This conference is for parents/guardians, self advocates, educators, administrators, professionals, and all allies/accomplices in the pursuit of inclusion. Join us for workshops, panels, and presentations. Featuring greetings from the Minister of Education and Child Care, presentations from staff in this and other Ministries, workshops and panels by self-advocates and other experts with information on human rights, how to teach and support disabled students, and how to advocate within education and other systems, there is something to benefit everyone passionate about breaking barriers to improve accessibility and inclusion. Professional development credit available.
“I am so grateful to this group for giving me the baseline info I needed to successfully get my child into school, and to know her rights. What a resource”
AdvoCon Attendee
As a registered charitable organisation, donors and sponsors/exhibitors are imperative to helping AdvoCon2023 succeed. We welcome financial and in-kind contributions from like-minded and supportive organizations, and ideally we’re looking for folks aligned with our values who we can build relationships with, to work together year-round to support each other’s goals.
AdvoCon2023 is our 9th conference, and our first with an in-person component since 2019!
Here’s just a sample of some of the amazing lineup for this year’s event:
- The Honourable Rachna Singh, BC Minister of Education and Child Care
- Inclusive Education and the Framework for Enhancing Student Learning – Ministry staff presenting
- Accessibility Secretariat of BC with a session on the Accessible BC Act and education and other services
- Levonne Abshire, Advocacy Fatigue, Self Care and Community Care
- Symbia Barnaby, an Indigenous woman of Haida and Mi’kmaq descent living in northern BC, will share and discuss her film, Healing Nation
- Christine Younghusband, Institute for Public Education, with Dreaming Big About Education 3
- The EA Standards Working Group will present on their work
- The poplular self-advocate youth panel and adult panels will both take place again this year
- and many more great panels, presentations and workshops still to be announced!
The event will be hybrid, with two in-person days and all four days online.
This year we are fortunate to be co-hosting with BC People First (BCPF), an independent voice of self-advocates in BC for over 40 years. BCPF is a society made up of a group of members from across British Columbia who want to make sure that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are included and respected in our communities as full citizens. BCPF members work together to write letters, do presentations, and advocate with governments about issues affecting people with disabilities. BCPF is a place for self-advocates to network and get support while sharing and learning advocacy skills.
Find more information at www.bcpeoplefirst.com.
Becoming a sponsor and/or exhibitor gives your organization the opportunity to support a great cause while also receiving promotion to the BCEdAccess and BC People First communities and our supporters and networks. Our follower count grows each year and our 2023 sponsors will reach more people than ever before.
- The growing private BCEdAccess Facebook community has over 5,300 community members (compared with 3700 in 2021) from all over BC, and is very active with upwards of 10 posts per day, all of which receive significant engagement
- We have a good following on social media with over 5,000 followers on our public Facebook page, over 3,100 followers on Twitter and nearly 1000 on Instagram
- Our mailing list reaches over 1,000 subscribers
- On average, our blog posts have 3,000 visitors within 24 hours of being published, and our blog has nearly 6000 followers
- Last year’s virtual AdvoCon had 204 attendees and we are expecting higher numbers at our 2023 conference due to increased interest and the hybrid nature of the event.
Let’s Make a Change together.
We champion and support children and youth with disabilities and complex learners to reach their full potential in education across British Columbia, and in all aspects of their lives. This is achieved through supporting families, sharing information, providing education to families, allies, professionals and students, providing community engagement and awareness, and other activities to promote equitable access to education and inclusion for all.
Sponsorships for AdvoCon2023 allow the conference to succeed by helping to cover costs like:
- Paying our speakers and honoraria
- Providing free and/or discounted conference tickets to people who are facing financial barriers
- ASL Interpretation
- CART (Communication Access Real-time Translation), a speech to text real-time captioning service
- Graphic design and promotional support
- Cost of the online platform, the in-person conference venue, catering, etc.
If you know of any organizations or businesses that may be interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at this incredible event please reach out and share. This is an excellent opportunity to support a great cause while also receiving promotion to the BC EdAccess community and our supporters!
Any inquires can be directed to development@bcedaccess.com
#AdvoCon2023
Please share the conference ticketing site with your networks – earlybird tickets are on sale now!