Tag: annual report

Autistics for Autistics 2023 Report: Education, Support & Advocacy

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2023 was a year of education, advocacy and outreach for our team. It was also a year of rest, renewal and support. It’s been 7 years since we founded A4A and in the true tradition of a sabbath/sabbatical, we used 2023 to take things a little slower while still making big changes through education, community-building and advocacy.

Here are some highlights from 2023:

MEDIA COVERAGE
As Canada’s autistic-led advocacy organization, we have become a go-to for media calls related to autistic human rights and the neurodiversity movement in Canada. Examples from 2023 include a Brampton Guardian story where Rishav addressed the issue of police violence against autistic people and CBC’s  interview with Anne about autistic rights.


COMMUNITY/EDUCATION
Global: International Disability Day of Mourning

Every March 1 since 2018, A4A has led vigils for the international Disability Day of Mourning, remembering those who were murdered by their parents/caregivers and saying: Never Again. Thank you to Gaby for co-ordinating, and to Caroline, Morgan, Raya, Rishav, Sam, Shannon and everyone who makes this important vigil happen.

City of Toronto: Vaccine Outreach
2023 marked the end of the Disability Vaccine Outreach Initiative, in which we partnered with the Centre for Independent Living Toronto (CILT). This City of Toronto-funded initiative helped ensure access for vaccinations including one-to-one support by our amazing Vaccine Ambassadors, Gaby and Sam, for autistic Torontonians with support needs.

City of Toronto: Neurodiversity Flag Raising
We have raised the neurodiversity flag at Toronto City Hall and are currently planning our event for 2024. It is an amazing celebration, with speeches and cake, and a moment of visibility as a part of our city. Many thanks to all organizers and to the City for welcoming our flag and celebrating neurodiversity.

The Autistic Health Access Project
Darla and Anne continued our groundbreaking Autistic Health Outreach Project, educating Canadian medical students about autistic health access needs at the University of Toronto and Queen’s University medical schools. They will be presenting this month at University of Toronto. Read more about it here.

Support: Our Discord & Facebook groups
Our chat groups on Discord and Facebook are a space for autistics to share resources and information, to connect, to vent, and brighten our days with cat memes! Our admins do an amazing job of organizing within the channels and everyone in the groups is an integral part of these supporting spaces. Endless thanks to all.

Community speaking engagements
We speak at workplaces, mental health agencies, schools and other venues about autistic realities and autistic rights. A 2023 example is Gaby’s presentations before Centre for Addictions and Mental Health about Autism, Neurodiversity and Models of Disability. Watch it here. Also in 2023, Charlotte (Métis Nation) spoke before the Nunavummi Disabilities Makinnasuaqtiit Society on Disability Across the Lifespan. Watch it here.

Advocacy for students and families
Throughout 2023, we wrote advocacy letters for families whose children face discrimination at school, and we connect them with resources. Sometimes all it takes is to share some resources and tools to help a school facilitate a child’s belonging and inclusion. Other times, it’s necessary to connect families with disability lawyers to fight for their rights.

Recently, we consulted with a community coalition about the need to modify the existing Accessibility for Ontarians Act. Autistics are not included among the disabled groups protected by this legislation, which creates a barrier when individuals and families try to seek inclusion and pursue human rights complaints. Autism should be a category of disability in Canadian law and we will continue to advocate for this.

Publication consulting
Several of our members review neurodiversity content of publications to ensure the diversity of our community and needs are represented. A 2023 example is Bridget and Anne’s work consulting on the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada’s Resources for Autistic and Disabled Youth and Service Providers for Youth.  Read the Guides here.

Coalitions: GTA Disability Coalition, Community Living Ontario
We are proud members of the GTA Disability Coalition, comprised of disability rights and services organizations across the Toronto area. In 2023, our group spoke at the Coalition’s online conference for the International Day for Persons with Disabilities, gave depositions on housing and transit at City of Toronto Budget Hearings and supported other coalition work.

In 2023, we continued to support and collaborate with Community Living Ontario to work towards ending abusive long-term care and institutional housing in our province, through the Alliance on Aging and Disability. Thank you to all partners and to Shawn from Community Living for inviting us.


LEGISLATIVE CHANGE: LOOKING BACK ON 7 YEARS
While we took a break from visiting politicians this year, we also celebrate achievements of the past 7 years in our work to end ABA, including: helping to get SLP & OT therapies and AAC devices included in Ontario autism funding and to decrease funding for ABA; legislation introducing oversight of Ontario’s ABA industry by an arms-length association; and autistic-led organizations being invited for the first time to assess and critique Canadian autism policy before the Senate of Canada in 2022.

While our efforts on Bill 160 to ban seclusion (isolation) rooms in schools faltered due to pandemic shutdowns and political change at Queen’s Park, we are glad to report there is a newly-created Canadian chapter of the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint, whose work we support.


