Biography
Dr. Spassiani received their B.Sc. (Hons.) and M.Sc. from York University in Kinesiology and Health Science. Dr. Spassiani received their Ph.D. (2015) in Disability Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago, an internationally renowned institution in the field of Disability Studies. After completing their Ph.D., Dr. Spassiani was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto in the Department of Psychiatry jointly with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health where they examined the stigma, discrimination, and social oppression that people with disabilities experience when accessing health systems.
In October 2015, Dr. Spassiani became Assistant Professor in Inclusion and Disability at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in the School of Education. During their time at TCD, they were appointed as the Director of the Trinity Center for People with Intellectual Disabilities (TCPID), formally known as the National Institute for Intellectual Disabilities, a TCD institute dedicated to the advancement of research and education for people with intellectual disabilities.
In November 2016, Dr. Spassiani began a tenure-track appointment at Edinburgh Napier University in the School of Health and Social Care as a Lecturer and Researcher in Intellectual Disabilities, where they were hired due to their Disability Studies background and community-based research approach.
In 2022, Dr. Spassiani was appointed as research lead for The Knowledge to Action Research Group in Intellectual Disabilities, where they lead a team of interdisciplinary researchers and clinicians who study health and disability.
Dr. Spassiani's educational and professional background in Disability Studies and health bring a unique perspective in how they examine and engage in disability and health discourses through a rights and empowerment approach. Dr. Spassiani's research is dedicated to examining the interplay between disability and inclusion as it pertains to health systems, community engagement, and education using a socio-cultural lens to examine disability.
Dr. Spassiani's interests within these domains focus on the inequities that people with intellectual disabilities experience in health due to social barriers and structures. Health care systems must be critically deconstructed to improve the quality of health care access available to people with disabilities. For this reason, their research adopts participatory action and knowledge-to-action approaches such that people with disabilities are active contributing members and help drive research and teaching priorities. The meaningful involvement of people with disabilities in research is paramount when discussing aspects of marginalization and inclusion.
Dr. Spassiani's professional training in disability studies has provided them with the expertise to be a critical thinker in deconstructing systems, policies, and guidelines when conducting research.