The Dr. Malcolm Peat Lectureship presents Neema Namadamu

The School of Rehabilitation Therapy and the International Centre for the Advancement of Community Based Rehabilitation are thrilled to invite you to the fifth annual Dr. Malcolm Peat Lectureship featuring Visiting Lecturer Neema Namadamu.

Join us as Namadamu presents "How mainstreaming persons with disability, especially women, can impact the collective heart and soundness of society,” and explores how this approach can improve outcomes for persons with a disability and their communities.

All floors of the School of Medicine Building can be accessed by elevator and have accessible washrooms. Some doors do not have automatic openers. Visit Building Accessibility Features for more information. This lecture is also available on Zoom with optional live closed captioning. We invite you to contact us specifying any needs we may have overlooked, or which are not already in place.

About the speaker

Neema Namadamu is a visionary game-changer. After contracting polio at age two, she began hosting a radio show advocating for the rights of children with disabilities in high school. Namadamu became the first woman with a disability from her ethnic group to earn a university degree, going on to serve in parliament for South Kivu province.

In 2012, Namadamu founded Synergy of Congolese Women’s Associations (SAFECO), a forum to foster collaboration among women-led non-governmental organizations to work collectively on their shared peace, rights, and development agenda, calling themselves the Mama Shujaa, or Hero Women, in Swahili.

Out of this network of supporters, Namadamu founded Hero Women Rising in 2013, with the goal of inviting the international community to support the women’s empowerment initiatives that her organization in Congo had begun to undertake.

As a result of her work, Namadamu has received numerous awards and accolades including being named Africa’s most influential woman by South African-based Celebrating Excellence in Organizations and “1 of 14 Fierce women’s rights advocates to watch,” by Women Thrive Worldwide in 2014. In 2018 Neema received the Meredith McRae Empowerment Award from the International Women’s Forum of Southern California, and most recently she received an award from the Congolese Organization for Peace and Reconciliation for “exemplary action in favor of peace and reconciliation in South Kivu Province of DRC” in 2021.

About the moderator

Dr. Heather Aldersey is an associate professor at the School of Rehabilition Therapy and the scientific director at the International Centre for the Advancement of Community Based Rehabilitation (ICACBR). Dr. Aldersey's research program aims to promote the full inclusion of people with disabilities globally, with a particular focus in low- and middle-income countries. She works towards achieving this aim by examining support structures for people with disabilities and their families, evaluating the processes and outcomes of implementing community-based rehabilitation programs, and translating findings to inform disability policy and practice. Dr. Aldersey's scholarship is to draw upon local strengths and capabilities and seeks to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities and their families globally.

The Queen’s Lecture Series

The 2023 Dr. Malcolm Peat Lectureship is pleased to partner with the Queen’s Lecture Series. The Queen’s Lecture Series showcases several donor-funded lectures from across the university throughout the year and provides alumni and the broader Queen’s community with increased access to some of the university’s top researchers and internationally respected visiting scholars.

The Dr. Malcolm Peat Lectureship

The Dr. Malcolm Peat Lectureship was established in memory and recognition of former Queen's School of Rehabilitation Therapy director and founder of the International Centre for Advancement of Community Based Rehabilitation (ICACBR), Dr. Malcolm Peat. 

Funding for this lecture has been provided by the donor established fund, the Inclusive Community Fund, and generous contributions from alumni and friends.