On Saturday July 6th 2013 I attended the Equal Grounds Training Pilot. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect from this workshop. However, I was pleasantly surprised by many of the discussions around access and employment barriers that many with unique abilities face in the workforce. I felt many of my longstanding criticisms about limited options through ODSP and tokenism were welcomed and considered in the idea that things need to change in a big way and that Equal Grounds might be the place to start!
The day also included a series of engaging social exercises conducted by Olena Cherkasova. One exercise required partners to resolve a conflict by only using your partner's name to communicate your argument. I found it showed how we use more than words to get ideas across. Overall, the experience really helped us open up as a group.
Finally we demo'ed a piece of technology called the Eye Writer that was developed to assist a graffiti artist with ALS draw by tracking eye movements and projecting designs on buildings. I was impressed with it's use of inexpensive cameras and open-source software making it accessible to all not like devices coming from "medical" developers costing
hundreds of dollars.
I thoroughly enjoyed this pilot and the group of people who participated. I feel with all of the talents brought to the table Equal Grounds has the to potential to fill a much needed void and level the playing field. the next pilot takes place on August 10th & 11th. I highly recommend you check it out!
