CILT’s Parenting with a Disability Bulletin Volume 12, Issue 1 December 2009 PDN UPDATE Family Luncheon The Parenting With a Disability Network (PDN) hosted its first Family Luncheon for Parents and Prospective With Disabilities on Saturday November 21, 2009 at CILT. Pizza, drinks and dessert were served! Raffle prizes were won by everyone. We had a great time! The kids watched a movie together with Robin, our wonderful childcare worker, while parents took the opportunity to meet other parents and prospective parents with a disability! We discussed suggestions for future PDN activities and we even had a suggestion box for people to provide their ideas. Thanks to everyone who came out and we hope to see many of our members at our annual Mid Winter Gathering in February. Spring Forward Through Empowerment On Thursday May 6, 2009 the Parenting With a Disability Network (PDN) is planning to hold a one day conference/workshop for service providers in the child health and welfare sector, including CAS workers, social workers, midwives, nurses, etc. on “parenting with a disability”. It is high time that we begin to put an end to the existing myths and misconceptions that people with disabilities cannot be good parents. We are currently in the planning stages. A big part of the day will include a panel discussion of the positive and negative experiences of parents with various types of disabilities. We also intend on putting an end to the confusion around the concept of Nurturing Assistance, through a role play demonstrating the concept. We want to end the day on a positive note, in a discussion around how we can all work together to empower parents with disabilities and end society’s misconceptions. A large part of the afternoon will be spent discussing the myths and misconceptions that exist among society at large and how we can work together to bring those misconceptions to an end. Stay tuned for more up-to-date information on this monumental event. A Few Words from the PDN’s Newest Volunteer My name is Melissa Simas and I recently began volunteering with the Parenting with a Disability Network, offered through the Centre for Independent Living Toronto. I first connected with the network when I decided to explore the experiences of mothers with physical disabilities as part of a major research paper that I was required to complete for my Master of Social Work degree. My interest in this topic first arose a few years ago when I began to wonder and research what my own journey towards motherhood would look like as a woman living with Cerebral Palsy. What follows is some of what I learned in the process of conducting that research and completing my major research paper.Mothers with physical disabilities are required to negotiate unique barriers that non-disabled mothers may not encounter in their mothering role. For example, many playgrounds and schools are not accessible to parents with physical disabilities. However, the mothers with physical disabilities that I interviewed expressed that what is most challenging in their mothering roles are the negative attitudes that others hold towards parenting with a disability. These attitudes range from acceptance to outright disapproval from family, friends and especially, health care providers. The presence of a disability is believed by some to limit a woman’s ability to reproduce and care for a child. These perceptions are informed by societal myths that women with disabilities are defective, asexual and dependent on others. These perceptions of disability have lead to a number of potential serious consequences for women with disabilities. Women with disabilities have been discouraged from having children because the presence of their disability is believed to increase reproductive risk to both mother and child. However this belief ignores the fact that pregnancy symptoms can be managed and most disabilities are not hereditary. These perceptions of disability also work to silence mothers with disabilities. The silence is due to a fear that they will be judged if they do not appear to be managing well in the presence of others, and that this will lead to their children being apprehended from their care. This need to be silent also discourages them from obtaining assistance that they may actually find helpful. Furthermore, individuals who hold these perceptions fail to recognize that all mothers require assistance with childcare from time to time and face many of the same challenges. One must question why parenting with a disability is viewed negatively. The discussions I have had with mothers with disabilities reveal that there are many positive aspects to parenting with a disability. They felt that the presence of their disabilities has made them creative, patient and flexible as a mother. As mothers with disabilities, they are often required to creatively negotiate environments that are not always mindful of their needs and accept that things in life may not always go according to plan. One mother also expressed that the presence of her disability made her child more independent since he was required to perform certain personal care tasks at an earlier age than most. My discussions with these mothers reveal that the removal of physical barriers is an important step to take in supporting the needs of parents with disabilities. However, their stories highlighted that creating a space where various professionals can come together with parents with disabilities to challenge their perceptions of what it means to be a parent with a disability is most important. A person’s ability to