SMILE Canada provides educational workshops and inclusion training to interested organizations in increasing their accessibility and inclusivity policies and practices.

Our Educational Workshop on providing culturally responsive support and promoting safer spaces is open to community organizations and institutions across Canada interested in implementing better inclusive practices for their clientele. This workshop raises awareness on the intersectional needs of racialized families with children and youth with disabilities, with a focus on diverse Muslim refugee and immigrant families. It provides an overview on the intersections of xenophobia, racism, Islamophobia, and ableism, while speaking about the importance of incorporating culturally responsive support within all models of service delivery (i.e. what this looks like, how we can break down our own assumptions and biases while acknowledging our privilege, and steps we can take to ensure racialized families of children and youth with disabilities in our communities feel more comfortable and safe accessing community services and programming). It is designed to generate conversation, share examples and experiences, and increase participants’ understanding of how they can contribute to their organization’s journey towards a more inclusive society. Topics such as language, assumption and bias, ableism, intersectionality, and more are covered in this workshop.

Our Disability Awareness and Inclusion Workshop is open to community organizations and institutions across Canada interested in implementing better accessible policies and practices for those that access their services. This workshop focuses on how to provide appropriate and adequate accommodations within community spaces for racialized families with children and youth with disabilities. It provides an overview on the intersections of xenophobia, racism, Islamophobia, and ableism, while speaking about the importance of how to make places more accessible so that racialized families (with a focus on diverse Muslim refugee and new immigrant families) feel comfortable and safe in accessing institutions and engaging in community programming and services (i.e. tools that can be implemented to make spaces more accommodating and accessible, the different types of government funding that are available, and steps we can take to ensure racialized families of children and youth with disabilities feel more comfortable and safe accessing community services and programming). It is designed to generate conversation, share examples and experiences, and increase participants’ understanding of how they can contribute to their organization’s journey towards a more accessible and inclusive society. Topics such as language, assumption and bias, accessibility and more are covered in this workshop.