disabilities

Making welcoming spaces for all

‘It turns out that when we make spaces more welcoming and nurturing for people with disabilities, we make spaces that are more welcoming and nurturing for all.’ (Photo by Tim Mossholder/Unsplash)

When I was a pastor, I learned we had a few young people with autism in our youth group. In order to begin creating an environment that felt more comfortable, I provided a big basket of fidgets on the table in the centre of the room. I expected that youth with autism would use them to help reduce anxiety and increase focus.

Disability across cultures

Deborah-Ruth Ferber, bottom right, visits L’Arche Warsaw. (Photo courtesy of Deborah-Ruth Ferber)

Since its inception, L’Arche has been built on the values of mutual sharing, building relationships and being a signpost to the world that friendships with people who have disabilities is possible. In my last six years as an assistant in L’Arche communities in Canada and Scotland, I have found this to be the case, but I had one question in mind: “How does this look when a community doesn’t speak English?” Can I, as someone who more or less is mono-fluent, still feel the presence and spirit of L’Arche even when it is not conveyed in words?

Freedom on two wheels

A member of Freedom Concepts Inc.’s staff works on a custom bike. (Photo by Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe)

Colin Bock builds custom bikes for people with disabilities, at Freedom Concepts Inc. of Winnipeg. (Photo by Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe)

If you ever see a candy-apple-red tandem bicycle cruising through the streets of Winnipeg, you can be sure it’s the Dueck family.

“We go out pretty much daily, weather permitting, from as early in spring as we can go out until as late fall as we can,” says Linda Dueck. “We are well-known in our neighbourhood for the people with the red bike.”

Learning to be human

Working with enVision Community Living clients like Joanne, centre, profoundly changed Daniel Rempel’s life. (Photo courtesy of Jo-Anne Dalton)

‘It is my hope and my prayer that [we] continue to welcome and engage people with intellectual disabilities,’ Daniel Rempel writes. (Photo courtesy of Daniel Rempel)

When I was first hired as a disability support worker at enVision Community Living in Steinbach, Man., I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know many people with intellectual disabilities and I certainly didn’t know what it meant to support someone with intellectual disabilities.

Family celebrates permanent residency

Karalynn Warkentin, 7, loves colouring, playing with her dogs and being outside. (Photo courtesy of the Warkentin family)

The Warkentin family, Christmas 2017. Pictured from left to right, back row: Jake, Shataya and Grace; and front row: Jon, Karalynn, Karissa and Gabriel. (Photo courtesy of the Warkentin family)

The Warkentins are ringing in 2018 as official Canadians, but the journey to reach permanent-resident status was anything but easy. Jon and Karissa Warkentin and their five children, who attend Nordheim Mennonite Church in Winnipegosis, Man., received the announcement they could stay in Canada on Dec. 5, 2017.

disabilities

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