Even though temperatures are dropping across the country, the Communication Disabilities Access Canada (CDAC) is still abuzz with activity, promoting human rights, accessibility and inclusion for people who have speech and language disabilities that are not primarily caused by hearing loss.

Nationally: CDAC’s Executive Director Barbara Collier and Board member Hazel Self presented on the Communication Access Now (CAN) project to the federal Office for Disability Issues on October 22, 2014. Unfortunately, their presentation to federal government employees has to be rescheduled due to the tragic event that day on Parliament Hill.

This month CDAC is hosting Communication Intermediary webinars for over 60 Speech-Language Pathologists to prepare them to work in legal and justice settings.

On the West Coast: Last week BC Regional Coordinator Lois Turner had a good meeting with Ella Haung, the Executive Director of the Richmond Centre for Disability. The Communication Access Symbol is now prominently displayed around the Centre.

Ella is also an accessibility advisor to the City of Richmond and does accessibility training for taxi cab companies in Richmond. She had many ideas for sharing CAN resources, the e-learning modules and the communication access symbol.

On the Prairies: CAN Regional Coordinator Tracy Shepherd met with the Disability Issues Office and the Accessibility Advisory Committee in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in October. They were very receptive to the CAN project and are interested in using our materials in their training and helping to spread the word in Manitoba.

While in Winnipeg, the CAN message was also spread to Speech Language Pathologists at the St. Amant Centre and the Open Access Resource Centre.

In Ontario: Tracy also met with the City of London, Ontario, and will be meeting with the City of Kitchener and the City of Windsor in November.

To have someone speak to your city, business or organization about communication access, please contact your regional coordinator.

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