Agents of Inclusion or Facade Facilitation – Igniting Conversations

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The field of Disability Services is built on the foundational concepts of Community Inclusion and Personal Capacity; these are our most reliable weapons against segregation and marginalization.  As professional advocates, we typically profess to be working towards things like integration, poverty reduction, equality (economic and social), and inclusion. Too often however the logistics of our […]

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How Healthy is Your Workplace Culture (Community Disability Services)

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I’ve worked in Community Disability Services (CDS) since 1986 and have experienced work cultures that ranged from inspirational to traumatic. I’ve also seen firsthand the correlation between work culture and staff retention, engagement and innovation. It’s a pretty simple equation; some work cultures bring out our best – and some work cultures leave us disheartened

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Best Practices In Employer Engagement

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Diversity & Inclusion Strategy Implementation – Best Practices in Employer Engagement Professionals working in the field of Supported Employment / Employment Inclusion recognize on a fundamental level that employment service outcomes for people with disabilities do not occur without the engagement and participation of an employer. We also recognize that although the foundation of our

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A Brand is Not…

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A brand is not a Mission Statement, a Logo, a Tag-Line or a brochure. A brand is the character and personality and reputation your organization brings to a ‘customer relationship.’  It’s about maintaining your organization’s relevance to its ‘customers.’ Your brand is real whether you like it or not – it could be a hanging-on-by-a-thread

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A Draft Transition Plan – Segregated to Inclusive Environments

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Most disability advocates and professionals have been aware for a very long time that sheltered or segregated environments (particularly in day options) do not generate good outcomes in the areas of inclusion and capacity building. Nevertheless, resistance remains to the closure of such environments. Some say more time is needed, others say that these environments

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People at an Alberta Council of Disability Services Conference

ACDS Conference Review

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The 2014 Alberta Council of Disability Services (ACDS) Spring Conference – held in Edmonton this year, turned out to be one of the best Employment Conferences I’ve been to in a very long time. Although Employment Inclusion is not the primary focus of ACDS, they have seen the ‘writing on the wall’ and invested heavily

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Alberta’s Employment First Initiative

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Employment First is essentially a ‘best practices’ statement which simply asserts that employment in the general workforce should be the first and preferred outcome for publicly funded services for adults with intellectual / developmental disabilities. Employment First principles  have been promoted most vocally by APSE – the Association of People Supporting Employment First – a national

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