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Position Paper on Accessibility

Community Living North Halton is working on making the communities we serve more accessible for people with disabilities.  We intend to be leaders in accessibility in our communities.   In June of 2011, a focus group was held with people supported to discuss accessibility.  The individuals were asked open ended questions about their access to money, about their feeling of equality in the community, about the times they feel heard in the community, and about the Municipalities where they live and advocacy that needs to take place at the Town. Pictures were used to help with the discussion and notes were taken from that meeting. Following that discussion, the Directors and the Continuous Quality Improvement Committee were asked for their feedback about our accessibility position paper.  The result was a revision of the position paper as follows. 

The areas where we want to focus our efforts are:
• Changing our own attitudes and those of all community members so that there is an acceptance of individuals of all abilities.
• Ensuring that we work to produce print materials that are friendly and easy to read for all people.
• Supporting advocacy for change at a provincial level, so that financial barriers for people with disabilities disappear.
• Working with the municipal governments in the communities that we serve to reduce structural, environmental and transportation barriers. 

We will take action on these areas of focus by:
• Continuing to work on accessible transportation. This is very important to us and is a goal as we work with our municipalities. There is no transportation between Halton Hills and Milton, except by taxi. 
• Continuing the work to transform the documents we currently use into more print friendly documents. This includes using pictures/photos, etc. where needed.
• We moved, so we now have an accessible building for people who have physical challenges. However, we need to continue to ensure that we work as hard as we can, within our own financial limitations, to have the properties we own or rent as physically accessible as possible. 
• Our staff teams need to talk about accessibility at staff team meetings because their own attitudes can be barriers to the success of people we support.  All of us need to treat each other as equals. We also need to continue to educate the public about disabilities, so that people learn to treat people with respect and dignity.
• We want to continue to listen to the stories of people we support all through the year, but especially in our newsletters, at our Annual General Meeting and in the press so that people in the community hear the stories and understand that we need to be part of the solution when there are problems with accessibility.
• We need to continue to take part in days of advocacy to the province such as “Community Living Day” at the provincial legislature; being part of the Community Living Ontario’s advocacy for increased dollars for ODSP, quality supports and the transformation of services; and raising our concerns with our local Member of Provincial Parliament whenever there is an opportunity. We need to encourage individuals who are supported to be part of these days of advocacy and part of the advocacy process. 
• By participating in training about “Keeping Your Dreams Alive” the people we support are encouraged to Dream and find ways to attain those dreams by breaking down the barriers with them one by one.
• Empowering people we support to advocate for their own right to accessibility through rights and responsibilities training and by them participating in the training of staff around rights and responsibilities.
• By ensuring that we are working towards supporting people who have English as a second language by providing interpreters, etc. where needed.
• Wherever it is financially feasible, we will make residences we own wheelchair accessible.

Our hope is that we can be part of a community where everyone belongs and is valued. 

June 2011
Updated January 2012 DD

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Dining Out in Milton Coupon Books

Final Sale Prize $15

Call Kathleen 905-878-2337 ext 222

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Limited Edition Note Card Collection

These original collections of note cards were created by the people that we support. Each collection is a limited edition. Once they are sold a new collection will be created with all new designs. The sale of these cards goes to support the Recreation and Leisure programs that are so vital to their well being.

Holiday Note Cards - $10 per pack of 10

All Occassion Note Cards - $5 per pack of 5

To place an order or for more information, please contact Kathleen at 905-878-2337 ext 222

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