On behalf of SCIO, we wish you a happy new year. In 2024, we will be continuing to tackle some of the key issues impacting our community across Ontario and are pleased to provide the following updates.

Peter Athanasopoulos, Director of Public Policy 

E- Scooter Coalition: Virtual Public Forum with the City of Toronto

The city of Toronto is consulting the public and researching a proposal for new policies and new pilot projects for small, lightweight vehicles like electric kick-scooters and mini-cars that are currently prohibited on the city’s streets.

This virtual public meeting will include a presentation from City staff and an opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback on how the disability community will be impacted if e-scooters and other electric vehicles are implemented throughout the city.

Join the meeting and have your say:

When: Wednesday, January 24th 2024

Where: Zoom Virtual Conference Platform (link provided with confirmation of registration)

Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30pm

If you require assistance or have questions regarding this event, please email or call Neisha Mitchell at [email protected] or (416) 525-7951.

Accessible Housing Strategy

We will continue to build on our accessible housing strategy, which has been identified as an organizational priority for SCIO over the next few years. On February 2nd, we will be attending a meeting with the Sunnybrook Research Institute, the Accelerating Accessibility Coalition and other researchers, developers, and academics to discuss the current gaps in the housing market across the country that are preventing people with disabilities from securing appropriate housing. These discussions will inform our priorities over the next three years as we present our findings to the government and aim to achieve tangible results. We will notify the community of the priorities following this meeting.

We are also working with several students from the University of Toronto who are helping us research accessible housing policies abroad. A report will be made available in early spring, along with our directional report for our accessible housing strategy. We will share these items with our community once they are complete.

If you have a story about accessible housing, we would love to hear from you, whether it highlights the gaps and barriers or a positive experience you have had. Stories from the community will play an essential role as we work to identify the challenges people with disabilities face regarding accessible housing.

Please reach out to us at [email protected]

Possibilities Project Plus

Last fall, we launched the Possibilities Project Plus in partnership with the Lawson Research Institute. On this new platform, people with disabilities, their family members and caregivers can post items such as medical equipment and assistive devices for donation.

The platform continues to see success across the province, and we encourage you to visit the platform whether you have items you’d like to donate or to browse the available items.

We also have a SCIO Marketplace through Facebook, where people can post items, they want to sell. Feel free to join the page today.

Access to equipment continues to be a significant barrier in Ontario, with high prices for equipment and a need for more public coverage. Initiatives like this help fill in the gaps and ensure that people can access the equipment they need to live their lives with independence and dignity.

The Independence Initiative

In January 2024, we will be launching the Independence Initiative across SCI-specific rehab centres in Ontario. The initiative will provide a knapsack to new patients in the province, filled with valuable items such as a cup holder attachable to a wheelchair, a door opener, a feeding cuff, and a collection of community benefits made possible by our sponsors.

We thank our presenting sponsor, McLeish Orlando, and our provincial sponsors, Coloplast Canada, Motion, Quantum, Motion Composites and Raz Design Inc.

Sustaining a spinal cord injury is a life-changing journey that comes with very high expenses – this initiative is helping to fill in some of these gaps and equip people with the resources they need as they transition to life with an SCI.

We aim to grow the initiative and bring more sponsors on board to provide additional community benefits. Please let us know if you know of an Ontario business or entrepreneur who might like to participate. Anybody can join the initiative by buying an Independence initiative knapsack or sharing our donation link.

Coverage for Intermittent Catheters

SCIO has submitted recommendations for a public coverage program in Ontario, and we are eagerly awaiting a response from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health.

We acknowledge that many people across the province continue to struggle financially and physically due to the lack of adequate coverage for urinary supplies, and we will continue to advocate for our community until progress is made.

We want to hear from you about the barriers that are preventing people with disabilities from participating fully in society so that we can share them with the government.

Connect with us at [email protected]