[The Star Article re: End Exclusion Campaign]

Recently, Helen Henderson wrote the above linked article for the Toronto Star outlining the End Exclusion Campaign.

This is a quote from it that, in my opinion, captures the crux of where that campaign and the Belonging Initiative connect:

"Despite progress in the last two decades, Canadians with disabilities and their families still face significant barriers," the group notes. "It is clear that the experience of exclusion, poverty and isolation ... continues. This is unacceptable in a country as prosperous as Canada."

The End Exclusion campagin is intended to advocate for the inclusion and, in turn, the belonging of people with disabilities in Canada. I am pleased to see that CACL and CCD are pushing on with this campaign, it is sure to have a positive impact on the level of awareness of many Canadians. It's great to know that the Canadian Association for Community Living, one of the spearheading organizations in the campagin, is one of our collaborators.

What's more, I think that the End Exclusion project is carrying on in a direction that the Belonging Initiative collaborators are not as interested in as they once were. Our collaborators have been, and in many ways continue to, advocate for the citizenship of people with disabilities and their families. However, we belive that it is time for a new approach.

This Initiative is nurturing belonging from a proposition of abundance rather than scarcity. Our collaborators know that it is time someone take the lead in Canada on the movement toward a welcoming society that nurtures belonging for everyone. People with disabilities and their families, we believe, are as capable of taking this lead as anyone. And, perhaps as ready as anyone, to do so. People with disabilities know as well as anyone the value of belonging - e.g. the economic value of a social network, the emotional value of relationships, the health value of care, etc. Our Initiative is coming from the abundance that resides in belonging as opposed to the scarity that resides in exclusion.

As Al Etmanski writes, in an Abilities Magazine article entitled Sentimental Journey?,

"It is time for our wisdom and insights about fairness, reciprocity, forgiveness, hope, hospitality and compassion to be made accessible to everyone."