News

LDABC – Notice of the Annual General Meeting

May 14th, 2012

Notice of the Annual General Meeting

When: Saturday June 2nd, 2012 @ 9:30am

Where: Olympic Oval – Room 1055, 6111 River Road Richmond BC

Formal Business:

1. Call to order

2. Adoption of the Agenda

3. Adoption of Minutes of the 2011 AGM

Business Arising and Current:

1. President’s Report

2. Financial Report

3. Election of Board of Directors

Nomination forms may be obtained from raymond.t@ldabc.ca
By order of the Board Development Committee

Discussion and Workshop on Teacher Preparedness in BC
Following the formal business of the AGM
Facilitated by Sandra L Wear
LinkedIn Profile: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/sandrawear

A light luncheon will be served
First meeting of the 2012 – 2013 B.O.D. 2:00 pm

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Scott Ireson – Intersections in Care and Well-Being

May 6th, 2012

Masters Student at the Simon Fraser University School of Public Policy, Scott Ireson, recently published an in depth research paper on LD and Mental Health.

There is a far higher incidence of anxiety, depression, and suicide amongst students with Learning Disabilities (LD). Poor mental health is not the cause, but rather the consequence of academic frustrations and the failure of the system to accommodate those with disabilities.

This report explores the current state of mental health services and supports available to youth in British Columbia’s secondary school system, with particular attention towards the mental health needs of youth with learning disabilities (LD).

Download the report for Microsoft Word

Download the report for Adobe Acrobat

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Press release: LDAC one of 17 Interveners in Moore case at Canada’s Highest Court

March 11th, 2012

The Learning Disabilities Association of Canada (LDAC) along with 16 other groups have been granted intervener standing in the appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada of Moore v BC (Ministry of Education) and School District 44 North Vancouver. The Appeal which is to be heard on March 22, 2012, at the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) in Ottawa, concerns whether the School District of North Vancouver and the Ministry of Education of BC discriminated against Jeff Moore, a severely dyslexic student by failing to provide him with meaningful access to an appropriate education.

Jeff Moore suffers from dyslexia and when he was in elementary public school, between 1992 and 1995, his family believed that because of funding cuts for special needs education, Jeff was not receiving sufficient early intervention and a range of services which would have allowed him to become functionally literate. At the beginning of grade 4, Jeff was placed by his parents at their expense in an independent school specializing in teaching students with learning disabilities (LD). In 1997, the Moores filed a complaint with the BC Human Rights Tribunal, claiming that Jeff and other students like him had been discriminated against for the foregoing reason, seeking reimbursement for their education expenses as well as other remedies. Hearings between 2001 and 2005 resulted in a decision in 2005 by the BC Human Rights Tribunal that the Ministry of Education and the School District had discriminated against students with LD including Jeff, by cutting funding and services and by not providing meaningful access to public education services.

The BC government and the School District appealed the Tribunal decision to the BC Supreme Court and the BC Supreme Court overturned the Tribunal decision, finding that no discrimination occurred. The Moore Family appealed this decision to the BC Court of Appeal and the appeal was heard by a panel of 3 judges. Two judges, forming a majority, dismissed the appeal but the third judge gave a written dissent in favour of the Moores. The Moores were granted leave to appeal the BC Court of Appeal decision from the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) in December 2011.

LDAC has appeared at every level of the Moore claim as an intervener, represented at each hearing by our volunteer lead lawyer, Yude Henteleff, C.M., Q.C., a prominent and nationally respected human rights expert and advocate. Mr. Henteleff has advocated at each hearing for the right of children with LD to services which provide LD students with those resources that enables meaningful access to the education services provided to all other children.

The SCC hearing provides a unique opportunity to advance the rights of LD students across Canada
and it is fundamental to the work of LDAC to participate. If successful, this appeal will hopefully
assure meaningful access to educational services by such students across Canada. In any event,
LDAC’s position will come to the attention of governments and school divisions across the country
who hopefully will initiate needed changes.

- 30 –

Click below to link to the Supreme Court of Canada documents of Frederick Moore on behalf of
Jeffrey P. Moore v. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of British Columbia as
represented by the Ministry of Education, et al.

http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/case-dossier/cms-sgd/dock-regi-eng.aspx?cas=34041

Click below for a link to the decision of the Court of Appeal of BC (October 29, 2010)

British Columbia (Ministry of Education) v. Moore, 2010 BCCA 478

Download (English): Press Release – LDAC one of 17 Interveners in Moore case at Canada’s Highest Court

Download (French): Communique de presse – L’ACTA au nombre des 17 intervenant_s dans la cause Moore au plus haut tribunal du Canada

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Unique Minds: Ashley Robyn Slater

January 30th, 2012

“Don’t apologize for who you are!”
Ashley Robyn Slater
Vocalist, Musician and Video Editor

From the Unique Minds Foundation calendar:

Ashley could have been the kind of LD student to struggle through the system unnoticed. However, when her brother showed signs of severe LD, her parents had Ashley tested as well. The written output disorder she was quietly suffering from was quickly diagnosed. “I am extremely lucky,” she says. “I would have just kept trying to hide it, as many LD girls do.” Ashley had a very supportive family that taught her to advocate for herself. “When others doubted my grey-area LD, I always had my mum to remind me that I wasn’t making it up.” She credits her family for her achieving a B.F.A. in Film from Simon Fraser University.

Ashley is now a professional musician and a freelance video editor, working regularly in Vancouver. Ashley considers her LD as being hand-in-hand with her creative mind. “If that means I can’t copy quickly, or I lose track of what order to do things in sometimes, so be it. I couldn’t imagine being wired any other way.”

Her advice: “Don’t apologize for who you are. If you don’t fit into a round hole, you’re a square peg – and that can make all the difference in achieving things most people could never dream of.”

About The Unique Minds Foundation
The Unique Minds Foundation is a registered charitable organization and has two main goals; to provide inspiration to young people with learning differences and to provide financial assistance to young people who otherwise would be unable to obtain the support that they need. The Foundation raises funds through sales of the Unique Minds calendar, through fundraising events and from corporate sponsorships and individual donations. The 2012 calendar is the sixth calendar published by the foundation and showcases individuals with learning differences who are achieving success in academics or other pursuits.

Calendar design by Azadeh Yaraghi, Gogo Telugo Creatives: www.gogotelugo.com
Photography by Jonathan Cruz, Jonathan Cruz Photography: www.jonathancruz.com

Unique Minds Foundation
uniqueminds@shaw.ca
T: 604.925.2357

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