Disability Positivity

I used to do a lot of things that sparked my interest, including camping, hiking, zip-

lining, making letters for Santa and making bracelets. However,as I have gotten older, these interests have changed. Now, in my spare time, I like to go sailing, write, swim, go out for coffee with friends, go to overnight camps, and, more recently, look for volunteer opportunities. 

I’ve spent many months wanting to volunteer, but I wasn’t quite sure where to start. I want my volunteer experience to impact others because of my disability. From my experience, finding somewhere to volunteer is challenging when you have physical limitations like mine. Luckily, there are places like Holland Bloorview that support kids and youth with disabilities with their healthcare and recreational needs. Besides those services, Holland Bloorview also provides young people who want to volunteer with the opportunity to do so. 

You can volunteer within the hospital as a client program volunteer, a research institute volunteer, a family leadership program volunteer, or a support program for youth with disabilities. I didn’t necessarily want to volunteer with kids and youth. I was more interested in volunteering with young adults who had disabilities. As of now, I’m in the process of trying to find an opportunity that sees me for the person I am, and that would be to work and volunteer like everyone else. 

I was lucky to find the Let’s Grow organization, which saw my limitations as a gift. This surprised me and made me feel included and supported. Behind Let’s Grow is a group of parents of disabled young adults. After their sons and daughters left high school, these families found that most existing day programs could not or would not accommodate their children with complex needs.  The ones that do exist have either limited operating times or significant travel times from downtown Toronto. 

Faced with the possibility of their family members becoming isolated and disconnected, the families decided to build their own program. Let’s Grow is dedicated to creating a fun, nurturing and engaging environment  for adults with complex developmental and physical needs.

Throughout this experience, I have learned two important things. One is that disabled people should be treated the same in the workplace. Another is that there needs to be more places like Holland Bloorview and Let’s Grow that show that disabled people want to work and volunteer. However, it’s hard to find employers who want to hire people like us.