9:00 a.m. to 6:15 p.m.
📍 Carrefour des arts et des sciences, Université de Montréal
Room C-3061, Lionel-Groulx Pavilion
3150 Jean-Brillant Street, Montreal (QC) H3T 1N8
Free and open to the public
🎧 Simultaneous translation available all day (English ↔ French)
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
9:00–9:30 AM
Opening Remarks
The Festival Team
In this brief opening address, the festival team welcomes you and introduces the spirit behind Voice and Media. Why does this festival exist? What observations led to its creation? Who is it for? What desires run through it? You’ll also meet the people and organizations who made it possible. An invitation to fully step into these three days dedicated to dysfluency and its representation.
🎧 Talk in French. Simultaneous translation to English available.
_____________________________________________
9:30–10:15 AM
Opening Keynote
Conor Foran, graphic designer and artist committed to the artistic celebration of dysfluency, and the creative mind behind the festival’s visual identity.
About the Presentation
The full description of this talk will be added shortly.
🎧 Talk in English. Simultaneous translation to French available.
About the Presenter
Conor Foran is an Irish artist and designer based in London. As a proud person who stammers, he is interested in how disability intersects with creativity and how art and design can instigate social change. He leads a collaborative, creative practice about stammering called Dysfluent and runs a socially engaged design practice with his partner Bart Rzeznik called Take Courage.
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
10:30–12:30
Speech-Language Perspectives on Representation
Three talks that connect critical frameworks, research, and clinical practice in speech-language therapy, focusing on the social representation of stuttering in therapy and digital spaces.
10:30–11:15 AM
Presentation
Sam Simpson, speech-language therapist, Redefining Stammering
The full description of this talk will be added shortly.
🎧 Talk in English. Simultaneous translation to French available.
11:15–11:45 AM
Visuals, voices, and visibility: Representation in social media and podcasts for people who stutter
Dr. Erik X. Raj, speech-language therapist, associate professor, Monmouth University
About this Presentation
Social media platforms and podcasts have become powerful tools for people who stutter (PWS) to express themselves, connect with others, and challenge stereotypes about communication. This presentation explores how visual and audio-based media support visibility and community for PWS in meaningful ways.
Dr. Erik X. Raj will share findings from his recent study on the @juststutter Instagram account, an art-driven profile created by a person who stutters. The talk will highlight how PWS discover and engage with this account, and what their experiences reveal about the importance of identity-centered content on digital platforms. Participants will learn how visuals can serve as a bridge to reflection, dialogue, and connection. The session will also explore the growing role of podcasts as platforms where PWS can share stories, listen to diverse perspectives, and feel represented in authentic ways.
Together, these examples show how digital platforms offer more than entertainment—they create space for meaningful participation, emotional insight, and community-building. The presentation will conclude with suggestions for how clinicians, educators, and advocates can thoughtfully incorporate these tools into their work with PWS, using them as starting points for connection, conversation, and growth.
🎧 Talk in English. Simultaneous translation to French available.
About the Presenter
Dr. Erik X. Raj holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and is a practicing speech-language therapist who collaborates with individuals experiencing various communication challenges. He currently serves as an associate professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, United States, where he also directs the Meaningful Digital Experiences Research Lab.
Dr. Raj earned his Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders, with a concentration in digital technology, from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He regularly presents interactive workshops, both nationally and internationally, demonstrating how speech-language pathologists can integrate digital technologies to engage and educate clients. In addition to creating dozens of speech therapy-related mobile apps and video games, he consults with numerous educational technology companies on research and development to advance innovative tools for speech and language therapy.
11:45–12:00 PM
Je je je suis un podcast: seeing ourselves, learning, sharing
Judith Labonté, speech-language therapist, Clinique spécialisée en bégaiement et bredouillement
Judith Labonté is a speech-language therapist, trainer, and clinical coordinator at the University Clinic for Speech-Language Therapy and Audiology at the Université de Montréal. She co-hosts Je je je suis un podcast with Geneviève Lamoureux, a doctoral candidate in speech-language therapy and an adult who stutters. This entirely French-language podcast offers a unique space to talk about stuttering without taboo. Its goals are to inform, raise awareness, offer diverse perspectives on stuttering and speech-language therapy, and foster a better understanding of the lived experiences of people who stutter (PWS).
A study conducted by the hosts and their collaborators (Lamoureux et al., 2023) evaluated the podcast’s impact through a survey of 79 respondents (mostly PWS and speech-language therapists from Québec and France). Results showed improved access to information about stuttering in French and a deeper understanding that therapeutic success is not limited to fluency. Among speech-language therapists, 62% reported having changed their clinical practices. Among PWS, 75% reported greater acceptance of their stuttering.
