It’s a cold, clear day and we’ve convened in one of the most beautiful spaces in Vancouver. The Vancouver Public Library is spacious, airy and full of esteemed knowledge.
How appropriate to have a gathering focused on the ratified UN Convention in the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, for a day of Honoring the Convention: A Call to Action, where B.C. self-advocates, family members, service providers, and agency representatives alike sat and shared the news of a New Age and a New Path to embark on, together.
The speakers all brought a plethora of personal and/or historical investment to the full picture of the Community Living movement. I feel humbled by the passion and dedication they have poured into getting B.C. and Canada to where families and individuals are today. We have much more work to do but the tough stuff has already been shifted through, and with the help of today’s forum, action can be taken.
Laurie Bechell said something that rang so true, “We all have expectations. In fact, we have great expectations…” Everyone’s hopes were that with the ratification of the Convention, things will change and that people with disabilities would have the right to live as their neighbors do, with full citizenship and the benefits of that full citizenship. Laurie went on to say that, “In Canada, sadly, disability often means poverty”.
Poverty was the one thing that stuck in the mind of my 13-year-old son, especially when we heard Sky Hendsbee speak on the challenges of independent living for people with disabilities. Sky spoke of the struggles he faces to make ends meet and have adequate health care. For someone so young, it is unfathomable to my son that someone would not have enough money for food, housing and health care. I agree with him, it is unbelievable but a sad reality.
Where we have come from and what is happening in our community is a great place to start to plan what we want for the future of our families and the community.
Seth Klein gave us a great starting point by challenging where policy is in violation of the convention in BC and nationally. His recommendation was for us to look to other countries to see how they are incorporating the convention into their work to improve life. I also got the sense that we are to move to engaging the population at large in issues that not only affect our community but everyone else’s.
Solution based communication with open-ended letters to potential political candidates, can hopefully be used as a platform for an election campaign. Then the news could be spread by way of emails to organizations’ email lists.
Dulcie McCallum’s summation of the day was awesome and left us with a starting point to move forward with a brief understanding of the history and our present situation.
My daughter took away from the day a need to help others in an action that shows immediate results. This transposed into the commandeering of all the remaining lunch bags from the lunch that was served to the participants of the forum. She had initially tried to distribute the food within a two-block radius of the Vancouver Public Library, but was unsuccessful in finding anyone. We decided to go to downtown East Hasting Street, at the end of the day.
Both children were excited upon arrival at the site, and with the help of two very kind police officers: Dave Marchand and Bryce Kaltenbach, the sandwiches and apples were distributed to the many interested people living on the streets of downtown East Hastings. Without our two guardians we would never had been able to carry out the task that the children so desperately wanted to do. It is a wonderful thing when you can bring as many people as you can into the positive energy of selfless acts.
It is right to believe in yourself and the people around you. It is wrong to take for granted your rights and those of others that all of us are entitled to, in all our diversity.
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