independently care for a child should not be the sole factor that is used by others to determine whether or not a person with a disability can effectively raise a child. Ultimately, people with disabilities are capable of being excellent parents because they are able to provide children with the love, guidance and support that they need. PARENTS’ CORNER Holiday Entertaining on a Budget: Times Like This Just Require One to Be Creative and Motivated This article was found at www.smartwomanonline.com/2008/11/holiday- entertaining on a budget/ As the holiday season approaches, so too do the opportunities to plan entertaining gatherings. Even in these unsteady economic times, there’s no reason to nix the idea of hosting a holiday party when one can easily entertain on a budget. Here are 10 tips for budget-friendly entertaining this holiday season: * Create a budget before writing a list of who will be invited. Once a budget is established, you can then see how many people can comfort-ably be invited. * Share the duties of hosting with someone else. Combining two events into one cuts costs as well as preparation time. * Opt for casual rather than formal entertaining. * Scan the ads of local stores to find the best deals. Buying sale items or bulk quantities (such as wine by the case) can help save a lot of money, provided the store is not too far away. * Open the cupboard to see what you already have on hand. Maybe there’s something there you can use and you won’t need to make so many additional purchases. * Think seasonal when deciding what to include on the menu. Items that are in season (e.g., apples and grapes during the fall) tend to be more cost efficient. * Skip the meat and opt for entertaining vegetarian-style. Vegetarian meals are usually cheaper and, as a bonus, generally healthier, too. * Borrow supplies from family and friends. This beats renting tables, linens and serving implements. * Integrate food items and natural materials from the garden into centerpieces and decorations. And if you have young ones around, think about decorating with children’s artwork as part of the total design so they are involved in the project. * If a plated meal is not possible, serve the buffet yourself (as opposed to a self-serve format). This provides you with more control over portion sizes. * “There’s never a reason to skip having a party — It’s all about learning to improvise and do the best that we can with what we have,” says Conway. “Holiday entertaining doesn’t need to break the budget in order to be fun and memorable. Times like this just require one to be creative and motivated. The rest will fall into place.” Where to Take the Kids During This Holiday Season Disney On Ice presents Princess Classics presented by Rogers Centre Starts: December 18, 2009 Ends: December 27, 2009 Disney On Ice presents Princess Classics brings you a dazzling tale of hope, heart, heroism and hilarity. Enjoy an awe-inspiring and fun-filled journey to the magical lands of Disney’s classic fairy tales. Travel to a kingdom under the sea, an enchanted French castle and more! With special guest Tinker Bell, enter the worlds of your favorite Disney princesses – Cinderella, Jasmine, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Mulan and Snow White – as they bring this skating extravaganza to Toronto. Ticket Prices range from $15-$90. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster Outlets, by calling (416) 870-8000 or visiting www.ticketmaster.ca. For more information contact: Phone: 416-870-8000 Address: Rogers Centre, 1 Blue Jays Way (Front Street & Blue Jay Way) www. disneyonice.com. TTC: Exit Union Station, follow the Skywalk to Rogers Centre. The LION, the WITCH and the WARDROBE presented by: Dramatic Change Youth Theatre Starts: November 27, 2009 11:00 AM Ends: January 2, 2010 03:00 PM Cost: $10 - $19 An affordable family holiday treat. For ages 5-11, a live stage show based on the classic children's tale, only $10 at the Walmer Centre (Bloor and Spadina. This one act play runs under an hour, with show times at 11am and 2pm on various holiday dates. For dates, tickets and video clip, visit www.LionWW.com. Buy in advance online or toll-free, and save $3! Tickets $13 at door, $1.50 ticketing charge online/phone. For more information contact: Phone: 1877-700-3130 Address: Walmer Centre Main Auditorium, 188 Lowther Ave. Toronto, ON www.LionWW.com Parking at 2 Walmer Road (a block S.E.), and off Bloor (Green P lots). 2 blocks West of Spadina & 1 block North of Bloor www.LionWW.com email: see www.LionWW.com or touring@dennishassell.com The Light Before Christmas -IMAX Film presented by: Ontario Science Centre Starts: November 28, 2009 03:00 PM Ends: January 3, 2010 03:00 PM Produced in stop-motion animation, The Light Before Christmas is a delightful seasonal tale that will engage children of all ages. Young Katie and her brother Makean spark their imaginations and learn about the joys of giving after being rescued by a wise old sage named the Candleman during a blizzard on Christmas Eve. Audiences will also enjoy a fun-filled tour of filmmaking magic as artists show how they build miniature sets and animators reveal how they bring the characters to life. Tickets: Adult - $12 Youth/Senior - $9 Child - $8 Parking is $8 CASH ONLY For more information contact: Phone: 416-696-1000 Address: Shoppers Drugmart OMNIMAX Theatre, Ontario Science Centre, 770 Don Mills Road (Don Mills and Eglinton Avenue East). www.ontariosciencecentre.ca Safe Toys and Play This article was found at www.ohbabymagazine.com Toys and play are important to your child’s