The Vancouver Disability Solutions Network (VDSN) is a network of organizations committed to finding actionable solutions to problems faced by the disability community. Our goal is to create a community of voices, listen, and help implement change.

Every year we identify a major challenge encountered by the disability community and present our findings at a forum, where we develop actionable solutions that inform government policy, support reallocations of funding, and create a platform for establishing initiates.

With drastic changes in our environment becoming more prevalent, this year our focus is on how climate change affects people with disabilities.

This Year’s Forum Topic:
The Impacts of Climate Change on People with Disabilities

Our forum will be held on May 22nd, 2025 at Creekside Community Centre and will focus on the topic:

“How can we as community service organizations contribute to emergency planning, preparedness, and disaster relief for people with disabilities?”

The forum presentation and discussion will emphasize:

• improving communication between disability-serving organizations to make emergency planning more effective
• the importance of raising awareness about existing emergency resources
• including and listening to people with disabilities themselves with respect to challenges faced during climate-related emergencies and potential solutions

If you are interested in attending our forum, please register here.

Your Voice Matters!

We’d like to hear about the challenges you’ve faced and your experiences with emergency preparedness. Your responses will help guide discussions at our forum and improve emergency planning in Vancouver. Take the survey: https://forms.office.com/r/cJMWGjqDUh?origin=lprLink

Focus Groups

We are looking for individuals to participate in a focus group or interview (online or in-person) and offer an honorarium in exchange for your time. Please fill out the following form to participate!: https://forms.office.com/r/9s2k0rrCg3?origin=lprLink

Disability Alliance BC is saddened to hear about the devastation wrought by the current wildfires happening across BC. We would like to draw attention to the organizations that are supporting wildfire relief, such as the Canadian Red Cross and the United Way’s BC Wildfire Recovery Fund.

DABC will match all staff donations up to a grand total of $1,000 towards the Canadian Red Cross’ BC Wildfires Appeal or another registered charity that is directly supporting people affected by the wildfires happening across our Province. We are mindful that people with disabilities are more adversely affected during emergency situations, and that bringing together a staff-wide donation effort aligns with our values as an organization.

We would also like to highlight the relief efforts for evacuees in Yellowknife, NWT. CanadaHelps has compiled a list of charities providing relief efforts: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/support-the-northwest-territories-wildfire-relief-efforts/.

Our organization has produced many publications over the years that share important information on disability inclusion during emergency response. Find them here: https://disabilityalliancebc.org/category/publications/emergency-prep/.

Please share these publications in your communities; we want to ensure that the unique needs of people with disabilities are not forgotten during this time.

On March 13th the BCCPD delivered the one-day workshop, Prepare to Survive – Prepare to Help, in Port McNeill. Twenty people from six communities came out in a snow storm to take the workshop. There were representativs from Emergency Social Services, Fire, Ambulance, mental health groups, independent living, First Nations, as well as individuals with disabilities and seniors.

Workshop participants really liked the CMIST (Communications, Medical, Functional Independence, Supervision, and Transportation needs) approach and personal preparedness exercises and handouts.

For more information on the Prepare to Survive training contact Karen Martin, karen@bccpd.bc.ca