Becoming Agents of Change

On Tuesday, September 3rd, Torrance and I went through our agent training (kind of feels like secret agents like James Bond) at the Centre for Social Innovation as we, representing Equal Grounds, were selected as Agents of Change.

The Centre for Social Innovation started in 2003, by a group of social innovators wanting to create collaborative workspace for other social entrepreneurs. 10 years later CSI now comprises of four collaborative workspace; three in Toronto and their latest one in New York City (CSI Spadina, CSI Annex, CSI Regent Park and CSI Starrett-Leihigh).

It is humbling to be in the same class with 9 other agents with ideas that's changing the world. Check out the other awesome agents here.

Equal Grounds will be based out of CSI Regent Park. Do come by to visit us! :)

Equal Grounds Training Pilot

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!

The Intentions of TechnologyEnables.Me

The intentions of TechnologyEnables.Me is to capture the journey of my brother Torrance Ho, Nolan Lee, Neil Mercer and other guest bloggers as we discover technologies that enables them and the impact it has on their lives.

We will be testing out a variety of high and low technologies that enables people with different abilities in their professional and personal life.

If you have adaptive and accessible technologies you would like us to test out, please reach out to me @terrencewkho and www.terrenceho.com.

In the meantime you can check out my Torrance's blog SportsEnables.Me as he shares how his love for sports enables him and others.