ESCAPE

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2013
Mar 7

FILED IN: Social Justice and Advocacy

Nellie’s Launches Position Paper on Accessibility

Nellie is very proud to announce the launch our Position Paper on Accessibility: Women with Disabilities and Deaf Women. In this paper we explore the issues impacting women with Disabilities and Deaf women, identify challenges and emerging issues, and develop strategies for working with women and ensuring are our services are accessible to all.

The paper highlights societal perceptions and personal biases about Disability.  We explored the impacts of ableism on various communities including immigrant and newcomer women, Aboriginal women and women of colour. We identified key attitudinal shifts necessary for the development and implementation of policies and service provisions needed to ensure services are accessible to women with disabilities and Deaf women.

Accessibility

In 2011, through an analysis of current issues and trends, the Social Justice Committee recommended to Nellies Board of Directors that we write a position paper exploring the issues of Accessibility and Ableism.  Following this, the Social Justice Committee  organized a subcommittee to develop this position. Key stakeholders were identified and contacted, and invited to an initial consultation regarding the direction of the paper.  It was decided that Nellie’s Social Justice Committee would draft the position and then organize a focus group to give feedback. A draft of the position was written and in June 2011, a focus group was invited to give feedback on the position.  Approximately 20 women attended the focus group.  The feedback was used to revise the position and a new draft was sent out to all key stakeholders internally and externally to obtain any final feedback.  The final draft of the position paper was approved in February 2013.

On March 7, our second cycle of “Women on the Move: A Psycho/Educational Support Group for Women with Disabilities”  began out of our Community Support and Outreach office.  This program is run in Partnership with Springtide Resources.  We have also finalized our Accessibility for Ontario’s with Disabilities (AODA) policy and we will continue staff training on the implementation of the position paper and policy in 2013.  A copy of our position paper can be found here.

Here are some questions for self-reflection:

1) How do you see ableism on display in your daily life?

2) What are some of the measures the organization where you work has taken to ensure services are accessible for women with Disabilities and Deaf women?

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