#AdvoCon2019 Oct 18th and 19th – Call for Proposals

BCEdAccess 2019 Annual Fall Conference, October 18th and 19th

BCEdAccess Society, as an organization of parents, guardians and allies, supports the rights of children and youth with disabilities and complex learners to achieve equitable access to a quality education in accordance with international human rights law, and full inclusion and participation in their schools and communities.

Our 5th parent advocacy education conference will take place October 18th and 19th, 2019, at the Civic Hotel in Surrey, BC. This event will gather families and allies of students with disabilities and complex learners to continue our conversations, learn, and strengthen strategies and seek solutions to achieving equitable access to education in BC.

Sponsorships and exhibitor tables available! 

As an exhibitor and/or sponsor you can reach:

~1700 members of our ‘secret’ parents and guardians Facebook support group (members and topics are very active)

2700+ subscribers to our public Facebook page

300+ subscribers of our mailing list

3000+ followers of our blog & website

120+ participants who attend our conference every year

Interested?

Contact us 

Call for Proposals – Connecting to Strengthen Advocacy in Education

This conference is an opportunity to inspire and educate parents and guardians as leaders in their communities and to drive progress by sharing information and resources, connecting with other advocates and activists striving for inclusion and equity in education, and creating a larger community seeking to advance rights for children and youth.

Possible session types may include:

• Workshops: 60 minutes interactive, participatory, planned to integrate participants as much as possible
• Transformational talk/presentations: 5 minute Struck by Inclusion lightning talk presentations (may be filmed and shared on social media) – these talks are limited to 5 minutes and timed. Think stories, inspiration and thoughts on inclusion! **Friday event
• Talks by self-advocates on their experiences in the education system
• 20 minute TED-style talks (may be filmed and shared on social media)
• 60 minute Online workshop/webinar: interactive, participatory workshop
• Student panel: Seeking self-advocate students with disabilities willing to participate in a Q&A style panel, and a self-advocate or other facilitator willing to work with students to assist them in preparing and to ask questions and facilitate conversation at the conference

We invite proposals for workshops and presentations (see session types above) from self-advocates, parents and guardians, and other experts, around some of the themes identified by our membership.

We also welcome other ideas fitting to the them of Connecting to Strengthen Advocacy in Education, or to our mission as a whole:

• Sexual Health
• Mental Health (anxiety, trauma, how to find and access support)
• Steps to advocate for specific supports
• IEPS
• Executive Function
• Speech Language Pathology
• Occupational Therapy
• Building allies
• What IS working? How are schools/districts innovating to move inclusion forward?
• What does effective inclusion look like? Perspectives and case studies for parents and educators, tangible examples of programs from around BC
• Behaviour is communication – how to help schools and districts understand aggression and what it really means coming from a child
• EAs and other supports – what can I ask for to support my child’s right to equitable access to education?
• Inclusion committees in your district/at your school
• How to communicate productively within potentially adversarial relationships
• Advocating for Indigenous students with disabilities
• School Act, Hewko, Moore and more – legal underpinnings of inclusive education
• Mental Health
• Exclusion – what’s happening in BC and around the world, and what we can do about it
• Advocating for LGBTQ2S+ students with disabilities
• Who is who and what are they supposed to do – in schools, at the District, at the Ministry of Education, and other Ministries and agencies – how do the systems connect?
• Transitions through the years (home to preschool, preschool to K, etc.)
• Working through school refusal
• Media training
• From the school level to Section 11 and the Human Rights Tribunal – how to escalate if you can’t get what you need at the school level

We are interested in presentations that:

• Use inclusive language
• Make every attempt to address students with disabilities and complex learners within an intersectional context (First Nations and Indigenous communities, LGBTQ2S, English Language Learners, newcomers to Canada, etc)
• Promote evidence-based practices
• Promote the advocacy and issues common to families served by BCEdAccess
• Do not engage in promotion of products or services within the presentation (there are opportunities to book a table outside the presentation space for this purpose if you wish)

Please submit your workshop or presentation proposal by filling out this form:

Presenter Proposal Form

If you have questions about this call for proposals, or want to let us know of your interest but you’re not sure exactly what you want to do yet, please contact Tracy Humphreys, bcedaccess@gmail.com

Deadline for Proposal Submissions: July 31st, 2019 (we need to time to prepare our brochure and promote!)

We’ll let you know by August 15th if your proposal has been selected by our panel.

Deadline for electronic submission of presentation materials: October 1st, 2019