Community Matters September 2024: Disability: And A Look At Inclusive Communities

Welcome to the fall edition of our quarterly publication, Community Matters.

The aim of Community Matters is to inform the community about social issues that impact people who live in our community. The information contained allows readers to increase their knowledge, and to connect the dots between social issues, evidence and policy. In Community Matters, we give space to local agencies, ESPC staff and volunteer writers or professionals in the field to share their knowledge and voices.

Each edition will spotlight a specific social issue or topic and highlight its intersectional nature and impact on equality. Articles are written by people with specialized knowledge, research skills or lived experience using evidence to provide clear information and inform on the issues affecting individuals and families.

For our September 2024 issue, we are focusing on different experiences surrounding people with disabilities and a look at how to create a more inclusive community. Reproductive rights, the treatment of people with disabilities, government benefit programs, hiring practices and universal design are a few of the topics covered in this edition. Disability encompasses a broad spectrum of physical and mental disabilities, and addressing relevant issues, progress and innovations that appropriately reflect this spectrum would require much more space than we have here. The topics covered reflect an availability of authors from our organization, other organizations or volunteers who have graciously set aside time and used their expertise to complete research on each topic and to communicate the basics of what you need to know, so that readers such as yourselves can leave reading this publication with the beginning steps of being informed.

We hope you find this issue to be an enlightening read and that it contributes positively to the discourse surrounding people with disabilities in our community in Edmonton.

Janell Uden, Research Services and Capacity Building Coordinator

Edmonton Social Planning Council