International Day of Persons with Disabilities Dec 3rd,2023

Selfadvocatenet.com is in Support of International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2023

Selfadvocatenet highlight why this day is important for pwd  recognized disabilities contributions their voices heard and day that every pwd can be onered respected and we need stand up to ablelism society when necessary every level we need have ability to live inclusive and cared for this day we stand up for our right freedoms inclusion in our society

To start what is theme this year The theme of the 2023 International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) is: “United in action to rescue and achieve the SDGs for, with and by persons with disabilities“.

Transcript

The Sustainable Development Goals — or SDGs — chart a bold course towards a future where no-one is left behind.

Yet, with the 2030 ‘finish line’ now on the horizon, just 15% of SDG targets are on track in the wake of multiple crises.

The 1.3 billion persons with disabilities worldwide are amongst those who are most negatively affected by this limited progress.

That includes continued exclusion from public goods and services and high levels of discrimination.

To deliver the SDGs for, with, and by persons with disabilities, disability inclusion must be embedded across every dimension of development.

Consider UNDP’s work alongside the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities — or UNPRPD — to ensure that everyone can have their say in climate action frameworks in countries such as Jordan, Somalia, and South Africa. Or look to Ukraine, where UNDP is supporting the socio-economic integration of persons with disabilities caused by the war.

Producing better data on disability inclusion is vital to deliver the greatest impact.

To this end, UNDP is working alongside organisations of persons with disabilities to gather data about challenges and opportunities in the realisation of their human rights.

Six such analyses have just been launched with support from the UNPRPD, which can inform the design of new inclusion policies.

The brighter tomorrow envisioned in the SDGs is one that must be co-created.

As we mark the 75^th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that means heeding the call of the disability movement:

‘Nothing about us, without us.’

PRESS RELEASE: Funding helps remove barriers for people with disabilities: Accessibility Projects Grants Recipients for 2023/2024

This is on website Disability Alliance BC go to the link here

CLBC releases progress report for International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Dec 3rd 2023 posted

December 3 is International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) – an annual United Nations day that centers disability-related inclusion and aims to “mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities.” As Community Living BC recognizes this day, we reflect on the philosophy of “nothing about us without us.” Practically put, this means that in our daily work CLBC staff strive to uplift and embed the perspectives of the individuals we serve.

To help honour this day, CLBC is releasing its first report documenting progress in our 2022-2025 Strategic Plan goals and the vision for “communities of belonging, and lives of connection.”

Our Strategic Plan is one of the ways we seek to embed the perspectives of the individuals we serve into our work. The plan contains goals and strategies that were developed based on feedback from more than 500 people – individuals, service providers, community members, and other partners.

First Year Sample Achievements – 2022-2025 Strategic Plan

Goal One – We have trusting relationships with the people we serve

• We heard input from those we serve through open board meetings, 13 community councils, and our projects to improve services.
• We published an Accessibility Plan in August of 2023.
• We improved the way we talk about our services, based on feedback from individuals, families, support networks, service providers and other key partners.

Goal Two – Our actions align with the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

• A 2023 amendment to the Community Living Authority Act now requires CLBC to have an Indigenous Advisory Committee, officially solidifying the presence of Indigenous individuals in decision making processes.
• CLBC launched a new Cultural Safety Policy in Spring 2023, with six Guiding Principles to lead our organization, partners, and service providers.
• CLBC partnered with the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendships Centres (BCAAFC) to develop a strategy to ensure cultural safety within Home Sharing across the province.

Goal Three – We invest in and value our sector partners

• Through CLBC funding, Self-Advocates of the Rockies (SAOR), offered paid employment opportunities for self-advocates to plan events for peers in their community (Cranbrook, BC).
• CLBC funded a new project, “Families Supporting REA-L,” which aims to create a future where people with developmental disabilities “have lives that are fulfilled, self-directed and result in a good life.”
• The Home Sharing Support Society was launched, offering central resources for CLBC’s home sharing providers.

Goal Four – Our actions advance inclusion and accessibility in community

• CLBC was part of a new Kamloops housing project Kikékyelc: A Place of Belonging. This project is in collaboration with BC Housing and is operated by Lii Michif Otipemisiwak Family and Community Services.
• In May 2023, Community Health Advisory Team (CHAT) and the Ministry of Health co-hosted the Heath Leadership Collaborative, which included individuals with lived experience, as well as representatives from various organizations and related Ministries, and focused on the topics of health systems, accessibility, aging, primary care and mental health.

Foundation – We are resilient and act in alignment with the vision

• CLBC expanded Learning, Inclusion, Friendship and Employment (L.I.F.E.) services, with 12 new contracts, for a total of 17 service providers now offering this service.
• CLBC was named one of BC’s Top Employers for the second year in a row.

To request this report in another format, please email CLBCInfo@gov.bc.ca.

This is on CLBC website go to the link here

INCLUSION BC STORY ON INSTITUTIONS

The End of an Era

1878 – 1996

In the early afternoon of a rainy October day, the last two remaining residents of Woodlands institution moved to their new home in Vancouver’s Lower Mainland.

It was a quiet departure. No speeches. No television cameras. No crowds of supporters to wish them a fond farewell. But despite the lack of fanfare associated with their final moments in an institution that had been “home” for more than 25 years, it was an event that marked the end of an era in B.C.’s history.

The institutionalization of people with developmental disabilities in B.C. began at Woodlands more than 100 years ago. Together with Tranquille in Kamloops (which opened in 1959) and Glendale in Victoria (which opened in 1971) Woodlands became the focus of a major initiative in the early 1980’s to end the institutionalization of people with disabilities in B.C.

