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Being Independent: adults with learning disabilities recognized at flag raising ceremony

In many ways, adults with learning disabilities are just like everyone else. They laugh, they cry, they’ve got bills to pay – and they want to do it on their own.
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Community Living Thunder Bay clients on Friday help Mayor Keith Hobbs raise the organization's flag in front of city hall. (Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com)

In many ways, adults with learning disabilities are just like everyone else.

They laugh, they cry, they’ve got bills to pay – and they want to do it on their own. On Friday that independence was recognized with the raising of Community Living Thunder Bay’s flag in front of city hall, in honour of Community Living Ontario Month.

“I think we’re making great strides,” said Pauline Vranesisch, board president of CLTB.

“We have people who are meaningfully employed. And the city has employed many of the people we support. So we have individuals, pretty much throughout the whole city, engaged in all kinds of activities.”

It also brings awareness to a number of challenges that adults with learning disabilities face in their day-to-day lives.

“One of them is the Ontario Disability Support Program, the pension that they receive … We have received very little increase over the years, so they’re living very low at the poverty line. So it means that sometimes they have to live a couple together in order to make ends meet,” Vranesisch said.

“So it would be nice if we were able to give them more money through the ODSP.”

The other area that needs improvement, she added, is the school system.

Incorporating students with learning disabilities fully into the classroom environment has been troublesome for a long time, Vranesisch said.

“This is an ongoing struggle and something the board of education is well aware of and working with us to try to get more people inclusive to the school system,” she said.

Ken Pickard, executive director of CLTB said the city itself is a shining example of inclusiveness, hiring their clients to work on bus shelters and actually walking the talk.

Mayor Keith Hobbs said raising the flag is much more than just a symbolic gesture.

“In my inaugural speech I talked about an inclusive city and not leaving anyone behind,” he said. “We are trying to connect our community together.”

As a parent, Hobbs said he realizes how blessed he is to have healthy children and praised CLTB for its role in ensuring there’s a place for everyone who lives here.

“We take it for granted what we have as parents. I have to tip my hat to Community Living Thunder Bay and the things you do for our city,” Hobbs said.

 



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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