On Monday, June 1, Nellie’s will proudly present our third annual Women on the Move art expo, hosted this year in the Rotunda Room at Metro Hall (55 John St.) from 12-4pm. The event coincides with National AccessAbility Week here in Canada, which runs from May 31 to June 6 this year, and is an opportunity to recognize Canadians with disabilities, while also raising awareness of the need for greater accessibility and inclusion in our communities.
Designed to address the gap in services for women with disabilities who have experienced trauma, our Women on the Move program provides an opportunity for women to come together and chat in a safe space with their peers. The program features educational workshops, social outings, and special events like the art expo.
Focusing on the National AccessAbility Week theme of “Paving the way for an inclusive future”, this year’s exhibit will include approximately 50 art pieces, including everything from painted canvases, short stories, poetry, photography, and pottery.
Leading the organizing of this year’s event is Antonia Eckley, our Community Support & Outreach Program Coordinator, who shares how much she learns from the women in the program, not just about the disability community, but also about the strength of women in general. “My co-facilitator Lucy Costa Nyman, who is a woman with a disability, gives me really great insight and we’re able to bounce ideas back and forth,” explains Antonia. “I have the social work brain coming into it, and she has direct experience of having a disability herself, and working with women with disabilities. It’s a great space for us all to work collaboratively and learn from one another.”
To prepare for this year’s expo, Antonia has been directly supporting many of the women in crafting their art pieces. “The way that we create the art is very different because a lot of the women have physical disabilities and limited range of movement,” says Antonia. In these cases, Antonia explains that she will guide the women into making all the decisions — choosing the paint type, the colours, and every last detail of what the piece should look like — and then Antonia acts as their hands and translates their ideas onto the canvas.
“Maybe I was the one that was able to physically put it on the canvas, but start to finish it was them sitting right there with me and putting it together,” Antonia explains. “Sometimes I’ll even put the canvas on their lap or on their wheelchair table, so that it feels more like they’re creating it, and I’m just the hands reaching in with the paintbrush. It’s very collaborative.”
Building on last year’s event, Antonia says that they’re encouraging the women to take on a stronger leadership role this year, having them interact more with the attendees and explaining their own work. Each woman will also be wearing colourful badges that identify them as the artists — a feature Antonia added to the event after some of the women were questioned last year about why they were at the expo helping to set up, without support workers or attendants.
“Events like this are so important because people tend to minimize disabled people, especially women,” shares Antonia. “These aren’t women who need to be taken care of or need to be led — they can be leaders and creators, they can advocate for themselves and make policy changes. I’m so glad that we’re able to give them this space to help them prove that they deserve to be here just as much as anyone else.”
Please join us at Metro Hall (55 John St. in Toronto) on June 1, 2026 from 12 – 4pm to view these inspiring projects.