-This article is about one of Canada's most prominent mental health treatment centres opening a new research hub that will focus its attention on people with developmental disabilities and psychiatric conditions. The article says that stats show that incidents of mental illness are  higher among people with autism, Down syndrome or other neurodevelopmental disabilities than among the general population. Medical sociologist Alex Haagaard said "Scientists with lived experience of both disability and mental illness have unique perspectives that can help inform research and ensure that solutions actually address the needs of the population."

Personal Comments:
I personally really enjoyed reading this article. A few children I work with have high anxiety along with an ASD diagnosis and I tend to wonder quite often how the two diagnosis work together. It was interesting to read how some doctors view this and how great it is to see a facility like this open. Though most of the language in this article was "people first" language there were one or two catches in it that I think could be changed as well. 

Retrieved:  April 6 2018

Published: April 3 2018 

Link: https://globalnews.ca/news/4119283/canucks-autism-rogers-arena/

Summary: 

-At the Vancouver Canucks second to last home, their goalie Jacob Markstorm will be wearing a helmet with puzzle pieces in support of World Autism Awareness day and the Canucks Autism Network 

-The Rogers Arena will also start to support services for fans with autism and other sensory needs, such as providing noise-blocking headphones and a quiet room with trained staff 

-The article also mentions that the Canucks co-owner Paolo Aquilini has a son on the Autism spectrum, the national anthem will but sung by a boy with autism and the players will have stickers for the Canucks Autism Network on their helmets 

Personal Comments: 

While I am in support of making all areas more inclusive, especially hockey arenas since hockey is such a big part of our culture, but also very loud and crowded, I believe that in the case of autism ‘awareness’ we need to look past just being aware of people with autism, and focus more on being accepting of people with autism. 

As we discuss in this course a lot of this acceptance comes from the language we use, Markstorm says “Everybody knows somebody that [autism] affects,” (Global News, 2018) by saying that it is something that “affects” people implies that their disabilities is something they can and have to overcome. I also think the use of puzzle pieces to represent autism is rooted in a misunderstanding of people with autism, and does more harm than good because it implies people with autism are “missing a piece of the puzzle” or that they are a puzzle we need to figure out. 

Retrieved: April 6 2018

Published: March 18 2018

Link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-sledge-hockey-1.4581508

-This article focuses on a Calgary sledge hockey team who played a game and then watched the men’s gold medal sledge hockey game in Pyeongchang

-The article talks about some of the players and their goals to play in the Olympics someday, and the coach’s dream for more kids to know about and play the sport

Personal Comments: 

I really enjoyed how this article talked about sledge hockey like it is just another sport (as it should) and not like it is the disability version of “regular hockey” it reinforces this by mentioning not just people with disabilities play the sport, but it is truly an inclusive sport because there are some players on the team with cerebral palsy and some without physical disabilities. 

Retrieved: April 6 2018

Published: October 4 2016

Link: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/10/04/deaf-movie-theatres_n_12331018.html

Summary:

-Rikki Poynter tried to see a movie in Toronto and discovered they don’t offer closed captioning in most regular theatres, you need to pay extra to go to AVX or VIP screenings in order for someone who requires cc to see a movie. 

-When she tweeted about her problem, the movie theatre asked her to call their guest services, despite her stating that she was deaf

-The article also shows other people on social media rallying in support of Rikki and empathising with her struggle

-Despite claiming inclusivity the article states that of the 20 films that had been showing in a Toronto movie theatre, only 6 had closed captioning

Personal Comments: 

I think this is a big issue that needs more attention, since it is something that people who aren’t hard of hearing don’t consider often and needs to be addressed. Subtitles aren’t a big deal and don’t take away from movies at all, and even if movie theatres offer the option for closed captioning devices they often don’t work and take away from the movie viewing experience a lot more than just adding subtitles to the feature presentation. The article was good at bringing attention and reporting the issues, while maintaining the integrity of the woman the article was about without making her a subject of pity, but one that is being denied something she doesn’t deserve.

Retrieved: April 6 2018

Published: March 25 2018

Link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-man-intellectual-disabilities-losing-longtime-respite-caregivers-1.4591843

Summary:

-Matthew "Matty" Brandon has cerebral palsy, fetal alcohol syndrome and autism and goes to a day program during the day and then two staff from that program do respite work with him on the weekends

-The day program started to reinforce a policy where the respite workers couldn’t do secondary work with Matty, claiming the work will emotionally and physically drain them and distract them from their work at the day program, they had to choose between the full time job and working privately with Matty

-His parents are concerned because with his care workers gone, one that has known him for 12 years, Mattys connection and interactions with the community are severely cut off and they pointed out that it takes a long time for Matty to connect to new people, so it isn’t as simple as just finding another person to work with him

Personal Comments: 

This article hit close to home because I do private respite care with a lot of the participants that also come to the camp I work at, and although my work doesn’t have the same rule I am torn between my personal bias’s a lot since I have a deeper connection with the participants I see outside of work, and as well as a bond with their families. I strongly disagree with the day program in Mattys case, finding support workers who have such a bond with their clients can be very hard for parents and not allowing them to continue their work severely impacts the life of Matty and as well as his workers. To me it seems like a shallow excuse claiming it is for the “safety” of their employees, because ultimately that is something that comes down to the employee himself. As for the article itself, I liked the way the majority of it was written, except that the very first sentence describes Matty as having the “cognitive ability of a toddler” (CBC, 2018) which is so highly insulting and appropriate at all, especially since they go on to list the disabilities Matty has in the next line, making the comparison of him to a toddler especially unnecessary.