We’re delighted to announce that for our 9th annual advocacy conference, #AdvoCon203, we’ll be cohosting with BC People First, an independent voice of self-advocates in BC for over 40 years.. AND we’re going hybrid, with all 4 days online, 2 of them in-person and broadcast, at Simon Fraser University, Surrey!
Early bird tickets now available, save your seat here!
Following a very successful 3-year shift to an exceptional online conference experience, we are ready to safely bring back an accessible in-person component to this year’s event while keeping the same great online experience you’ve come to expect:
AdvoCon2023: Breaking Barriers Together
A Hybrid Event On Self-Advocacy and Disability in Education
Thursday, October 19th to Sunday, October 22nd on Whova
and
October 21st and 22nd at Simon Fraser University, Surrey Campus
AdvoCon is an annual education advocacy conference organized by the BCEdAccess Society, a grassroots, BC nonprofit society and Canadian charitable organization, founded in 2014. We are parents and guardians of students with disabilities and diverse abilities from all over the province. Our focus is action for equitable access to education, and we are led by the population we serve – disabled people, BIPOC, 2SLGBTQ+, and other people in protected classes under human rights.
Presentations, workshops, and panels fall into our four streams of Health and Wellbeing, Advocacy in Education, Professional Development, and Systems Advocacy. Self-advocacy and ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’ will be a focus throughout.
BCEdAccess and BC People First are proud to be providing CART captioning, ASL interpretation and Active Listeners along with other accessibility features both online and in-person.
Don’t delay, get your tickets today!
Confirmed speakers so far include:
- Minister of Education and Child Care Rachna Singh for a brief address
- MECC Inclusive Education and Framework for Enhancing Student Learning staff to present on these two areas and how they work together
- Parliamentary Secretary for Accessibility Susie Chant, and Assistant Deputy Minister Sam Turcott
- MLA Katrina Chen will facilitate a discussion on inclusive child care
- Levonne Abshire, Levonne Abshire Coaching and Consulting
- Dr. Christine Ho-Younghusband, Institute for Public Education BC
- Anne Turner, Disability rights advisor, artist and author
- Symbia Barnaby, Healing Nation Coaching and Consulting
- Cyndi Dalglish, EA Standards of Practice Working Group
- Ryan Kappmeier, EA Standards of Practice Working Group
- Sarah Brooks, Teachers of Inclusive Education
- Annabree Fairweather, Confederation of University Faculty Associations
- Regan Rankin, Teachers of Inclusive Education
- Andree Gacoin, BC Teacher’s Federation
- Tracy Humphreys, Executive Director, BCEdAccess
- Andrea Hilder, Hummingbird Consulting
- Nicole Kaler, Chair, BCEdAccess
- More added every day!
Hosted online on the Whova app, and at the Simon Fraser University Surrey campus, speaker sessions will run all day, with included lunch and coffee breaks in-person. There will be a fun event in Surrey on Saturday night, and informal opportunities on the Whova app and at the venue to make connections.
Early Bird tickets available now until September 20th, 2023
We can’t wait to see you!
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