development, and safety is essential. In Canada, responsibility for toy safety is shared among governments, the toy industry, safety associations, parents, and caregivers. Toy makers must ensure that their toys meet Health Canada’s product safety regulations. Although stores are regularly checked for unsafe toys, such toys can still make their way into your home. Toy Safety: What You Should Know * Children under three years of age tend to put things in their mouths. * Keep small toys, small balls, or small loose toy parts away from children under 3 and from older children who still put toys in their mouth. * If the toy or any piece of it can fit inside a toilet paper tube, it could cause a child to choke. * Keep all toys, especially fabric and soft toys, away from heat sources, such as stoves, fireplaces, and heaters. * Avoid toys with cords. * Loud toys can damage a child’s hearing. * Supervise children at play and teach them how to use their toys safely. * Regularly inspect your baby’s toys to make sure they are not broken. Look for sharp edges. * Check the eyes and noses of stuffed animals. Broken seams in stuffed toys may reveal small removable parts, such as squeakers in squeeze toys. Discard toys that are not safe. Balloons * Balloons can make children choke. * Always keep balloons and pieces of broken balloons out of the reach of young children. * Supervise children when they are around balloons. Toy Storage * If the toy box has a lid, it should be lightweight, with hinges that can hold the lid open and holes that allow air inside. Heavy lids falling on children’s heads and necks can cause death. * Children should not have access to airtight storage bins, trunks, or boxes. These could cause suffocation if a child climbs inside. Ride-On Toys * Toys that children ride on must match the child’s size and ability. * Make sure the toy will not tip when your child is on it. * Children on ride-on toys can move very quickly. Do not permit a ride-on toy near stairs, traffic, swimming pools, or any other dangerous area. * Clear the area of lamps, cords, and anything that could be knocked over or pulled down onto the child. How to Buy Safe Toys * Read labels to make sure the toy is right for your child’s age. * Even if your child seems mature for his or her age, remember that the age level for a toy is based on safety. Check for safety features. * Toys made of fabric should be labeled as flame resistant or flame retardant and stuffed toys should be washable. * All toys should be painted with lead-free paint, and art materials (including crayons) should say “non-toxic” somewhere on the package. * Look for toys that are sturdy and well constructed. * Young children like to pull and twist toys, and often try to put them in their mouths. * Make sure that eyes, noses, buttons, and other small parts of toys are securely attached. * Check toy cars to make sure the wheels are on tight. * Don’t buy toys with cords or long strings for babies or toddlers. Never hang anything around a toddler’s neck and never hang toys with long strings or ribbons in a crib or playpen. * Throw away the plastic wrapping around a toy as soon as it is open. A child can choke on this wrapping. To Learn more…. Health Canada: www.hc-sc.gc.ca The Hospital for Sick Children: www.sickkids.ca. Brought to you by the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) in partnership with Lysol® Disability News: New Research to Substantiate Link Between Disability and Poverty According to an article in the October 2nd issue of DPI’s (Disabled Persons International) E-news, a September 2009 report entitled, ‘Half in Ten’ substantiates the link between disability and poverty. It employs newer, sophisticated data sources and defines disability in a way more consistent with the modern consensus. Research indicates: * Almost half of working-age adults who experience income poverty for at least a 12-month period have one or more disabilities. * Nearly two-thirds of working-age adults who experience consistent income poverty, more than 36 months of income poverty during a 48-month period-have one or more disabilities. * Male household heads reaching their mid-50s have a 53 percent chance of having been disabled at least once and a 19 percent chance of having begun a chronic and severe disability. * People with disabilities are much more likely to experience various forms of material hardship-including food insecurity, not getting needed medical or dental care, and not being able to pay rent, mortgage, and utility bills-than people without disabilities, even after controlling for income and other characteristics. * Measures of income poverty that fail to take disability into account likely underestimate the income people with disabilities need to meet basic needs. These new findings suggest that any serious attempt at an agenda to reduce income poverty must take disability into account as both a cause and consequence of poverty. The full report can be read at http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/poverty-disability-2009-09.pdf. The Right to Housing Challenge: In the Courts and in the Community Who is involved? The Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario is a community legal clinic funded by Legal Aid Ontario that provides services across Ontario to low-income tenants. ACTO has organized a Right to Housing Working Group which includes people with a variety of backgrounds and expertise, including people with lived experience of homelessness or of being inadequately housed, community organizations, advocacy groups and academics. What