When downsizing began in 1981, approximately 1,600 individuals were living in the three institutions. Tranquille was the first to close its doors in 1985. Glendale followed early this spring. And with the closure of Woodlands in October, B.C. became the first province in Canada to make the full transition to community living.

“This is a truly historic occasion,” said Penny Priddy, Minister for Children and Families.

“Community Living helps to improve the quality of life of each individual,” she said, adding that “the benefits don’t stop with individuals. Diversity strengthens our communities.”

“The future success of community living goes beyond closing the institutions,”

Much of the success of the downsizing process has been attributed to the involvement of families in the planning and placement of their family members. In addition, attention was increasingly paid, throughout the process, to building a variety of crucial partnerships between ministry staff, service providers, community advocates, and institutional staff. The result was an initiative that sought not only to close the institutions, but to ensure the supports needed by individuals would be made available to them in the community. BCACL, which played an ongoing role in the downsizing process, will continue to monitor and advocate for appropriate services where required.

“The future success of community living goes beyond closing the institutions,” said BCACL President Anita Dadson. “Our job now is to make sure communities continue to have the resources they need to welcome and support people with developmental disabilities in their homes and in their neighbourhoods.”

“Say goodbye to Woodlands for me”

By Judy Carter-Smith

“Say Goodbye to Woodlands for me” were the words my mother said as I left her home to go to Woodlands on the day the last two people left. As I drove there, I thought of the many times my family and I had taken the same route to visit my sister or to pick her up to come home for the weekend – which we did every weekend for so many years.

Barbara, even through she was in Woodlands, was very much a part of our family and community life. We did grow up together thanks to the courage, stamina, and commitment of my parents and grandparents. There was never any question that as a family, we did whatever it took to support and advocate for Barbara. She has been living and working in the community for over 20 years now, and in a sense was one of the pioneers in the long journey which brought us to the day of closure.

So for me, this day held many personal memories as well as feelings related to my role at BCACL. I did not see the last two people leave. But as I looked around the deserted grounds and the empty buildings, I had a mixture of feelings. I felt a profound sense of history, of feeling close to the many people who had fought for this day. I thought about those families, like ours, for whom Woodlands was the only alternative at the time. I thought about how babies were taken from parents, who were told it was better if they never saw their children again, I thought about the dedication of some of the Woodlands staff, who were committed to doing their best at the time, and who formed lifelong relationships with individuals. I thought about some of the anxieties and fears we experienced, and I’m sure Barbara experienced, when we were fighting an inflexible bureaucracy and punitive attitudes.

I thought about all those individuals who are now in community, their journeys, and where it would take them. I thought of the challenges our community living movement will face in the future – to ensure people are of community not just in it, and to ensure institutions remain a part of our yesterday, and not part of our tomorrow.

Although our knowledge and experience has greatly increased since those early days when institutions were seen as the only alternative, attitudes and feelings that existed then are still with us. People are still afraid of people they perceive as different from themselves, resources are scarce, governments and ministries change.

We have said goodbye to Woodlands and experienced our first day of an institution-free B.C. The strengths which brought us to this moment in time need now to be applied to ensuring that individuals are accepted as part of their community. As a self advocate recently put it, that “we have buddies”.

There is a new generation of individuals and families coming forward now who have never experienced institutions: children who have gone to regular schools and will have different expectations and responsibilities in tomorrow’s society. It is our challenge now to facilitate the bridge between generations and ensure the next generation is supported in achieving their goals by building on the heritage of the pioneers who came before.

Say goodbye to Woodlands and say hello to a different world. We will, like others before us, change the face of tomorrow today.

Take a moment to join us in reading this article from 1996 we’ve digitized about the end of institutions in our province, the impact it had made, and what it meant to people, families, and communities.

See the original newspaper article here

This is on Inclusion BC  website go to the link here

Inclusion Canada

Ways to make your community more welcoming and inclusive: Advice from people with an intellectual disability

May 2023 Document

International agreement on the rights of disabled people

Easy Read version

What we did and what we learned: Monitoring Disability Rights

This report provides a plain language summary of what people shared during the public engagement process. This report has been translated and tested by People First of Canada’s plain language team. Self advocates from across the country provided their input, expertise, and experience to help make this report more accessible through plain language. It includes Sign language videos and closed captioning. It can also be read with a screen reader.

This document on the Canadian Human Rights Commission website go to the link here

Canadian Survey on Disability, 2017 to 2022

Pope’s December prayer intention: ‘For people with disabilities’

TRANSCRIPT

Let us pray that people with disabilities may be at the center of attention in society, and that institutions offer inclusion programs that enhance their active participation.

Pope Francis – December 2023

People with disabilities are among the most fragile among us.
Some of them suffer rejection, rooted in either ignorance or prejudice, which then marginalizes them.
Civil institutions need to support their projects through access to education, employment, and places where they can express their creativity.
Programs and initiatives are needed that promote their inclusion.
Above all else, big hearts are needed who want to accompany.
It means changing our mentality a little and opening ourselves to the abilities and talents of these people who are differently abled, both in society as well as in the life of the Church.
And so, creating a completely accessible parish does not only mean eliminating physical barriers. It also assumes that we stop talking about “them” and start talking about “us.”
Let us pray that people with disabilities may be at the center of attention in society, and that institutions offer inclusion programs that enhance their active participation.

Ableism and Language

This video explains what ableism is. The video explains that the assumptions held regarding able-bodied superiority over persons with disabilities are learned beliefs that are continually reinforced through language. This video explains the ableism that can exist in everyday language and how they impact people with disabilities.

TO REFLECT ON

• What terms have you used that would be considered ableist or enforcing ableism?
• What did you learn about ableism?

What is Ableism?

What is ableism? from United Nations Human Rights on Vimeo.

50 moments: The International Day of Persons with Disabilities