers, and support workers navigating Alberta’s disability income system during its transition.
In Person: October 22: 1:00 – 4:00 PM, November 10: 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM, November 25: 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Online (Zoom): Oct. 8: 6:00 – 9:00 PM, December 11: 1:00 – 4:00 PM, December 21: 6:00 – 9:00 PM
To register, email your name and the date you can attend to: recoverycollege@cmha-edmonton.ab.ca
Inclusion Alberta
Website: https://inclusionalberta.org/
Inclusion Alberta is a family-based, non-profit organization that advocates for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and their families.
They provide employment support, program inclusive recreational events, and offer workshops and one-on-one support for families and individuals who need help with housing, education, or when responding to crisis.
Self Advocacy Federation
Website: https://www.selfadvocacyfederation.ca/
The Self-Advocacy Federation was an organization comprised of people with disabilities and their allies who get together to discuss the issues facing people with disabilities.
Unfortunately, the organization lost its provincial funding in 2025 alongside Disability Action Hall (Calgary), and Southern Alberta Individualized Planning Association (SAIPA, Lethbridge).
Self-Advocacy Federation continues to advocate for people with disabilities through Albertans Advocating for Change Together.
People’s Alliance for Disabled Albertans
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/padainfo
The People’s Alliance for Disabled Albertans is a disability-led alliance advocating for equitable, accessible, and accountable public systems in Alberta, ensuring disabled people are not excluded, ignored, or left behind.
PADA is a grassroots, community-led movement built on the history of disability justice, mutual aid, and collective care. If you would like to find support through PADA, reach out to them through Facebook or at padainformation@gmail.com.
If you would like to support food access for Albertans with disabilities by donating a grocery gift card or providing direct financial support for food, email padainformation@gmail.com.
Join the People’s Alliance for Disabled Albertans by filling out a form on their website.
Voice of Albertans with Disabilities
Website: https://vadsociety.ca/
Need help navigating AISH, ADAP, or the Canada Disability Benefit? Voice of Albertans with Disabilities provides one-on-one consultations and form assistance.
They are dedicated to supporting individuals, organizations, government adovocates, schools, businesses, and employers to reduce barriers preventing full participation.
They are currently organizing a weekly social zoom meeting for folks with disabilities to build community, discuss issues, and find support.
Contact vad@vadsociety.ca or 780-488-9088 for more information.
Zachary Weeks Blog
Website: https://www.zacharyweeks.ca/blog
Disability advocate and accessibility consultant Zachary Weeks regularly shares information about disability advocacy, issues, and activism efforts in Alberta.
You can join the mailing list here: https://www.zacharyweeks.ca/blog
His blog post “AISH, ADAP, and What You Can Do Right Now: Resources and Actions” includes a lot of good information about how to find and receive support as well as join advocacy efforts: https://www.zacharyweeks.ca/adap
Connect with