is the case about? Homelessness in Canada has reached crisis levels and the Canadian government has failed to ensure that all people have adequate housing. We are one of the few countries in the world without a national housing strategy. Canada’s failure to respond to the homelessness crisis is in violation of its international commitments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It also violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and specifically, s.7 which guarantees the right to life, liberty, and security of the person and s.15 which guarantees the equal protection and benefit of the law without discrimination. What are we hoping to achieve? We are asking for more than simply the right to shelter. We will argue that under the Charter, Canadians have a right to adequate, affordable housing. We will ask the court to require the government to develop a national and provincial housing strategy. As both the federal and provincial government have jurisdiction over housing, we intend to name both levels of government as respondents in the case. Apart from winning the case, we are looking to spark public imagination to think about the issue of housing differently. The litigation will be one part of a broader project of education, organization and mobilization. We hope to file a Charter application at the Ontario Superior Court in the spring of 2010. How can I get more information? For more information on the project or to find out how to you can get involved, please contact Yutaka Dirks, Advocacy and Outreach Coordinator at the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, at dirksy@lao.on.ca or 416-597-5855 x. 5243 or Tracy Heffernan, Director/Lawyer, ACTO, 416-597-5855, x5174, hefernt@lao.on.ca. Wheels in Motion: Mobility’s relationship with physical activity and psychosocial factors to people with Spinal Cord Injury The purpose of this study is to see how mobility, physical activity, secondary complications, wheelchair self-confidence and community participation are related to one another. We are asking you to participate because this study can be helpful in providing much needed knowledge about the importance of wheelchair mobility. Also, the information gathered from this study can help to improve rehabilitative programs for people with SCI nationwide. This study will have a total sample size of 60 participants and will last approximately 6 months, including data gathering and analysis, but we will only need 2 days of your time. We are recruiting participants affiliated with the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute (TRI) – Lyndhurst Centre and people who have previously expressed interest in participating in studies regarding physical activity. In order to participate in this study, you must: * Have an SCI at the paraplegic or tetra/quadriplegic level. * Use a manual wheelchair as your main mobility device for at least 4 hours a day * Have incurred your SCI at least 12 months ago * Have no cognitive impairments * Be 18 years of age or older * Have no history of a heart attack or other cardiac event. Want to be a participant in this study? If you are interested in this study and want to participate, leave your contact information (telephone number, e-mail address) with the project coordinator at TRI-Lyndhurst Institute: Ms. Jean Hum, M.Sc. Telephone: 416- 597-3422 x 6288 e-mail: Hum.Jean@TorontoRehab.on.ca Be sure to mention that you are interested in the “Wheels in motion study” COMMUNITY NEWS Create the Life You Dream Expanding the Reach: Empowering Women living with Disabilities Workshop Series Presents: Create the Life You Dream. Author and life coach, Darlene Montgomery will guide you to make positive changes to achieve your life’s dreams and goals. This workshop will focus on learning ways to change limiting beliefs and explore your talents, and creativity through personal growth. The workshop takes place on Tuesday January 12th, 2010, 1:00-3:30pm and 3:30-4:00pm a Focus Group will be held to discuss future workshop topics. This event takes place at Birchmount Bluffs Neighbourhood Centre - 93 Birchmount Rd. (at Kingston Rd.) Attendant service, light refreshments and transportation reimbursement (TTC tokens) will be provided. For accommodation requests and to RSVP please contact Margaret by Tuesday, January 5th, 2010. (416) 439-7111 (Ext 4), TTY (416) 439-7321 or e-mail to program@scarboroughwomenscentre.ca. Funding for this project is made possible by: Canadian Women’s Foundation and Catherine Donnelly Foundation. Government of Canada’s Persons with Disabilities Online This site provides access to services and information for persons with disabilities, family members, caregivers and all Canadians. Visit www.pwd-online.gc.ca. Useful features of the site can be found in the "Online Services" section. You can plan a trip using the Persons with Disabilities Accessible Travel Tool. Or, if you're not sure which benefits you would be eligible for, you can fill out a list of questions and see a complete list. You can also find applications for Canada Pension Plan Disability Benefits and Employment Insurance Sickness benefits in this section. Coffee for a Cause Now you can taste the unique flavors and aromas of world-famous, gourmet Vietnamese coffee here in Canada! Vietnamese coffees represent a tradition of careful estate farming, deep roasting (but not burnt), and sophisticated blending of heirloom coffee varietals. H& O Coffee is proud to be an authorized shopping source of Trung Nguyen coffee. Order today and 50% of the proceeds will be donated to the MS Society of