| This month we are proud to feature our partnering organization, Kinsight! |
| Kinsight is celebrating 70 years of service. Founded in 1954 by parents who wanted something different for their children, their families and their community, “Kin” reflects those families, extended family and community members and “sight” emphasizes their vision – a world where Everyone’s welcome. Everyone belongs. Everywhere. Kinsight is proud to be one of seven founding members who came together in 1955 to form what is known today as Inclusion BC, our provincial federation. Together with them, our partner agencies and the ongoing support of families and community members, we continue to strive to advance our vision. We provide a wide variety of inclusive community-based supports and services for families of children and youth at risk for or experiencing a developmental delay or disability as well as adults with developmental disabilities. From infants to seniors, we serve over 2,000 families of children, youth, and adults each year. Our work is guided by the people we serve and tailored to enhance growth, development, and personal, social, spiritual, and economic well-being. Families and individuals inspire us and push us for greater change. Today we have a strong focus on supporting family and youth leadership through our Now and Next series as well as promoting more affordable, accessible and inclusive housing options. We value our partnerships, such as our continued work with posAbilities, BACI and InWithForward, to develop new options such as Curiko and Real Talk. By leveraging our assets and partnering with socially minded developers, we have added a significant number of deeply affordable, accessible, inclusive homes, as well as the new Tri-Cities Children’s Centre, in partnership with Share Society. Our goal is to create shared space that will draw communities in, extend services out, and develop more engaging relationships between people we serve, their neighbours and community. Alongside affordable housing, Kinsight offers many other services to support the economic wellbeing of people with disabilities and their families. These include supports to secure employment as well as to assist people to access benefits and engage in financial planning (e.g. supports to access the federal Disability Tax Credit and Registered Disability Savings Plan as well as the provincial Persons with Disabilities Benefit). We also offer supports for children to attend child care so that families may work and attend school. Kinsight is a proud partner and sponsor of Disability Without Poverty BC and Disability Without Poverty Federal initiative. For the last 3 years, with funding from the Vancouver Foundation, and resources and support from Kinsight and several partners, our BC initiative has focused on advocating for provincial disability poverty issues and bringing that context to the national Disability Without Poverty group to inform our advocacy. Find out more about what we do, why we do it and how our work impacts our community here and watch our video here. |
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| Disability Story of the Month: Sarah Pump As a teenager in Vancouver, I discovered my safe space in my high school library. I spent so much time there that the librarian allowed me to volunteer regularly as a Library Assistant. I loved helping my peers navigate the card catalogues, searching for information for their school assignments. Later, I continued to gravitate to books and information sharing as a career, first as a Manager with Chapters, and then as a Librarian in public libraries. I loved being with books, but I also enjoyed meeting people, hearing their stories, and helping them to access a variety of resources, including digital ones. My life changed in 2021 when I was diagnosed with a chronic illness and was no longer able to work in the career that I loved. Already a single mother, I was forced into poverty with my son, joining the countless others who depend on government benefits to survive. It was a shock to learn how little we qualified for as recipients of provincial disability benefits. I was also dismayed to realize how little information was available about navigating the system. Everything felt like a secret, from how to apply for a crisis supplement, to the best way to apply for subsidized housing, to discounts available to disabled people. However, in the last few years, I have been able to use my professionally developed research skills to locate and navigate a wide variety of programs available to low-income and/or disabled people in British Columbia. Maximizing use of these programs has significantly improved our standard of living and has made the difference between barely surviving and thriving as a family. I was able to share about these resources with other families in need while volunteering with other organizations in Nanaimo. It’s a painful reality that even as a disabled single mother living in poverty, I am privileged to possess the life skills to dig up information about these supports. I am also privileged to have a computer, a printer, internet access, and a phone so that I can complete applications and navigate the administrative processes involved. Not every disabled person in BC is this fortunate. At the end of 2023, I felt that the time was right to launch my own platform focused on promoting helpful programs and organizations to low-income people, and I launched Poverty Advocacy Nanaimo (www.pananaimo.ca). My passion is to break down obstacles preventing low-income Nanaimo residents from accessing supports that could improve their lives. I want to use my website, as well as PAN’s social media channels, to communicate about the wide variety of programs currently available. Follow Sarah on Facebook and Instagram. |