I Figure That Over the Last Three Years, ABILITIES has Served Canada Pretty Well...

By Raymond D. Cohen

I figure that over the last three years ABILITIES has served Canada pretty well. We’ve provided reliable information, occassional(dare I say it) inspiration and a great many opportunities to get involved in a variety of areas. To some extent, we believe ABILITIES has facilitated a level of self-empowerment to its readers.

But y’know, thre has been a certain cost to our growth. We have become increasingly involved in the "big picture" issues faced by Canadians with disabilities - and we’ve lost some of the important "small is beautiful" stuff that we used to have. In other words, some of the more intimate, locally-relevant material is gone from our pages.

And we want it back! So here’s the plan: There are many "constituencies" involved in the ABILITIES network: people with the same or similar disabilities facing common issues; organizations committed to providing service to specific segments of the population; self-advocacy groups; people living in the same communities.

Each of these groups, our subscribers, have found material in ABILITIES which has been either informative, entertaining, or insome wy or another, useful. Each of these groups has communication requirements which could, or should, be met in order to advance the common good.

Many of you may not even be aware of the fact that you are living in the same neighbourhoods as each other. But we know, because we have your postal codes! This puts us in a position to link interested people together.

And this is where the "small is beautiful" picture comes out to play!

Groups which band together, either because of living in the same area, or because of living in the same area, or because of common intersts, could share idease, resources and opportunities - and quickly become a major contributor to increase quality of living for all participants. Also, such groups could become "links" in an ABILITIES chain which we hope to develop as an initiative.

Once the momentum starts to build, ABILITIES would be very interested in reports on the issues most important in your community: the successes, concerns and adventures developing in your area.

A possible outcome of this may be certain groups forming to serve an information sharing function with the rest of the community. It would make sence then to distribute your information within each issue of ABILITIES. In this way, in addition to getting "big picture" ABILITIES, people would also get the more local, relevant stuff.

We will provide instruction and guidlines to intersested groups and individuals on how to dig up and represent the success stories, intersted pieces and contentious issues happeing in your area. You are in the best position to report on what’s going on where you live.

There are lots of ideas: developing employment and training opportunities in subscription promotion, advertising sales, and journalism are just a few notions which come to mind. I’m sure there are many other possibilities.

If you are interested in getting involved in such a network, drop us a line. Then, when others in your same area express an interst wie will ink you together - and away we go!

Write to: ABILITIES, Box 527, Station P, Toronto, ON M5S 2T1.