Cynthia Bruce, PhD, MTA

Education

PhD in Educational Studies, Acadia University
Master of Music Therapy, Southern Methodist University
Bachelor of Music (Harpsichord Performance) McGill University

Academic and Activist Work

I am a blind activist educator and researcher, Certified Music Therapist (MTA), and Associate Professor of Music Therapy at Concordia University in Montreal. Before arriving at Concordia, I taught undergraduate music therapy and graduate education courses at Acadia University. As an activist, I have worked locally, provincially, and nationally to amplify minoritized disabled voices and build capacity for equity, accessibility, and disability justice in post-secondary education. I have collaborated with all levels of government to implement accessibility legislation and ratify international disability rights agendas, and I continue to consult with communities and organizations on accessibility and disability rights. I served as both Vice-President and Ethics Chair for the Canadian Association of Music Therapists and as President of The Atlantic Association for Music Therapy. I also recently co-led the development of a comprehensive Accessibility Standard in Education for the Province of Nova Scotia, and a full revision of the Canadian Association of Music Therapists Code of Ethics.

My current teaching, research, and service work aims to amplify disabled voices, make visible systemic ableism and inequity, and create capacity for individual and systemic change. I engage critical qualitative research methodologies to examine the under-represented perspectives of disabled people in music therapy and post-secondary education. in doing so, I hope to mobilize disability as lived knowledge and establish it as essential to any and all efforts to create accessible and equitable post-secondary and professional futures.

Selected Issues in Creative Arts Therapies: Disability, Equity, and the Therapy Dilemma - CATS 631/4/A