2023: WORKING TOGETHER
Many thanks to everyone for all their efforts in 2023!

We encourage autistics across Canada who are interested in getting involved to contact us so that we can connect you with our planning networks.

Another way to support our work is with a small donation. We do not get grant funding and we appreciate individual donations to help pay for ASL at our events, as well as server fees and material costs for events. Donate here.

 

 

Autistic advocacy in Ontario: Highlights from 2022

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The past year has been exciting, as we returned to in-person events and continue to grow, with new projects and connections across Canada!

Some highlights:

  • We raised the neurodiversity flag at Toronto City Hall, after 2 years of virtual observances. It was incredible to be together again in real life and to break bread (well, cake) and feel so welcomed by the protocols staff at Toronto City Hall. Thank you to all who attended.
  • We provided info & spoke before the Senate of Canada, together with Autistics United Canada (AUC), about the need for federal policymakers to move from a charity perspective to a rights perspective. Canadian policymakers need to begin to study best practices in disability policy and consult with autistic-led groups.
  • We continued to partner with the Centre for Independent Living Toronto (CILT) to improve vaccine access for autistic/disabled people through the Disability Vaccine Outreach Initiative, including our vaccine info webinar, social media outreach and one-to-one outreach by our amazing Vaccine Ambassadors, Gaby and Sam, to ensure access for autistic Torontonians with support needs. We are so glad that CILT included us in this important project!
  • We led the annual Disability Day of Mourning in Ontario, remembering those who were murdered by their parents/caregivers and saying: Never Again. Our members read names, gave speeches and provided support through a virtual vigil on March 2. Thank you to everyone who made this important vigil happen.
  • A4A members presented to the Ontario Association of College and University Housing Officers and to University of Waterloo about inclusion, student life and new research on autistic students in college and university. We have more invitations to present on this topic early in the new year!
  • We continued our groundbreaking Autistic Health Outreach Project, educating Canadian medical students about autistic health access needs at the University of Toronto and Queen’s University medical schools.
  • We continued to support and collaborate with Community Living Ontario to work towards ending abusive long-term care and institutional housing in our province, through the Alliance on Aging and Disability. Thank you to all partners for all their hard work on this issue, to our rep Taryn and to Shawn from Community Living for inviting us.
  • A4A was an organizing partner in the online annual Canadian national conference on the International Day for Persons with Disabilities (United Nations), which was hosted by the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians, streamed on Accessible Media International and featured speakers and participants from around the world.
  • We were contacted by media for stories about ABA, restraint and seclusion in schools, media portrayals of autism and other topics. It was especially awesome to be contacted by OWL magazine for their neurodiversity feature!
  • We consulted with a community coalition about the need to modify the existing Accessibility for Ontarians Act. At present, autistics are not included among the disabled groups protected by this legislation, creating a barrier when we try to seek inclusion and pursue human rights complaints.
  • We attempted to consult with the Public Health Agency of Canada about priorities in federal autism appropriations. Unfortunately, PHAC continued its pattern of devaluing autistic people’s input and time, so for the well-being of our reps we left the conversation. We will continue to connect with MPs, Senators and other federal agencies instead.
  • We continued to educate employers on inclusive supports and communication access for autistic people through our Autistic At Work presentation, and to present to mental health organizations about access and inclusion.
  • We began to plan for 2023, including launching our Neurodiversity Library with support from the Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network; joining a new, national coalition project to work for regulating legislation on restraint and seclusion in schools; taking action to promote supported independent living options for autistic and intellectually disabled people; new advocacy to protect people with epilepsy from cyber attacks; policy work, education initiatives and much more.

I feel so honoured to work with the Board and volunteers, who are the most incredible people. Any policymaker, parent, educator or organization is lucky to have access to their time, perspective and ideas. I can’t wait to see what the future brings for autistic rights in 2023.

-Anne Borden King

 

Our 2021 Annual Report on Advocacy

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As the pandemic persisted, we continued to do the bulk of our advocacy online. Some highlights from 2021:

  • We continued our groundbreaking Autistic Health Outreach Project, educating Canadian medical students about autistic health access needs.
  • We collaborated with the Centre for Independent Living Toronto to improve vaccine access for autistic/disabled people through the Disability Vaccine Outreach Initiative.
  • We collaborated with Independent Living Canada to work towards ending abusive long-term care and institutional housing.
  • We led the annual Disability Day of Mourning in Ontario, remembering those who were murdered by their parents/caregivers and saying: Never Again.
  • We consulted with governments internationally, nationally and provincially on human rights issues in education, housing, school and health care.
  • We continued to advocate for a ban on Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA).
  • We educated employers on inclusive supports and communication access for autistic people through our Autistic At Work presentation.
  • We proudly supported Land Back, Black Lives Matter, trans rights, immigrant rights, health care rights, housing rights, climate justice and other social justice issues.

Read more about our 2021-2022 projects: A4A 2021 Annual Report