Shaping Inclusive Communities Conference a tremendous success in weekend of inspiration and education

For two days on September 5 and 6, people from across Saskatchewan and Western Canada gathered to shares ideas and expertise at the first-ever Shaping Inclusive Communities Conference hosted by SaskAbilities.

The event was a tremendous success welcoming more than 500 people each day to the Queensbury Convention Centre in Regina, plus 27 tradeshow exhibitors showcasing their businesses and services for people experiencing disability.

The opening night of the conference included a keynote address by the legendary Temple Grandin, who reminded everyone of the importance of getting people experiencing disability into the workforce and of autistic minds in making our world work.

“We need people to fix things and some of your best people for maintaining the waterworks or power grid are some of these autistics who are going to love that equipment and take care of it,” said Dr. Grandin, a world-renowned expert on autism and animal behaviour who has designed cattle handling facilities across North America. “You’d like you water to work and your power to work. You need autistic minds.”

Day 2 included a keynote from multihyphenate Madison Tevlin who shared her story of going from a baby that doctors told her parents might never speak to appearing in Hollywood films, being one of TikTok’s creators to watch and travelling the world to tell others that having Down syndrome is the least interesting thing about her.

“I used to wish I didn’t have a disability. I thought life would be easier without it,” said Tevlin, the star of the viral Assume That I Can ad campaign. “But now, I wouldn’t change a thing. Because having Down syndrome is part of who I am. It’s shaped my journey, my community, and my voice. Without it, I wouldn’t be me!”

The second day of the event also included inspiring and informative panel discussions on empowering transitions from childhood to adulthood, funding options, creative connections and innovative housing for people experiencing disabilities.

Attendees were incredibly engaged in all four discussions and sent in more than 200 questions for panelists.

“We had a vision early on to inspire, educate, and bring professional and lived experience perspectives on topics that are of importance to the disability sector and based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback, I think we were able to do just that,” said event co-chair and Yorkton Branch regional director Aleks Hoeber.

Thank you so much to our sponsors (MentorAbility Saskatchewan, CASE, Voltz Electric, Service Hospitality, Paquet Photography, Adam Niesner Realty), tradeshow vendors, speakers and attendees for making the Shaping Inclusive Communities Conference such a success!

More from the Shaping Inclusive Communities panelists:

“I have used my community and heart to create great things for me.” – Dylan Morin

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“There is no box. The only limitation is the limitations we put on ourselves, our organizations and our communities.” – Ryan Calder

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“I hear it in the self-advocacy people take … courage is an under-appreciated value in this business.” – Sean McEwen

“The biggest gift we can give is showing others how people learn and how people show their abilities.”  –  Louise Burridge

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