Canada. Makes for a great holiday gift! http://www.handocoffee.com/charitable-shopping.php. CILT NEWS Direct Funding’s 15th Birthday By Ian Parker Robert was in an intolerable situation. Every day, he was forced to accompany his mother to her workplace. He wasn’t an employee there. In fact, he had very little to do there all day. But Robert had no choice but to sit there, in his wheelchair, until his mother was ready to go home. Robert had no attendant services, and being with his mom at work was the only way he could get help for essential tasks like eating or using the washroom. This had been going on for months. Robert’s grandmother had been assisting him before that, but she had died. And Robert’s mother was already helping him a great deal while simultaneously trying to hold down her job. A young man with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Robert lives in rural Ontario. Because he requires special care when transferring due to very brittle bones, and because of other complex personal needs, Robert’s assistants have to be people who know him really well. They have to be completely consistent and reliable. It was critical that Robert have personal control of his own service. Happily, personal control is a cornerstone of Direct Funding. And this program was able to help a family out of crisis. Fifteen years after Direct Funding was given the go-ahead by the provincial government as a pilot project, it’s gratifying to observe how far we’ve come. In the past 15 years, we’ve managed to secure permanent program status and an expansion of the program. In the past 15 years, Ontarians with physical disabilities have had an unprecedented opportunity to hire, train and manage their own attendants, allowing them more choice, control and flexibility with their services. In the past 15 years, Direct Funding has made a dramatic difference in the lives of almost one thousand people. Thanks to Direct Funding, men and women with physical disabilities have been able to live where they want, travel, get jobs, look after their children, look after an aging parent-all because there were flexible supports in place that allowed them this level of independence. This newsletter shares with you a few of the generous submissions we received from self-managers this fifteenth year. Before 1994, there was no program in Ontario like Direct Funding. In fact, there was almost nothing like it in Canada. Those who used attendant services were forced to struggle with agency-delivered models that didn’t always meet their needs. With those models, it might mean having to wait until an attendant could help you, because he or she was busy helping someone else. It meant little or no control over the timing of normal, everyday activities like getting up, dinner or even bedtime. It might mean living in a designated apartment building instead of a home and neighbourhood of your choosing, because that was the only place where you could receive services. It might mean being unable to attend college or go to work because you had no assistance there with the washroom or your lunch. It might mean never going on holiday because your attendants were obligated to stay behind and help others. And it might mean relying on people who didn’t get along with you for your most basic personal and intimate needs. We people with disabilities knew that there could be a better way of life. A model of self-managed attendant services could enable people with disabilities to select and hire their own attendants. Getting from dream to reality in Ontario was neither fast nor easy. In fact it took over eight years of hard work and determination, working together with consumers, government officials and other community organizations, and persevering through a change of government and the setbacks that came with that. From the initial commitment, in 1990, by liberal Minister of Community and Social Services, Charles Beer to pilot direct funding, we finally heard in 1994 the announcement we had been working towards and waiting for. At a provincial consumer conference, New Democratic Party Minister of Health, Ruth Grier announced the immediate start of a 2 year pilot for 80 to 100 self-managers of attendant services. It would be administered by the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto in partnership with Ontario Network of Independent Living Centres. I will never forget the huge cheer that arose from the crowd. We were all so joyful to hear this great news… to finally get the green light to start. We had been through so much hard work and dead ends. Yet through it all we were supported by many fine allies from government officials and other community organizations. This experience bonded many of us into lifelong friendships. One of my government friends has said “Direct Funding is the best thing we ever did!” An independent evaluation of the pilot project proved so successful that in 1998, Progressive Conservative Minister of Long Term Care, Cam Jackson announced that Direct Funding would be a permanent program and expanded to 700 people. We had done it! One of the successful offshoots of this program is the contribution it has made to a growing awareness of the capabilities of people with disabilities. It has meant many more people with disabilities are visible and participating in their communities and workplaces. We have always maintained that the desire for self-management is not related to a person’s level of services. Three people in the pilot project who used ventilators proved that self-management can work really well for people with complex