TOOLKIT

How Can I Help? 5 Actions You Can Take Today!

Toolkit for 8 Days of Action for Access – Thurs., Nov 25- Fri., Dec 3 2021

ACTION #1: Come to the protest rally AND bring friends and family! 

Friday Dec. 3rd 11 am, Vancouver Art Gallery

Let us know you’re coming by registering here: Eventbrite Signup

Bring your own sign or come and make one with us! Virtual sign making party TBA, email info@bcedaccess.com to get an invite!

**Talk it up!! Share everywhere and get that buzz going – ask people if they are going, form carpools, get excited!**

VOLUNTEER ON DEC 3

We need volunteers to help us set up the event on December 3rd and to direct folks to information and to play a life-sized board game – more information to come on that! We also need volunteers throughout the 8 Days of Action for Access.

We need help with: 

-Moving equipment

-Keeping kids occupied and safe

-Directing folks to play the board game. 

-Making signs, putting up banners

-Tending to the resource table. 

-Online broadcast support

Sign up to volunteer by emailing info@bcedaccess.com

ACTION #2: Share the barriers to access you or your loved ones have encountered. We’ll share them on signs we will have at the Legislature. Please see this form for more information! 

Lawn Sign Form

ACTION #3: Share on social media! 

Share on Facebook, Email, Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, old-fashioned fax! Share our posts or create your own.

Take a picture, tell your story, write a blog, we want to spread the word far and wide! If you tag us, we’ll share!

Tag us @bcedaccess, and use the hashtags belowWhatever you do, please use: #BCEdAccess and any or all of these!

#DisabilityRightsAreHumanRights

#AccessDelayedIsAccessDenied

#KidsCantWait

#AllMeansAll

*If you have any other hashtags you think would be great let us know!

ACTION #4: Write letters!

Email or mail a letter to the following. We have a letter you can copy/paste and personalize if you aren’t sure how to write your own – see below. Making it personal is much more effective so take the time to share a bit of your family’s story.

Write your MLA (Find Your MLA Here)

Write to the Human Rights Commissioner

Contact

Write to local or provincial newspapers

Write to radio and TV media

Call in to radio shows

Write to your school board trustees

 Don’t know what to ask for? Ask them to push the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance to: 

1. Close loopholes that enable districts to exclude children from accessing an equitable, quality education by immediately releasing a robust, updated Disability Policy Manual that replaces the old Special Education Policy Manual. 
2. Elevate and acknowledge the critical roles Educational Assistants play not only in enabling a child to equitably access an education as part of a team, but in creating a safe, welcoming school environment for all, by immediately creating Standards of Practice for Educational Assistants with integral collaboration with all stakeholders. 
3.  PROVIDE MORE DIRECTED, SUSTAINABLE FUNDING!
4. Share the BCEdAccess budget proposal – https://bcedaccess.com/2021/10/07/bcedaccess-budget-proposal-for-the-select-standing-committee-on-finance-and-government-services/
5. Demand changes to all systems linked to children and youth with disabilities and barriers to access to supports. These systems need to be child and family centred, culturally safe and responsive, and guided by rights-holders and disabled people.

ACTION #5: Demonstrate at your local MLA office!

Do you want to demonstrate but you can’t make it to Victoria on Nov.25th or to the Vancouver Art Gallery Dec. 3rd? 

On those days or any day in between or after the event, go down to your local MLA office with friends and your sign and stay as long as you want, or even just take a photo and post to social media! (Please see legal rights and Tips for Protesters below!)

RESOURCES

Legal Rights and Tips for Protesters

We anticipate a very safe and uneventful rally on both November 25th and December 3rd. Still, it’s always good to know your rights! Here’s a great guide from the BC Civil Liberties Association:

Know Your Protest Rights Trifold Web

___________________________________________________________________

[MLA/other letter writing proposed template]

[Your name]

[Your postal address]

[Your email address and/or phone number]

Dear [Name of person/organization you’re writing to],

I am writing to you today to discuss urgent changes needed to BC’s education system in order for it to be inclusive for all students, including those with disabilities.

I was moved to write this letter after seeing the planned 8 Days of Action for Access organized by BCEdAccess and other human rights organizations November 25th to December 3rd, and am asking you, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Finance to immediately:

1. Close loopholes that enable districts to exclude children from accessing an equitable, quality education by immediately releasing a robust, updated Disability Policy Manual that replaces the old Special Education Policy Manual. 
2. Elevate and acknowledge the critical roles Educational Assistants play not only in enabling a child to equitably access an education as part of a team, but in creating a safe, welcoming school environment for all, by immediately creating Standards of Practice for Educational Assistants with integral collaboration with all stakeholders. 
3. Provide more directed, sustainable funding.
4. View and respond to the BCEdAccess budget proposal, found here https://bcedaccess.com/2021/10/07/bcedaccess-budget-proposal-for-the-select-standing-committee-on-finance-and-government-services/
5. Demand changes to all systems linked to children and youth with disabilities and barriers to access to supports. These systems need to be child and family centred, culturally safe and responsive, and guided by rights-holders and disabled people.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to your response on each of the issues stated above.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

_______________________________________________________

Types of protests you can organize in support, either during, or following the 8 Days of Action For Access – if you’re planning a demonstration or action, please let us know and we’ll share!

MARCH 

A march involves a group of activists walking through a public space in support of their cause. Marches can involve chanting messages, music, banners, and signs. There can also be ‘silent’ marches in tight formation with evocative banners and signs. 

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RALLY 

A rally is usually part of a demonstration where activists march through a space or route and end in a gathering place to  “rally” by listening to speakers, testimonials, a call for action, and chanting.

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TEACH-IN 

At a teach-in, attendees can sit in on forums, discussion panels, lectures, and free debates about a topic. Typically, controversial and under-reported topics are chosen for a teach-in with the goal of increasing awareness about these issues and encouraging people to act on them. They are usually organized in public or community spaces and local experts are invited to present and engage participants. The first teach-ins occured on college campus in the 1960s to protest the Vietnam War. 

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SIT-IN 

A sit-in was a protest strategy used by the 1960s Civil Rights Movement to defy segregation laws in spaces like “white only” lunch counters and restaurants. During a sit-in, activists take up or occupy a space where they are not typically permitted to be and nonviolently resist attempts to remove them from the space. Today, sit-ins may involve occupying a space like a government building, a police precinct, or other institutional spaces as a form of protest until demands are heard or addressed. 

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DIE-IN or LIE-IN 

In a die-in or lie-in participants simulate being “dead” in a particular public or community space to mark lives lost to violence, indifference, and apathy. Die-ins became a popular protest action in 2014 and 2015 after the shooting deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. They were also used by the LGBTQIA community during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and in anti-Iraq War protests in the early 2000s. 

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VIGIL 

A vigil is a gathering to mourn and remember lives lost in a local, national, or international tragedy. They may take place outdoors or indoors in a community or public space. Often political vigils end in a call to action to end the root causes of these deaths. There may also be secular or interfaith components with moments of quiet reflection and meditation.