Congratulations to Rexella Dwomoh, one of our practicum students, who graduated this month from her Master’s program at Brock University. Rexella received both the Spirit of Brock Award and the President’s Surgite Award.
The Spirit of Brock medal awards students for leadership, innovation and community involvement. The President’s Surgite Award recognizes students for their leadership, academic reputation, contributions to student life and service to the University and Niagara communities. Being selected for these awards is a testament to Rexella’s outstanding abilities and contributions to the FASD field.
Graduate Research
As a Master of Applied Disability Studies student, Rexella worked full-time in the developmental disability and mental health sector. For her graduate research, she examined barriers to accessibility for Black learners with intellectual disabilities. She also assisted with research in Brock’s Mullins Lab on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in applied behaviour analysis (ABA) and presented findings at ABA International.
While discussing her award with the Brock News, Rexella spoke on the importance of including people with living experience in research. She said, “As EDI is gaining attention, it is crucial to take a closer look at who is still underrepresented in research because we cannot say we’re being truly equitable and inclusive if we leave out important, diverse identities.”
Rexella says, “It is critical that we are being as comprehensive as possible, especially when research is presented to thousands of people who can then go back into their communities and make change happen.”
Rexella’s time at CanFASD
During her time with CanFASD, she published an issue paper on systemic inequities for persons with FASD with diverse gender and sexual orientations. She also shared her knowledge of EDI by training staff members on moving from theory to practice in this area. From the whole team at CanFASD, we’d like to say a big congratulations to Rexella on her much-deserved awards, and we hope to collaborate with her again on future FASD projects!
Rexella’s awards have demonstrated her academic excellence and unwavering commitment to creating positive change and improving the lives of individuals with disabilities.
Related Content
Found this blogpost interesting? We’d recommend checking out the following resources:
- Become a member of CanFASD – get real-time updates on the latest research projects the CanFASD team are working on.
- Gap Analysis: Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, and FASD – read the full issue paper.
- FASD for Community and Social Services Professionals Level II – online training designed for frontline workers that work directly with individuals with FASD and their families.