Forward Movements

All good things must come to an end.  In this case to make room for more good things!  The contract with the Yukon Disability Employment Strategy that Dale and I were hired for ends in a couple of days.  As a result of this Work Experience Program, Dale and I have both secured permanent employment and have loaded our tool belts with new transferable skills and know-how.  Our vacancies leave room for two more candidates to benefit from this Return to Work program.  We are eager to meet these new YDES troopers and see what fresh new ideas and visions they bring to the table.  

Thanks Yukon, it’s been a slice!

The Secret of his Success!!

I met with Sheldon Pahl at the Java Connection in Whitehorse where we talked over some piping hot chocolate and whipped cream. His disABILITY success story begins in 2009 when Sheldon was working as a Journeyman Carpenter.  One day, part way through a job he was completing in Porter Creek, Sheldon slipped and fell from a rooftop deck. Lying on the ground waiting for the ambulance to arrive he remembers thinking “I guess it’s time to spend more time with the family.” That reaction sums up Sheldon’s outlook on life.  

It is what you make of it.

Following his initial surgery, Sheldon spent 10 months in a wheelchair.  He underwent more surgery and then spent 10 months on crutches. He was off work for 20 months and during that time dedicated 4 hours every day to physiotherapy. Despite all of his hard work Sheldon’s surgeon said that, with the extent of his injuries, it was not possible to do construction anymore. Although this prognosis didn’t deter Sheldon from building his own family a home just six months after he could walk, he knew that he needed a new long term plan.

If he could no longer do what he loved, what would he do now? And could he be satisfied and fulfilled with something other than what he loved most? Sheldon admits that this decision was the most difficult part of the process for him. His struggle began to wane when the results from aptitude testing with Worker’s Compensation Board indicated that he would be a very suitable candidate for becoming an Occupational Health and Safety Officer. He would be in a position to prevent accidents and injuries, such as the ones he had sustained on the job, for other workers.  

Sheldon reflects that he never, in a million years, saw his life where it is now. He is working towards a diploma and, once he has graduated, will have the professional designation of 'Canadian Registered Safety Professional'.  He will be responsible for enforcing Occupational Health and Safety Law. The profession is based on The Internal Responsibility System; an Act which states that as an employer you have a responsibility to ensure that your workers remain safe. Sheldon's new long term plan is to advance and eventually retire as Director or Assistant Deputy Minister.

When I ask Sheldon why he thinks his potential tragedy turned into a success story he gives me three words:  Attitude.  Dedication. Tenacity.  If he approaches a task that is affected by his physical limitations, he contemplates how to accomplish it a little bit more. Nothing stops him. According to his doctor he really shouldn’t be able to do what he can do. Ralph Waldo Emerson said "Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you”.  Sheldon is a shining example of that philosophy. The definition of “yourself” changed for him and he embraced the change and persevered.  
Thanks for the inspiration Sheldon!

Wheeling into Water

Sue Austin is a multimedia, performance and installation artist who is causing a stir in the disABILITY community.  She challenges society’s commitment to define someone in a wheelchair as a person who has "lost" something.  Her experience has been very different.  Obtaining her power wheelchair 16 years ago she felt a euphoric sense of freedom as the world opened up to her in a myriad of ways.

Please enjoy watching her piece on TED Talks where she speaks to this exhilarating freedom and shares footage of her exploring the deep blue sea with her underwater wheelchair.

Looking North

Dawson City here we come!  The Yukon Council on Disability has hired someone in Dawson City and as a result we now have rural implementation for the Yukon Disability Employment Strategy. This is an exciting step forward and we are eager to hear more from the people of Dawson about how they see the YDES working for them.

Stay tuned for both urban and rural upcoming events!

In Another World...

This is a poignant French advertisement for Disability Awareness that I came across on You Tube.  It gives the viewer an opportunity to turn the tables and experience the world from a different perspective. 

Hello Yukon!

This is Dale and Jennifer introducing ourselves!  We are so excited to be part of such a progressive and collaborative initiative that affects us both on a profound personal level.  As persons with disabilities we have both experienced challenges in the labour force largely stemming from a lack of understanding and access to comprehensible resources like “Where Disability Works”.   We are two very capable women who have had limited opportunity to share our skills and talents and are enthusiastic about the opportunity to do so.  We are persons with MANY Abilities!

Accommodating a person with a disability in the workplace does not have to be costly or complicated.  Very recently I learned, from personal experience, that it can be as simple as providing a place to sit.  I am a person with a physical disability and on some days being on my feet for long hours can be tiring.  My employer and I problem-solved this by putting a simple stool behind the cash register where I could sit from time to time and complete different tasks like pricing and labeling.  By providing me with this easy solution, I felt supported and heard which deepened my loyalty and dedication to the employer and the job.   In addition, my employer felt assured and satisfied that he was creating a productive, positive and inclusive work environment.  It can be that easy! 

Dale will be handling administration and I will be handling media relations although there will undoubtedly be some crossover.  Contact us anytime if you’d like more of the scoop on who we are and how we can support you, your agency or your organization.

Dale's email:   iac.adminassist@gmail.com

Jennifer's email:   iac.mediarelations@gmail.com

We look forward to meeting you!

DAWSON CITY │ Disabilities at High Noon

It is the apex of winter. We are in the Yukon Territory, the north-western most region of Canada to meet with business owners, agency representatives, government officials and people with disabilities to explore issues and ideas regarding disability and employment in this unique part of the world. We are about to drive across the recently opened ice-bridge across the wide, fast flowing Yukon River.

Three weeks ago temperatures dipped below 30C, but even this was not enough to stem the flow of the car-sized chunks of ice streaming past and onwards to the Bering  Sea, another 1000 miles in the journey of this timeless causeway.

Colm, our host and the local expert on learning disabilities, who singlehandedly provides disabilities education support services to an area the size of Wales, calmly suggests we unbuckle our seatbelts, but enjoy the ride as we venture out on this temporarily static ice flow.

This is the first time this season Colm, himself has made the trip across the ice to West Dawson, the other half of Dawson City that lies coldly disconnected from its better half twice a year: once as the residents wait for the ice flow to slow, slow, slow to become safe to cross in all manner of vehicles, as theory that water bears weight and ice is as strong as steel is put to the test once again, and a second time in the spring, as the last brave Dawsonite makes the final journey across the 200 meter bridge before ‘break-up’ and the eventual return of an equally precarious looking ferry. Colm wisely refrained from showing us the newspaper clipping of the front end of the truck firmly gripped in the racing sub-zero water with rest of the vehicle looking rather like a sad version of Titanic in her last moments.

My colleague Rick and I were temporarily warmed by the car heater, working hard against the -38 wind chill – a term that only really begins to make sense from about 20below in what otherwise would be a welcome breeze.

Half way across I found myself feeling a kind of bravery which is closer to bravado and trying to coax Rick to get out of the car with me when we reached the middle…and walk-wheel back. Rick was having none of it. But now, having made the fatal error (from the back seat, nonetheless) of taunting my colleague and companion into the wilds of this frozen flow, I had little choice but to follow-through as Colm pulled up and let me out. Out and alone on the ice in the middle of the Yukon River. Cold. Wind. Snow. Twilight daylight and the quiet as the car pulled away and disappeared behind the river frozen car-sized chunks of ice piled in one long crash.

The sensation of being on the ice, knowing the gazillion litres of water flowing just a few feet below the ice surface had been at pace for 2000 miles with a 1000 more to go before it would be slowed by the sea, made me shiver – or was it the cold. I spotted what appeared to be a path marked out with orange flagging tape, heading away from where I was dropped, but back in the direction to bank from which we’d come. This path seemed even more precarious than the car route that I can only imagine must have been created by some great machine that cleverly transforms icebergs into ice roads.  This narrower, less trampled route weaved around and over (thankfully not under) the ice flow for those who felt a car an unnecessary luxury to traverse the river in arctic temperatures to fetch milk, tea and bread.

At this point I was getting properly cold. I held my hands up over my ears, having foolishly left my hat behind, and turned my whole body – as you do when you are either stressed or half frozen – to see if Colm or Rick were anywhere in sight. They weren’t. So I decided to make a move, and head for the shore.

Now, given that I, myself, have been known to enjoy a laugh at the expense of some poor fool when I witness a bit of bravado-gone-wrong, I know what it looks like when someone is not having a great time when they are ‘having a go’ with a view to appearing adventuresome or undaunted. I can assure you that as I crossed the ice I was the source of much amusement to any onlooker from the offices and residences that overlooked the river that day. Indeed, by the time I reached the bank my face was bright red, my ears nearly white, my eyes squinted to slits and my body shook in my inadequately constructed London pea coat. Thankfully, as I waited, stock-still, showing the beginnings of desperation, Colm and Rick emerged from the river’s edge.

Colm, Rick and I headed back down main street to the hotel where we were to meet with our colleagues from the Yukon Council on Disability to begin our preparations for exploring disabilities and employment issues in this unique ex-goldrush wilderness frontier town.

Dawson City, as it would turn out, was a modern, forward-thinking city disguised as the Wild West circa 1898. Disabilities at high noon. Who would be left standing.