The Voice - Inclusion Alberta with Trish Bowman

Join VAD as we learn about Inclusion Alberta and the great resources that this organization offers the disability community across Alberta.  

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Teresa Makarewich, VAD  

Welcome to the voice of Albertans with Disabilities
podcast for May 2023. I'm Teresa Makarewich,
your host and Vad’s
program and service manager. Thanks for joining us today. In today's podcast, I'll
be talking to Trish Bowman from inclusion Alberta, A vad organizational member.
VAD
has been talking with their members to learn about the resources that are
available to the disability community. I wanted to
get inclusion Alberta on the podcast to discuss the resources that this organization
provides. Together, we hold power.
According to their website,
inclusion Alberta's mission is to foster
family leadership and advocacy in the pursuit of fully inclusive community lives
for children and adults with developmental disabilities.
Please welcome Trish Bowman from
inclusion Alberta. Hello Trish.

Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta 

Hello Teresa

Teresa Makarewich, VAD  

Can you please introduce yourself? 

Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta 

So, thank you for having me today. My name is Trish
Bowman and I'm the chief executive
officer at inclusion Alberta. 

Teresa Makarewich, VAD  

Perfect. Thank you for that. I have a few questions about
the
inclusion of Alberta Berta to gather information for our listeners .  to start with, Can you tell me who is inclusion
Alberta as an organization? 

Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta 

So inclusion Alberta is a nonprofit
family advocacy organization n. And as you said, we advocate
with and for children and adults with
intellectual or developmental disabilities and their families who are pursuing
life to be fully included in community.
So
in saying that, our definition of family is broad and can really only be
defined by the ties of love and caring that exists between people, so that
includes individuals with intellectual disabilities themselves as well as their
families, by birth or by choice. So
we really do use the broadest definition of family. As I said, we're
a provincial organization and we support both children and adults with
intellectual disabilities to help them access the full range of opportunities
and experiences that are available to people without disabilities and to
capitalize really on the capacity
that Community has, we believe to be accepting  And support their membership and belonging.
We provide both individual advocacy to individuals and families who are having
difficulty navigating, you know, the many systems
and
that they interface
with
and we also provide systemic
advocacy to try and inform and influence  Policy and
practice and legislation that impacts
the inclusion of children and adults with developmental disabilities. 

Teresa Makarewich, VAD  

That's quite wonderful. Thank you. Can you
give some history about your organization? 

Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta 

Yeah, sure. So
we were founded in the 1950s and what was happening in the early 1950s really
across the country was that mothers began seeking each other out in
communities, as I said, across the country because they recognized or Believed
that they werent Alone in their love for their children, their belief in their
children and their beliefs that their children had a right, you know to be
loved and welcomed in their in their communities. So
they literally
started putting out, sorry, putting out ads
in newspapers to find each other. And they started coming together. And talking
and then formed local parent organizations. So
in 1954, we were created as a federation of local community associations across
the. And we were incorporated in 1956 at which makes us about 67 years old. And
as you can imagine, inclusion
Alberta was not our original. Man, so there's
been a
number of name changes over the course of our
history that really reflect the changing understanding of of language and
possibility. I would say in that we've
seen over the last almost 70 years, so. At
the same time that this was happening in Alberta, as I
said, it was happening across the country and in fact, Inclusion Canada, our
national organization, was founded right around the same time. The first sort
of advocacy efforts of those families really were
around education at that time. There was no right For children with
developmental disabilities to receive an education and they really believed and
saw their children learning. And wanted believed that their
children deserved that same opportunity as kids without disabilities, and that,
in fact
they deserved a public education. So
their early efforts were really around obtaining the right to an education. We
fundamentally are the same organization today in the fact that we're a
nonprofit family governed organization. We have
about 40 member associations across the province. We
have a voluntary executive committee that is comprised of family members and
individuals with developmental disabilities. That lead
our organization and. Although our, like I said, we remain
fundamentally the same organization, our understanding of what inclusion means
and what's
possible has changed over the years. But our
belief in the power and importance of families to lead that effort to advance
inclusion really remains. 

