Accessing Inclusion
Next to employment, accessing community is the biggest barrier to inclusion faced by people with disabilities. So you can appreciate how pleased I was to walk another north side neighborhood now completely outfitted with new accessible sidewalks. ‘Props’ to the City of Lethbridge for doing their part opening up inclusive neighborhoods. Exclusion however, continues in our community as a by-product of the general lack of awareness about disabled issues and the prevalence to view disabilities as a “devalued trait in our society”. For the developmentally delayed the lack of...
Read MoreBe the Change
October is Disability Employment Awareness Month (DEAM). The goal is to increase awareness of the need to hire persons with disabilities in Canada. We thought it advantageous to wait until the end of the month to blog about this news worthy item with a goal toward extending its life cycle through November. While at the same time, sharing some very interesting statistics on employment for developmentally delayed individuals. Did you know: 80% of adults with a developmental disability are unemployed. Of that: 34.6% believe they were not hired because of their disability...
Read MoreNo Worries
I have a developmentally delayed friend who has difficulty with social ques making her vulnerable in social settings. With her permission, I tell the following story to help illustrate how difficult it is for some people with developmental disabilities to move through a world shaped by urban language. My friend asked the waiter for the bill. When he arrived with the bill, my friend said thank you. “No Worries” the waiter replied; which just about floored my friend! Never sure of herself in social settings, she looked to me with a confused brow and said. “Do I look worried?” “I’m not...
Read MoreTalent in the Garden
I saw a girl dance in Galt Gardens. She moved with such grace, I cried. She was a performer at the Eighth Annual Citizens Walk About, sponsored by the South Region Self-Advocacy Network. And if you did not see her dance, I am sad for you. Because I cried. I suppose I should talk about how all three levels of government were happily there and amply included. Some even spoke good words of vision. I did note the different media outlets in attendance. Dory Rossiter, the Weather Presenter from CTV, is always a ray of sunshine, while never without a punch line. ...
Read MoreThe Gentle Purveyors of Peace
I confess to being rather melancholy today, sparked, by a jarring article, by Rory Andrews, which had come up on my newsfeed. It was about a small roadside plot of land, that was used between 1906 and 1959 as a burial ground for the bodies of unclaimed patients, and located adjacent to a former Nova Scotia mental institution. Today, it is known as the Field of Peace, where some 60 unmarked graves share a single stone of remembrance, and there should be little doubt that the developmentally delayed are among those numbered. While benches dot the little field, creating...
Read MoreMindful Compassion
Watty Piper took the symbol of a simple train chugging its way up a hill when he gave us The Little Engine That Could. “I think I can, I think I can” tooted Piper’s little train while our childhood hearts believed, I can try, I can try, I can try, which was inevitably Piper’s message. For the developmentally delayed however, additional supports are necessary for some to achieve their goals. And it is within that effort to achieve goals where we find Disability Service Workers facilitating those accomplishments. Seeing to the tasks fulfillment and if necessary be the eye’s that...
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