This presentation will share concrete examples of how the podcast can be used as a clinical resource. Whether to support the self-efficacy of PWS, inform clinical reflection, or open discussions about lived experience, Je je je suis un podcast is a relevant and accessible tool for enhancing interventions with people who stutter.
🎧 Talk in French. Simultaneous translation to English available.
About the Presenter
Judith Labonté is a speech-language therapist who holds a professional master’s degree from the Université de Montréal. Since 2008, she has been working with people who stutter or clutter, developing her expertise notably in pediatric rehabilitation centers, private practice, and at the intensive therapy camp run by the Association des jeunes bègues du Québec (AJBQ). She is the founder of the interdisciplinary online group intervention program for adults who stutter, offered by the Association bégaiement communication (ABC) since 2021.
She is a clinical coordinator at the School of Speech-Language Therapy and Audiology at the Université de Montréal, co-host of the podcast Je je je suis un podcast, and co-lead of the Stuttering and Cluttering Community of Practice (Communauté de pratique en bégaiement et bredouillement), which brings together more than 250 speech-language therapists across Québec. In 2024, she founded the Specialized Clinic for Stuttering and Cluttering (Clinique spécialisée en bégaiement et bredouillement), the first interdisciplinary clinic dedicated to supporting people of all ages who stutter and/or clutter.
12–12:30 PM: Q&A session
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
1:45–2:45 PM
“Lou”: an immersive and participatory virtual reality experience about autism
Martine Asselin, producer and director
About the Presentation
The virtual reality work “Lou” offers a unique sensory immersion that allows viewers to experience the sensitivities of an autistic character. Created by Martine Asselin and Annick Daigneault, the piece aims to raise public awareness about the lived realities of autistic people and to foster an empathetic understanding of their experiences. A conversation with Martine Asselin about the media representation of difference, the inclusive co-creation process behind the work, and the use of immersion to embody another reality.
🎧 Talk in French. Simultaneous translation to English available.
✨ Would you like to experience it for yourself? The work will be available for trial during the evening cocktail (see below in the schedule).
About the Presenter
Martine Asselin is a committed filmmaker and digital artist with 25 years of experience in fiction, documentary, animation, and virtual reality. Driven by insatiable curiosity, she blends narrative and formal languages to explore contemporary social issues, with a focus on innovation and human connection. Her work celebrates resilience and human diversity.
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
3:15–4:15 PM
Closing keynote of the day
Véro Leduc, Ph.D., and Sarah Heussaff, Ph.D., Canada Research Chair on Cultural Citizenship of Deaf People and Cultural Equity Practices
The full description of this talk will be added shortly.
🎧 Presentation in French. Simultaneous interpretation into English and Quebec Sign Language (LSQ) available.
About the Presenters
Multidisciplinary artist and committed researcher, Véro Leduc holds the Canada Research Chair in Cultural Citizenship of Deaf People and Cultural Equity Practices. She is co-director of the Disability, Deafhood and Innovations Laboratory (HSI Lab) and a member of CELAT (Centre de recherche Cultures Arts Sociétés). A professor in the Department of Social and Public Communication at the Université du Québec à Montréal, she teaches in the Cultural Action program as well as in the Disability and Deafhood: Rights and Citizenship program, which she co-founded. The first Deaf university professor in Quebec, her work focuses on the artistic practices of Deaf and disabled people in Canada, Deaf music, and the cultural citizenship and equity practices of Deaf people. In 2020, she received the Governor General’s Medal for her outstanding work in breaking down barriers to social inclusion and strengthening access to university and culture for Deaf and hard of hearing people.
Sarah Heussaff (Ph.D.) is a researcher and curator specializing in disabled social and artistic movements. Through her research, projects, and the exhibitions she takes part in, she explores the development of a crip-feminist curatorial practice. She is also a lecturer in the Disability and Deafhood program and at the Institute for Feminist Studies (IREF) at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), where she initiated the course “Feminisms, Anti-Ableism, and Body Diversity.” She is Co-Coordinator of the Canada Research Chair in Cultural Citizenship of Deaf People and Cultural Equity Practices, and Coordinator of Laboratoire Handicap, Sourditude et Innovations (UQAM).
_____________________________________________
This cocktail reception will be a chance to connect with fellow festival participants and guests. You’ll also have the opportunity to experience Lou, a virtual reality work introduced earlier by Martine Asselin, offering a sensory immersion into the perspective of an autistic character.