Teresa Makarewich, VAD  

OK, with the focus on developmental disabilities, are you
PDD focused
or can the general
public
utilize
your services? 

Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta 

So as an advocacy organization, our knowledge and expertise
is
really lies in supporting adults, children, and adults with intellectual
disabilities who are interested in pursuing an inclusive life. So as a
nonprofit, we simply don't have the capacity
nor the expertise,
frankly  To provide
advocacy across all the unique challenges people with disabilities encounter,
so our mandate is specifically to provide assistance to people with An
intellectual disability or developmental disability, which by
definition includes a significant limitation in
intellectual capacity
which began in your developmental years. So
in Alberta, the Government of Alberta uses the term developmental disabilities
that varies depending on where you are in the world, what the definition. So
we are specific to individuals that have an intellectual disAbility we're
not a pan disability organization. We simply don't
have the resources or the expertise
to be if a family contacts us and and
many do  Unfortunately, that you know are
outside of our mandate. We do try to connect them to other disability
related organizations that might be able to provide
assistance. And quite honestly, we’re
frequently
operating
beyond our capacity
and can’t
always respond as quickly or intensely as people need, which you know keeps. Us
up at night. 

Teresa Makarewich, VAD  

NonProfit, The wearer of many hats. 

Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta 

That's right, trying to always trying
to do more. With less, right? 

Teresa Makarewich, VAD  

How does inclusion Alberta help people in the community? 

Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta 

Well, we hope in a number of ways.
As I mentioned earlier, we do provide individual
advocacy, so people call our office, they're
having a real challenge
to accessing the opportunities or  Services or supports They need, and an
advocate will you know, when available, will respond and work individually with
that family to try and develop a plan to move forward so that can include
things like the support you need to keep your child safe And well, in your home
through the FSCD program, accessing support through the FSCD program, getting
access to specialized services or developmental supports in those childhood
years, it is frequently
assistance
for families helping them to access an inclusive education. Sometimes it's
the support to be involved in community and recreation and leisure. As an
adult, it's often the
support people are seeking to obtain
adequate funding to have a home of your own choosing and the support you might
need to live there. Sometimes it can be things like navigating the justice
system, healthcare support to obtain and keep employment. It's
really the full spectrum  of life that
our advocates, you know, will work one-on-one with individuals and families to
try and and
figure
out. We also work with families to develop an expansive Vision with their
family member.
And identify
the steps they might take in realizing that vision. So
it's
really that kind of planning work  With
individuals and families. we have resource centers and where that's
primarily what our staff do is work with families to think about. What it
is
they  Want their family members like to
look like and what their family member wants their life to look like and how
they might go  About pursuing that. We
Also have a family leadership series. Where we invite families from across the
province to join us on five weekends through the course of the year to really
understand the issues deeply and think about how they can take up their own
leadership because we believe so strongly in family leadership. And we have a family
conference every year, which we've just
finished in April. And we also host workshops and events throughout the year as
well. I think in addition to that, we
also really Try to partner with community
 To increase opportunities to be fully
included. So that's in things
like employment. So
we have broader employment partnership where we work with the business
community to create employment opportunities for people with intellectual and
developmental disabilities. We partner with post
secondary institutions to create opportunities
for students to be included  In regular
classes, programs of study, faculties and campus life. and we also engaged So that's
the kind of community capacity
development Work that we do And then we engage in systemic advocacy. So
we try to inform and influence multiple levels of government in the development
 Of policy and
legislation and practice to enhance inclusion,
so we provide
public analysis and commentary on the issues that are arising that impact
the lives of people With intellectual disabilities and we encourage and
mobilize, try to mobilize  People to take
Civic action, like in the very important
upcoming provincial election, that's only a few
weeks away. 

Teresa Makarewich, VAD  

That sounds like it's
a lot of resources for the public. Thank you I like how you said that you try
and get everybody into the full spectrum of inclusion. I see you have different
locations in Alberta. Can you speak to
their services and locations? 

Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta 

Sure, So as a provincial organization, we try to respond
to families wherever they are, although that can certainly be challenging given
the size of our province. But our main office
is here in Edmonton And that's where our
largest I would say, contingent of staff are we have another office in Calgary.we
have a Resource Center in Grand Prairie, it's
a  One man operation  But that's
a support that's available to
families in Grand Prairie and area. And then we have individual staff that work
in a limited number of communities across the province, usually out of their
own homes. And some
are
also we have staff that are Co located
in the post
secondary institutions that we partner with To
include students with intellectual disabilities. So
it really does vary in terms of our ability to respond. As you can imagine
across the province, but in some, you know some regions like we would have 1/2
time
staff person, but we do try to one of the things we did learn through the
pandemic is that we can do a lot more more
from afar than we once thought we could so. We do try to resource families as
needed , some  Of the work. We do
depends
on where we're able to
obtain contracts to do that work. So
for instance, the Rotary employment part You know, is
in some communities, but not all resource centers. Again, we have a Resource
Center in Calgary
and we have one in Grande Prairie. That's where we were able to obtain the
resources to provide that support inclusive post
secondary education, same thing,  It depends where we're
able to obtain contracts to
 To do that work, so currently in
addition to Edmonton and Calgary, we have staff physically in Grande Prairie,
Red Deer, Lloydminster, Saint Paul, Medicine Hat
and Lethbridge. 

Teresa Makarewich, VAD  

Wonerful, That's a lot of
locations. I like that. I'll keep you in
mind for a lot more people. What are some cool things or projects that
inclusion Alberta has done in the community? 

Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta 

So I think we're
really really
proud of the partnerships we've been
 Able to create  In community and we place a lot of our hope in
creating those really
good
inclusive lives in, in the capacity
of Community to do that. So
our partnership with Rotary  Districts in
Alberta, both Rotary District ,
District 5360 and 70, which encompasses all
of Alberta in fact and beyond and as well as through them partnership with the
business community in general and municipalities to create inclusive
employment. So
we've been doing that work for I think it's about 20 years now. And we have
created over those 20 years over 750 jobs across the province. We're
really proud of that because that makes a huge difference in people's lives.
Both in terms of their economic security, but also in terms of their social
inclusion, because that's where so
many of us, you know, find that network of others that share our interests and
form, you know, relationships through that, we're
also very
proud
Of our work with inclusive post
secondary education, so Alberta has more fully
inclusive post
secondary education opportunities than
anywhere else in Canada. So
we're
very
proud
of that. The employment outcomes for students who are supported through
inclusive post
secondary education are in
the neighborhood of 80 to 90% And that's
amazing when you consider the unemployment rate for adults with developmental
disabilities is about 70 to 80%. Right. So
it it
really does flip that statistic, which shouldn't
surprise us access to post
secondary education works right. And it works
for people with developmental disabilities. As well,
we're also, I think, really proud of our family conference.
It's
the largest family conference for children and adults with developmental
disabilities anywhere in Canada. It's
we offer childcare at our conference so that families can attend and enjoy and,
you know, know that their children are  Are looked after we held it this past April
14th and 15th, just a few weeks ago and we had over 500 people in attendance.
We have sessions for , We have Friday Workshops, one is usually about inclusive
education, the other is usually about something  An issue that would be of interest to adults
that have developmental disabilities. And then we have sessions all day
Saturday and they're all really
geared to, you know, what are the things that Families, individuals and
families you know, are interested in learning, so it's really specific to them.
It was the first time we were able to hold the conference in four years. We
had to cancel it in 2020, so it was really, really amazing to be back in person
with people. 

Teresa Makarewich, VAD  

Yeah, that makes a
big difference in things. 

Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta 

Absolutely

Teresa Makarewich, VAD  

I'm glad it was a success. Where are we
at? Can you please share your thoughts on how inclusion Alberta contributes to
the disability community to help better peoples
lives? 

Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta 

Well, I think one of the things that we. Think is really.
Important
is
that as an advocacy organization, we take public positions on issues that
impact people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their
families, and that keeps those issues in the public discourse. Or at least we
try Too. So
for instance, we raised the issue that while Budget 2023 provided
much needed and appreciated increased to wages in the sector, it won't
go nearly
far
enough to address the thousands of children and adults
that are currently on waiting list for supports nor  Will it address what we consider to be the
erosion of those supports that we've
seen over the last decade or more. So
if people aren't talking
about it, Things will likely get
worse, so we need to keep those issues in the public eye
and we need to keep both our elected officials and bureaucrats talking about it
and knowing that we're paying
attention. So tonight, for instance, we're
hosting  A virtual forum. To give
candidates the opportunity to respond  To
some of the questions and issues that individuals and families are encountering
as we head into the election, so we think  You know,
being
having a public voice is a really critical safeguard to trying to advance,
protect and advance inclusion in this province. Family advocacy has achieved
many, many important gains in our province for. Children and adults with
developmental disabilities. So
for instance, the right to an education. That was the result of a family in
1978 that pursued that right, the right to appeal educational placement. That
was a
parent
who took that up. The provision of individualized funding, the ability to
obtain individualized funding in this province, was the result of family
advocacy families demanding that Ending the first inclusive post
secondary education opportunity, it was also
the result of families coming together and saying we want more. We want better,
and so all
of
those achievements are the results of families taking up advocacy And again,
when I say families, I mean in Individuals with developmental disabilities
themselves as part of a family, and the people that love them, so we've
been supporting those efforts for over 60 years
and we'll
continue to look for new opportunities for children and adults to be fully included
and to have access right to the supports they need to  Really belong and thrive in their communities
and the other thing that you know we take pretty seriously is is
that, you know, we are always also on the lookout and scanning for threats To
what all currently exists and to try and respond to protect you know, the the
good things that do exist in this province to support people with developmental
disabilities. 

Teresa Makarewich, VAD  

Wonderful. Thank you. Please tell us how to someone
get
a hold of inclusion Alberta services. 

Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta 

They either call us at
1-800-252-7556 or they e-mail us at mail@inclusionalberta.org. Or they go to
our website. So those would be the three easiest ways to get in contact. 

Teresa Makarewich, VAD  

And can you give us the website address? 

Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta 

Www.inclusion alberta.org 

Teresa Makarewich, VAD  

What is an interesting fact about inclusion Alberta that
everyone should know? 

Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta 

I think that one of the things that's
important to know about us, and I've
talked about it throughout the podcast is that we are a value
based
organization. So
we believe
being fully included  And the same
opportunities experiences,
typical life pathways as people who don't
have disabilities provides
the best hope for a good life. So
the things that work for people without disabilities, like access to a quality
education, safe place, to live, friendships, employment, that that will work
for people with disabilities as well to create good lives. So
we support individuals with developmental disabilities and  Families that are interested in pursuing
inclusion so  Again, growing up at home,
going to your neighborhood school, participating
in recreation and leisure, having friends, getting a job, any
and all of those things that, that even with
the trials and tribulations that come with that, it's
not to say that it's foolproof or
that there aren't times when
things don't  Fall apart or Things don't
work. But
that
that produces the best hope for a really rich life. So
to achieve that, we know advocacy is necessary, Both individual and systemic.
It won't
happen on its own or it would have by now. Advocacy is an essential feature in
a healthy democracy, but as you know, it's
not always easy. It's not always
popular, but it is vitally necessary. So that's
that's
something we Hold really dear. 

Teresa Makarewich, VAD  

Well, thank you for your time and energy today, Trish.
Your support of the community is in value to all inclusion Alberta is an
organizational member of VAD and a link to their website can be accessed on our
membership list online. Individuals looking to access VAD members can do so at https://vadsociety.ca/resources/
.  Trish, do you have anything Else you
want our listeners to know about your organization. 

Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta 

I don't think so. I'm just going to encourage everyone to
Get out and vote. 

Teresa Makarewich, VAD  

Great. Thank you again for joining VAD’s podcast. 

Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta 

Thank you.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD  

Voice of Albertans with disabilities is across disability
nonprofit organization, even for people with disabilities. We are guided by the
principles of accessibility, equity and inclusion. Learn about VAD services on
our website at vadsociety.ca or call 780-488-9088 For more information. If you
have a topic you would like to hear more about in the podcast, please e-mail
Teresa at vadsociety.ca with topic ideas, speaker suggestions, or your
feedback. Signing off for today. Together we hold the power.