Join Capital Pride and Heather McCain (Creating Accessible Neighbourhoods - BC) for a free online Disability Awareness education session. People with disabilities represent the world’s largest minority, and the only minority group that any of us can become a member of at any time.
People with disabilities are also the third largest economic power behind China and the United States and yet they still experience barriers, prejudice, and bias on a daily basis. This workshop challenges all to more fully address ableist notions of how we think about, and label, our bodies, minds, and senses.
This Disability Awareness workshops gives you the tools to understand what disability is, the types of disability, the current language of disability, what ableism is, how you can actively work to fight against it, and tips for disabled people and allies alike to better ensure equity in all that you do
Organization Description
Citizens for Accessible Neighbourhoods (CAN) was founded in 2005 by Heather McCain and members of the chronic pain support group that they ran in Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows (the name was changed in 2020 due to ongoing decolonization work, it is now called Creating Accessible Neighbourhoods). The grassroots non-profit was the direct result of inaccessibility Heather experienced with the transit system and operators in Maple Ridge.
Presenter Bio
Heather McCain is Executive Director of Creating Accessible Neighbourhoods (CAN), a non-profit they founded in 2005.
Heather’s own experiences with multiple types of disabilities, neurodivergence, inaccessibility, and ableism led them to become a well-known and respected advocate, speaker, educator, and activist who works to create equity, celebrate diversity, and educate about and implement accessibility.
Heather recognizes that those within the disability community have intersecting identities and, as a disabled, neurodivergent, trans, asexual person, they work hard to ensure a multitude of voices and experiences inform their work and the work of CAN. Heather is committed to centering decolonialization, using an intersectional lens and doing cross-movement organizing. They operate with a Disability Justice framework and work to challenge our way of thinking to fundamentally shift the way we organize and fight for social change.
Heather is a Crip Doula. This is a Disability Justice term for someone who helps disabled people navigate our complex systems, providing resources, support, and building community. Members of Chronically Queer gave this title to Heather. CQ is a support group Heather facilitates for LGBTQ2SIA+ folk with chronic health conditions.