2024 DEAM IDEA Conference - Authenticity in Action

Alberta Employment First Network is wrapping up another month of Disability Employment Awareness. The month began with AEFN’s first DEAM Alberta Virtual Kick-Off in partnership with Gateway Association and the week continued with the 3rd annual DEAM IDEA Conference on October 3rd and 4th.

The conference kicked off with a networking event with 100 attendees during the evening of October 3rd which featured 11 exhibitors : Canadian Equality Consulting, Voices for Albertans with Disabilities, Gateway Association & GEDI Hub, MentorAbility Alberta, Sinneave Family Foundation, Community Futures Treaty 7 , CANWiN, Employment Placement and Support Services, Deaf & Hear Alberta and MCG Careers. Attendees were heard chatting about topics beyond the weather and the upcoming weekend. There was a passport activity that encouraged each attendee to visit all the exhibitor booths and receive a signature before submitting the passport sheet for a door prize. The evening encompassed an authentic facilitated activity with persons with lived experience with disability and the energy of the room was lively, setting the stage for the conference the next day.

Early in the morning at 8 am , 150 attendees entered the conference room at the Holiday Inn & Suites Red Deer South for a morning breakfast and chat before the morning presenters. Emcee Benjamin Bruce invited everyone to sit down and begin the morning with a short introduction from AEFN director Angela Flaman followed by a prayer and blessing from Elder Gerald Sitting Eagle. We were lucky enough to be joined by both Minister Jason Nixon and Mayor Ken Johnston for a few words about inclusive employment and the investment of jobs for people with disabilities.

Katie and Riccardo from Kello Inclusive were the keynote speakers who started off the morning with their key insights on personal experience, and how the talent agency founded by Katie better represents people with disabilities in the media. Riccardo’s life changed after a spinal cord injury that caused paralyzation from the waist down. Going from being able bodied to having to change his life because of disability, he shares learnings from being both an employee and employer with a disability. Riccardo owns 2 businesses, Strathcona Microgreens and one very close to his passions. After having studied piano at a conservatory in Italy, Riccardo quickly learnt that piano pedals did not have an accessible alternative for those who could not use the lower half of their bodies. He created Resonate ™ that works in an accessible fashion by attaching a mechanism to piano pedals and allowing someone to control them with a mouth piece. A message unsaid but in between the lines within this presentation – diversity creates innovation.

Katie shared her story of being a mom of a child with a disability by using the word “paradox” to describe her experiences.

“ I have learned that if you only look at the world with one lens, you miss things… My daughter needs to grow up in a world where she sees herself represented. ”

When asked what best practices Kello Inclusive had for employers, they shared the following:

Share your process : what process can you be transparent about when hiring people with disabilities?
Acknowledge access needs : be aware that each person will have different access needs and be honest about whether or not they can be offered.
Focus on skill, expect results : an employee’s skills are just as relevant as work experience ; an employer can focus on hiring people with certain skill sets and still expect results.
Value the unconventional : change is good and unconventional methods can be innovative and be ever been traditional methods for an organization’s bottom line.

“Kindness is not the person passing you the napkin, it’s the person changing the location of the napkin.”

Followed by Kello Inclusive was Brandon Huynh, a chartered accountant working with Pricewaterhouse Cooper. He received his first cochlear implant at 2 and a half years old and had spent many hours in speech therapy while other children were playing. At some point in his childhood, it dawned on him that his natural language was American Sign Language and not spoken English. He was much happier not spending hours of his childhood in speech therapy.

“The experience of having the implant was not as cool as being a cyborg..If you empower children, they can become so much more successful in life. “

Within his work at PwC, he receives full support and accommodations – which were offered right from the start when setting up his initial interview. Brandon shares early on with employers that he is deaf because he prefers to be his authentic self by not hiding his disability. In turn, this provides employers the chance to be honest about accessibility options that they can provide an employee.

“I had no idea that a company could value people with disabilities to this degree.”

A member of the audience asked Brandon a question that pointed to the importance of ASL interpreters. When asked if closed captioning is sufficient, Brandon explains that although it is helpful to provide closed captioning, he feels as though he is also a minute behind everyone else when he has to spend time reading as people speak. ASL interpretations offer an accessibility that helps Brandon stay up to date with the conversation.

Following the lunch hour, the conference attendees were joined by comedian Nick Theelen. He managed to incorporate stories about his disability within his comedy but reminded the audience that his disability, although part of his story, is not the only story that he wants to tell.

The second last speaker to join the stage was Crystal Bowen, founder of Delta Learning Solutions and brings invaluable expertise with a unique perspective of ADHD and Autism as an Autistic individual herself. Her presentation focused on what neuro-inclusion looks like in the workplace, and how diversity drives innovation. Crystal was able to share how she felt that in her heart she was different than others during her formative years. As a person who received a diagnosis for ADHD and Autism much later in life, she explains how she had to mask who she was and what that meant for her. The way in which she learns is autodidactic which although helped her excel in academics at a very young age, created a divide between herself and her peers. After sharing a bit about herself, Crystal turned the attention to how the audience could get to know themselves better. She asked the following questions:

Do you consider your brain to be genuinely different than most people’s brains?
Have you spent a lot of time around someone who’s brain is very different?
Have you attended a webinar course on ADHD or Autism?

These questions had audience members thinking about their own brains and how they function in our day to day.

“Our brains relate to the world around us differently at any moment in time under any number of conditions. Each of us has a unique combination of strengths and challenges.”

These unique combinations require unconventional ways of thinking, as mentioned with the keynote speakers earlier in the day. The dynamic abilities that exist within every person whether in their personal lives or in their workplace call for accommodations and consistent innovation to keep up with the changing abilities. No one employee is the same.

“People don’t fit neatly into distinct boxes. Our experiences are intersectional and dynamic. Our understanding of the neurodiversity concept is evolving.”

To learn more about neurodiversity versus disability visit https://www.harmonyofdifference.com/home. Crystal has also offered a discount for conference attendees – if you have not received this yet , please use the contact form below or email comms@aefn.ca or visit https://www.harmonyofdifference.com/course/2024-deam-idea-conference.

The all-day conference ended with an employer panel led by Brooke Leifso. She posed questions to 3 individuals who represented their own workplaces and lived experience about inclusive employment. The employers were from the City of Edmonton, Community Futures Treaty Seven, and AWES. For their full names and bios click here. Brooke asked questions such as :

What support is needed to increase inclusion?
What words of wisdom would you like employers to know at the beginning stages of hiring within this community?
What words of wisdom would you like disabled workers to know about employment
What is authentic inclusion to you?

By the end of the conference, feedback was already being shared and attendees were asked to follow up through a post conference survey.

Most people felt as though their expectations were met, the date, time, and length were convenient, and that the conference was accommodating. For next year, AEFN will take into consideration breaking up the conference into 2 shorter days, having less speakers and more chances for networking based on survey comments.

Most people felt as though the content was relevant and engaging. To limit a lull in the afternoon, AEFN will most likely not only include a networking event in the evening prior to the conference, but also incorporate learning and connecting into the afternoon of the conference. Most people felt as though attending the conference was a valuable experience.

Content was a very important part of putting together the conference, and attendees were encouraged to take away learnings from the event. Based on conference attendance, most attendees were already aware of EDIA initiatives. AEFN’s hope for next year is to bring more employers into the room who may be new to EDIA and can learn much more from the content.

Most people had a positive experience at the event, as showcased in the general comments below.