InFocus: bringing people with disabilities into the picture

Cooper Institute is pleased to be the Lead Organization for the InFocus project in Prince Edward Island.

Project Overview

The DisAbled Women's Network (DAWN) / Réseau d'action de femmes handicapées (RAFH) and the Canadian Association for Community Living (CACL) are jointly implementing a pan-Canadian project that uses a local level community development approach in addressing two priority issues of concern for people with disabilities and deaf people – health and wellness and violence and abuse. This project is called: InFocus: Bringing People with Disabilities into the Picture. The plan is to implement the project in one demonstration community in each of the 13 provinces and territories (PT). In each demonstration community, people with disabilities and deaf people will be brought together with the local justice, health and social services sectors to establish a coordinated community response to both the issue of health promotion and abuse against men, women and older people with disabilities and deaf people.

In the first phase of the project, Cooper Institute organized a public awareness forum, which was held on April 11, 2013. A great success, the event attracted over 80 people - men and women with disabilities, representatives of community organizations, politicians, people who work in government, social workers and others. Here is the report of this event: InFocus: building an inclusive community for people with disabilities

One of the resources we gave out at the forum was Health Care and Disability, a report by Michel Daoust Wheatley, based on research he carried out in 2011 in Prince Edward Island.