Spring into Learning Returns to Five Counties For a Second Year
/The second annual Spring into Learning series returns to Five Counties Children’s Centre May 2 with a focus on helping attendees to rethink disability.
photo courtesy of five counties.
Presenters at the event include a former Canadian Paralympian, a Trent University professor/writer and a social worker/community activist. All three will discuss the importance of shattering pre-conceived notions and biases towards persons with disabilities.
Five Counties notes that the free event is not just for Five Counties families, anyone who supports or interacts with a person with disabilities or who wants to learn more about what it’s like to live with a disability is welcome to attend.
“We had wonderful response to our first-ever Spring into Learning last year, that focused on seeing the ability, not disability in every person,” says Hayley Hodges, the Client and Family Engagement Lead at Five Counties. “This year’s theme focuses on how we can ‘rethink disability’ and see resiliency in individuals who overcome challenges and achieve new things with their different abilities. This year, there will also be special emphasis on the vital role of caregivers and how they can be better supported in their work supporting individuals with a disability.”
The full lineup for the Spring into Learning series includes:
• Keynote speaker Alec Denys (five-time Paralympian, sports enthusiast and accessibility advocate), sharing his personal story of suffering a life-altering injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down, and how his love of sports helped him discover new abilities.
• Workshop facilitator Derek Newman-Still (a local author, Trent professor and activist) speaking on the importance of resiliency in their own life to respond and correct presumptions from those who diss their disability.
• Workshop facilitator Maureen Pollard (social worker and compassionate bereavement care provider) explaining why caregivers need to care for their own well-being as much as the person they support, realizing self-care is not selfish.