needs. Today, no fewer than 40 self-managers use ventilators. No program, of course, is perfect. And Direct Funding continues to experience challenges. These include, for one, the current limitations of government funding. The resources we receive are simply not sufficient to meet consumers’ increased needs as they age or as their disability progresses. They don’t provide consumers with adequate and competitive wage levels for recruiting and retaining employees. They do not allow for applicants to start DF immediately after demonstrating their needs; instead, they must wait many years and find precarious sources of support, like aging family members. This underfunding has a huge impact. In a recent survey, we found the active waiting list of applicants had experienced a dramatic drop in numbers (from 473 down to 260). Unfortunately, many applicants had fallen out of contact or died while waiting to get on the program, or had been forced to move into alternate arrangements such as institutional services. Other eligible people with disabilities aren’t even bothering to apply because they know they’ll languish at the bottom of an impossible list. Even with the list down to 260, the wait is long. Do the math: with only 30 spots coming open per year, a new applicant must wait for over eight years, unless there is an increased investment in the program. Despite the challenges, the fact remains that almost a thousand people in Ontario have seen their quality of life dramatically improve, thanks to Direct Funding. This is living proof of the value of a program that so many men and women worked so long and hard to achieve. It is our hope that this program is reinforced and carries on to make the same difference to many more people with disabilities in future years. Gateways Project Update As many of you are aware, the manuscript “Navigating healthcare: gateways to cancer screening’ was recently published in Disability & Society, Volume 24, Issue 6 October 2009 , pages 739 – 751. This manuscript was developed from the Literature Review, conducted by Project Coordinator, Julie Devaney and PhD. Student, Lisa Seto. This scholarly article is a step forward in research, especially Canadian research in which the Gateways project will find more information as the project continues to start its Second Phase: a Tool Kit – DVD and Training Manual that will provide health care providers across the country to learn from and implement the recommendations made by the women that participated in the five focus groups that were held earlier on in the first phase of the project. “The idea is to get the information from the women right to the health-care providers,” says Nancy Barry. The program will employ scenarios revealed by Gateways to develop DVDs that can be used in training health-care staff. The intended result is a “Disability Awareness 101”, with reference to appropriate provisions of accommodations when women with disabilities access cancer screening. Because the funding came from the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Phase II will be focusing mainly on breast cancer screening. The focus groups with health care providers will most likely begin in February 2010 and we hope to see some positive results from them, and contrast how different, or similar their thoughts or ways in working with women with physical disabilities are. Stay tuned for more Gateways News. CILT’s 2009 United Way Fundraising Campaign Every year CILT has a United Way Committee to raise funds for the United Way. This year’s Committee Chair was Melanie Moore, who was accompanied by Andrea Rae, Leisa DeBono, Elena Petrescu and Victoria Pica. This year’s fundraising event was a very successful bake sale. Although CILT staff were not sure how it was going to turn out since we are now in a new location, we had a great turnout. People in the surrounding areas that attended the bake sale were most pleased to have a variety of baked goods, and they commented that CILT should do this bake sale closer to the holidays and perhaps make a lunch out of it. Thank you to all for contributing and making this year’s United Way Campaign a success. Without you, there would be no way! CILT’s Holiday Hours Can you believe that it’s already that time of year again? It is also one year ago that CILT moved to its new location. This is truly unbelievable! CILT will open, with skeleton staff only, between Christmas and New Year’s. The following will be CILT’s holiday hours: December 24th - open until noon December 25th - CLOSED December 28th - CLOSED December 29th - 9:00 am - 5:00 pm December 30th - 9:00 am - 5:00 pm December 31st - open until noon January 1st - CLOSED We will resume regular business starting Monday January 4th, 2010. HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE! BEST WISHES FOR 2010! PARENTING WITH A DISABILITY BULLETIN is a publication of the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto (CILT) Inc. To become a member of the Parenting with a Disability Network (PDN) or to submit an article to the PARENTING BULLETIN, contact CILT at: 365 Bloor Street East, Suite 902, Toronto, Ontario M4W 3L4 Tel: 416-599-2458, x227 Fax: 416-599-3555 TTY: 416-599-5077 E-mail: pdn@cilt.ca Website: www.cilt.ca The PARENTING BULLETIN is also available in large print, on audiotape or by e-mail. Articles on products, agencies or services are for information only and are not meant as endorsements. The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the contributors and may not reflect the views of CILT. Funded by The United Way of Greater Toronto ISSN 1481-918X