Pamela Block

I am a Disability Anthropologist and Professor at Western University. Broadly my research interests include disability culture and social movements, and sociocultural perceptions of disability. I study the intersection of gender, race, economic status, and sexuality in movements for disability liberation (justice and rights) and disability oppression (eugenics, sterilization, mass-incarceration and killing) in Brazil, the US, and Canada. I am also interested in the emergence of disability studies scholarship around the globe.

I have studied disability experience on individual, organizational and social movement levels, with past funded research involving socio-environmental barriers, empowerment/capacity-building, and health promotion. Current funded research and collaborative scholarship includes:

· Social movement activism by led by disabled people in relation to activism led by family members in the US
· Sibling mutual care relationships and planning and facilitation experiences in Canada
· Research creation of “disability portraits” by disabled people in Brazil
· Experiences of disabled Afro-Brazilian women in university.

My qualitative research methodologies combine historical and discourse analyses with community-based ethnographic, autoethnographic, and participatory approaches. I experience ADHD and anxiety and have an Autistic older sister named Hope who I have written about and co-authored about her experiences as a family member, activist, and service recipient in the US.

Books

Family and Disability Activism: Beyond Allies and Obstacles (2025) Study Guide

Pamela Block, Allison C. Carey, and Richard K. Scotch (eds), Temple University Press
Allies and Obstacles: Disability Activism and Parents of Children with Disabilities (2020) Study Guide Allison C. Carey, Pamela Block, and Richard K. Scotch, Temple University Press (book talk and panel discussion here)

Occupying Disability: Critical Approaches to Community, Justice, and Decolonizing Disability (2016) Block, P., Kasnitz, D., Nishida, A., Pollard, N. (eds). Springer Ltd.

Journals

Lorandi, J. M. and Block, P. (2023) Social and health experiences of disabled people with complex medical conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research in Social Science and Disability.

Alumukhtara, A., Johnstone, L. DePasquale, R., Warren, N., and Block, P. (2022) Aging with (and into) Assistive Technology: An exploration of the narratives of amputees and polio survivors. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, DOI: 10.1080/17483107.2022.2131916

Karp, P. and Block, P.(2022). Float to Grow: Nurturing the Roots of Socially Inclusive and Just Practice in Occupational Therapy Students. Brazilian Journal of Occupational Therapy.

Gesser, M., Block P., and Mello A.G. (2022) Estudios sobre discapacidad: interseccionalidad, anticapacitismo y emancipación social. Andamios 19(49).

Block, P. with Diallo, S. (2020). Activism, anthropology and disability studies in times of austerity. Wenner Gren Symposium Proceedings. Current Anthropology.61(21): S68-S75

Articles

1. Gesser, M., Aydos, V., Block, P., Xavier da Silva, P. (2024). Ableism in educational trajectories and the production of access fatigue. Educação & Realidade 49(2). (also available in Portuguese)

2. Reparon, R., Block P., Fudge-Schormans, A., Rudman, D. L., Teachman, G. (2024) Critiquing representations of intellectual disability in occupation-based literature. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy. 31:1, DOI: 10.1080/11038128.2023.2289897

3. Lorandi, J. M. and Block, P. (2023) Social and health experiences of disabled people with complex medical conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research in Social Science and Disability.13:113-34.

4. Friedner, M. and Block, P. (2022) Recuperating the Bad Outcome: Reimagining Optimal Futures beyond Auditory Verbal Therapy and Applied Behavioral Analysis. The Senses and Society. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17458927.2022.2138090

5. Almukhtar, A., Johnstone, L. DePasquale, R., Warren, N., and Block, P. (2022) Aging with (and into) Assistive Technology: An exploration of the narratives of amputees and polio survivors. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, DOI: 10.1080/17483107.2022.2131916

6. Karp, P. and Block, P.(2022). Float to Grow: Nurturing the Roots of Socially Inclusive and Just Practice in Occupational Therapy Students. Brazilian Journal of Occupational Therapy. 7. Gesser, M., Block P., and Mello A.G. (2022) Estudios sobre discapacidad: interseccionalidad, anticapacitismo y emancipación social. Andamios 19(49).

Book Chapters

1. Block, P (2025) Aging Out of Children’s Hospitals: 20th and 21st century experiences of children with complex medical conditions and their parents. (eds. Block, Pl, Carey A., and Scotch, R.) Family and Disability Activism. Temple University Press.

2. Nepveux, D., Wagner, A., Block, P., Kasnitz, D. (2024). Aging Disgracefully: Perspectives on Disability Experience and Activism from Disability Studies and Anthropology. Occupational Therapy with Aging Adults. Elsevier.

3. Gesser, Marivete & Block, P. (2024). Capacitismo. In: Maria Fernanda Diogo [Org.] Diálogos interdisciplinares em Psicologia e Educação. (pp. 48-54). São Carlos: Pedro & João Editores.

4. Block, P. (2023). “EOP: Health Management through Spoon Theory and Disability Justice.” In G. Gillen, C., Brown, & E. Ramugondo (Eds.), Willard & Spackman’s Occupational Therapy, 14th edition. Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

5. Block, P. (2023). “EOP: Collective Access.” In G. Gillen, C., Brown, & E. Ramugondo

(Eds.), Willard & Spackman’s Occupational Therapy, 14th edition. Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

6. Gesser, M, Block, P, & Leite, LP. (2023). Do capacitismo ao acesso coletivo no ensino superior. In: Sandra Eli Sartoreto de Oliveira Martins e Ana Paula Camilo Ciantelli (Orgs.). Inclusão e Acessibilidade na Educação Superior: desafios atuais, vol. 1. Cultura Academica Editora.pp.79-109.

7. Ramawati, D., Block, P. (2021). Sexuality and Sexual Rights of Young Adults with Intellectual Disability in Central Java, Indonesia. Routledge Handbook of Disability and Sexuality. New York: Routledge.

8. Gesser, M., Block P. Mello A. (2021). Estudos da deficiência: interseccionalidade, anticapacitismo e emancipação social. In (Eds. Gesser, M; Böck, G & Lopes, P. H.) Estudos da Deficiência: anticapacitismo e emancipação social [Disability Studies: Anti-ableism and social emancipation]. Florianópolis: CVC.

Courses I have taught: