Fair connects families with community disability resources

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on April 14, 2023.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Residents check out community organizations that help people with disabilities on Thursday during the Autism Society Alberta Family Resources Centre's resource fair.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

The Autism Alberta’s Family Resources Centres Lethbridge Region hosted a resource fair Thursday at the Multicultural Centre to connect members of the community with various organizations.

Family resources co-ordinator with the Autism Alberta’s Family Resources Centres Lethbridge Region, Brandon Rudics, said they wanted to have multiple organizations under one roof to make it easier for families to access information instead of having to visit multiple locations.

“Our resource fair today is or families to come and see what resources and community programs we have for their loved one with a disability, whether they are a child or an adult,” said Rudics.

He said they wanted to offer the resource fair to families during spring break to make it easier for them to bring their children along and also because April is Autism Awareness Month.

One organization that was present which offers programs for children in the community with disabilities was Bridges Consulting, and program co-ordinator Rebecca Wever said they deal with children of all ages up to the day they turn 18.

“I think our youngest child we are working with right now is two and then we go all the way up to 17. We help kids with any type of disability ranging from physical disabilities like cerebral palsy to autism, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), or any kind of developmental disability as well,” said Wever.

She said they specialize in social skills, either to be improved or to be developed in children.

Wever said they have a normal social skills group where kids can come in and work on their social skills if theirs are lacking through building friendships, conversations and working in a group.

“And then we have our specialty programs that we run where we have our Minecraft group, which is based around the Minecraft video game, so they’re working in teams playing Minecraft. They’re overcoming obstacles that are thrown at them in the game and we also have a Dungeons and Dragons kind of game that runs with the social skills, too so they’re learning life skills as they go,” said Wever.

She said they also have specialized groups specifically for girls or boys where they can talk about life – “basically a safe place to talk it out,” said Wever.

When it comes to an organization that offers help to adults with disabilities, Ability Resource Association was there to let members of the community know what kind of programs they have to offer.

Employment specialist with ability employment Michele Danielson said they offer employment supports for people who have barriers to employment, people with developmental disabilities as well as those with addiction and mental health concerns.

“We support them to find and maintain employment in the community and we have some resources to help them succeed,” said Danielson.

She said employers in the community are very receptive to hiring inclusively, but they do not have a pool of employers they go to as the people who seek their help have to apply for jobs and seek them out based on their interests, abilities and education just like everybody else.

“We support them to build pre-employment skills to be able to do that on their own. We also support them if they aren’t able to do it on their own, we want them to find their independence level and be able to work up to that and we also help the employers with accommodations if needed,” said Danielson.

She said it is a collaborative approach and when their clients are employed, they work directly with the employers to make sure the employment is successful for both the employer and the individual.

Ability Resource Association also provides services for those who are not ready for employment but are looking for help with the goal of one day being able to gain employment. Intake and service co-ordination team member, Heather Lyons, said sometimes people fresh out of school come to them for help with skills that are not necessarily connected to employability but more of life skills to be able to get on the path of employment after developing them.

“We help with volunteer skills, skill development and growing our individuals’ independence helping them to embrace the possibilities of what’s out there for them and their futures,” said Lyons.

 She said they are involved in a lot of recreational activities to help develop everyday life skills.

 “We will typically get people kind of fresh out of school coming to us because now they’re out of school, they don’t have any supports, now they’re looking for what’s next, what’s out in the community for them so we basically are out helping bridge that gap for individuals,” said Lyons.

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