Williams Lake Association for Community Living will be celebrating Community Living Month with a party at the Longhouse above the Stampede Grounds on Friday, Oct. 26.
During a recent city council meeting, association members Linda Evans and Laura Klassen made a presentation in which they personally invited mayor and council to attend the celebration and endorsement for the city to proclaim October as Community Living Month.
Klassen said the month is set aside each year to celebrate the achievements of people with developmental disabilities, independent living, work place accomplishments and community and social participation.
The provincial government had proclaimed October as community living month since 2002.
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“Many people with developmental disabilities are living and working in Williams Lake,” Evans said. “The month celebrates the hard work of individual families and community members.”
Recently Evans applied and was accepted by city council to be a member of the Williams Lake Accessibility Advisory Committee.
“I think this is one of the first in the province so we’re pretty excited about that,” Klassen said.
Currently, community living is doing a pilot project to map all the assets in Williams Lake for people with a disability.
“Maybe the map will show which employer hires workers with intellectual disabilities or workers who don’t have good English,” Klassen said, noting they are also teaming up with Community Living in Kamloops to organize a mini-summit. “In mapping right now, we have done the most in the province and we’ve presented workshops on mapping to Inclusive B.C. at a conference.”
The party on Oct. 20 will include games.
“Everyone from the community is welcome,” Klassen said.
Read more: Community Living Month celebrated
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