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Fertility Facts – Canadian Infertility Awareness Week
It’s almost time for Canadian Infertility Awareness Week. Why does that matter? Well, in Canada 1 in 6 people of reproductive age struggles with infertility. In the US the figure is 1 in 8. Canadian Infertility Awareness Week is a chance to remind people again why we advocate. It’s a chance to tell your stories too. The World Health Organization (WHO) calls infertility a public health crisis and it’s time to recognize that we need awareness and advocacy to help address this issue. All about Canadian Infertility Awareness Week This coming week May 24 to 31st is 2014 Canadian Infertility Awareness Week. As you know, I often write about adoption and…
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Five Creative Advocacy Ideas For Non Profits – #ivf4on #onpoli
My regular readers know I have been working with numerous non profits and charities to build their profiles on social media. I am community manager for Conceivable Dreams, the Ontario patient group advocating for better awareness and access to fertility treatments, and for Generations of Hope in Calgary. Conceivable Dreams has had some brilliant ideas over the last two years and their name/ brand as a non profit is extremely well known now, especially on social media. I am proud to have been part of their team. When we started we had about 50 followers on Twitter and we have grown authentically and organically to 2000. But the real story…
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How to Write an All About Me Booklet for Your Special Needs Child
This All About Me Special Needs Book is one of my favourite tools for my daughter. I’ve had one for Ainsley for several years now and it is always well received by teachers, coaches and others who work with her regularly. These All About Me Special Needs Booklets work well when your child is young and unable to tell people what he or she needs. We used them often for Ainsley, especially at camp. The idea is that you can use them as a tool for helpers, teachers or support staff when dealing with a child who has medical needs or disability of any sort. I’ve been promising my readers…
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Advocacy – WIN THEN BUILD Philosophy
This is something I share when I do workshops throughout North America on advocacy. But because I know so many friends with children who can use this information I thought I would post a tipsheet on the topic. I call it the WIN then Build philosophy of advocacy. I run a non profit (Canadian Coalition of Adoptive Families http://www.canadiancoalitionofadoptivefamilies.ca/) in which I often use these tactics and I am a Mom and I have a child with special needs. This is what works my experience. Of course there’s more than one way to make things happen but this worked well for our group back in 2007. 1. W is for…
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Payback, Press Conferences and Special Needs Parenting
Many days special needs parenting is a challenging proposition. It’s weighing do I go to work out of town for the day and Some of you may know I went to Toronto for a speaking thing yesterday at a press conference. Sometimes I do this when someone calls me to advocate for an issue I care about then I do go out of my way to attend press conferences. That meant my husband took my kids to and from school and took the day off work. I went to the event – not my first rodeo. Press conferences and speaking is a regular thing a couple times a year. But,…
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Mommy’s school board adventures
This is the story of Mommy’s school board adventures. If you know me, you know I am an advocate and I use my voice for good whenever possible. So I have been gathering ideas on how best to use that locally to help adoptive families and those struggling with demands of special needs adoption. I mean it’s not always enough just to have a loving family. You have to also have a family of champions willing to stand up for you. Anyways enough serious stuff – this is the story of Mommy’s school board adventures. Ever have one of those days? All dolled up last week. Cute new H&M spring…
