Fostering Community Belonging

How Can Municipalities Foster Community Belonging & Participation for Children with Disabilities & Complex Health Conditions?

Guest blog post by Dr. Alison Gerlach

When children participate and belong in their communities, they and their families are relieved of the constant stress and costs of advocacy and isolation. Children grow and develop alongside their peers; their parents can work, volunteer, and contribute; and the community is not grappling with the crises that surface when entire demographics are structurally marginalized.

However, community planning and opportunities for families are often based on assumptions of ‘normal’ or ‘healthy’ children. As a result, young children with disabilities and complex health conditions are often excluded from opportunities to participate with their peers and siblings at community events, programs, and other civic activities that are intended to be for everyone. This impacts growth, development, and quality of life and leads to economic, practical, relational, and emotional hardships for their parents and families. The cumulative effects of exclusion worsen as children grow older, as they and their families experience exclusion from community life, contributing to poverty and mental health hardships.

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The meaningful participation of children and adults with disabilities in their communities is at the core of the 2022 Accessible BC Act.

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Well-intentioned inclusion efforts tend to focus on individual children and place responsibilities on individual families (primary caregivers, especially mothers) and/or specific programs, like child care. These efforts have failed to foster opportunities for all children to have a sense of belonging in their communities because they do not address the underlying ableism that permeates decision-making and design. Community-wide planning can play an essential role in determining whether children with disabilities and complex health conditions are able to experience a sense of belonging in their everyday lives and participate in their communities. This involves re-looking at community infrastructure, attitudes, policies, communication, and practices across sectors.

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A community-level approach is equitable, effective, and resource-efficient with sustainable and far-reaching results, because it does not solely target individual children.

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The change required to achieve this is entirely doable. The main barrier to participation faced by people with disabilities is attitudinal. When people and organizations see how ableist assumptions inform their actions and attitudes and are provided the tools to change, practical and sustainable changes can readily be implemented.

What role does your local municipality play or could play in creating communities and neighbourhoods in which children with disabilities and medical complexity and their families experience belonging and inclusion in community programs, events, and venues?

This question was the foundation for an innovative project by researchers from Vancouver Coastal Health and the University of Victoria in partnership with the City of Powell River. By undertaking an environmental scan and through strategic community partnerships and engagement, this project aimed to inform the development of community policies and strategies that work towards dislodging ableism and facilitate the meaningful participation and belonging of children with disabilities and complex health conditions and their families in Powell River.

The resources and key messages generated by this project are now available for any municipality in BC supporting their compliance under the BC Accessibility Act: Community Belonging: A System-level Approach for Municipalities to Address Ableism and Advance Participation and Belonging for Children with Disabilities and their Families. This summary report outlines seven key recommendations for local governments in BC that are exploring ways of upholding their responsibilities to the Accessible BC Act. These recommendations are also relevant for organizations seeking to take a system-level approach to addressing ableism and improving participation and belonging in their programs,  services, and operations. The recommendations from this project are also highlighted in a short video called ‘Community Belonging: It’s up to all of us.’

This project also generated an evidence-informed handbook for municipal staff to consult, in order to provide accessible and inclusive client services and reduce barriers to programs and services experienced by community members, including children with disabilities. This handbook is also relevant for all organizations seeking to engage in inclusive and respectful community engagement.

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Government and other organizations interested in advancing equity in their service delivery model can draw directly from these resources and recommendations in a way that is responsive to their unique local contexts.

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