May Is Community Living Month!

Community Living Month is a province-wide annual awareness campaign to recognize the accomplishments of the Community Living movement. Join Community Living Ontario and our 124 local associations across Ontario as we show why #AuthenticInclusion matters for people who have an intellectual disability and their families!

What is Community Living?

The Community Living movement strives to promote authentic community inclusion for people who have an intellectual disability and their families. This includes the more than 100,000 people who have an intellectual disability and their families in Ontario who Community Living Ontario has been advocating for and with for over 70 years. Community Living Ontario envisions a society where people who have an intellectual disability belong and have equal rights, respect, acceptance, a sense of self-worth and opportunities for growth.

Want to learn more about our work? Visit our Frequently Asked Questions document, and read our latest Annual Report.

What is an intellectual disability?

People who have an intellectual disability face challenges in their cognitive functioning that affect areas of daily living, such as personal care, language skills, and learning abilities. They arise before adulthood and usually last throughout life. While intellectual disabilities can often be associated with negative stereotypes and assumptions, we believe that the gifts, uniqueness and innate value of each person should be celebrated, supported and acknowledged as essential to the completeness of the whole community.

What do we mean by 'authentic inclusion'?

As we begin a month of celebrating authentic inclusion, you might be wondering what this term means. The truth is that authentic inclusion can mean many different things to many different people. However, if you'd like to get a sense of what authentic inclusion means to us here at Community Living Ontario, read this message from our CEO, Chris Beesley.

Join the Celebration!

May is Community Living Month, and as part of this year's celebrations, Community Living Ontario is thrilled to announce that our annual Shine a Light on Community Living campaign will be taking place on Wednesday, May 1^st!

As is tradition, the CN Tower will participate by lighting up in Community Living blue and green throughout the night beginning at sunset — note, however, that a standard light show will run for 5 minutes at the top of every hour, followed by another light show on the half hour. The night lighting will be visible by webcam on the CN Tower website: https://www.cntower.ca/live-views

We encourage all of our member organizations to ask their own local landmarks to join in by also turning their exterior lighting blue and green on May 1^st. If you're not sure where to start, check out our template invitation letters, available in both English and French.

We can’t wait to get Community Living Month 2024 off to a bright start with your help!

To help our member organizations promote Community Living Month, we've created a social media kit that contains suggested text and graphics that can be posted throughout the month. You are also more than welcome to create your own original content — if you do, please try to use this year's official hashtags when possible: #CLMonth2024 and #AuthenticInclusion

Download the kit in English

Download the kit in French

During Community Living Month, Community Living Ontario is hosting two webinars on:

Protecting rights and increasing control (May 23^rd)

On May 23^rd, join Stephanie Dickson (Partner, PooranLaw) and other guests TBA, to learn how agency staff, family members, and others can increase choice and control among people they support, and protect people’s right to make decisions about their lives. Register here.

Supporting and building decision-making capacity (May 30^th)

On May 30^th, join Janet Klees (Executive Director, Durham Family Resources) Amy Sweet (Director, Windsor Essex Brokerage for Personal Support), and other guests TBA, to learn how to help build long-term decision-making supports in people’s lives. Register here.

On May 8th, Community Living Ontario (CLO) returned to Queen’s Park for our annual Day at the Legislature event. This event presented an opportunity for self-advocates, family members, agencies, and other supporters to increase our visibility and meet with policymakers in the spirit of connection and collaboration.

We would like to sincerely thank the Honourable Michael Parsa, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, for hosting us at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for a day full of engaging conversation and advocacy. We would also like to thank Community Living Toronto for collaborating with us to make this day possible. Lastly, we would like to thank everyone who showed up to support the event and contribute to strengthening the developmental services sector — from self-advocates, family members, agency leaders, and direct support workers, to MPPs and their staff.

Check out our recent post for some of the highlights from our Day at the Legislature.

What Does Authentic Inclusion Mean to You?

On May 1st, we debuted our 2024 Community Living Month video. For this year's video, we asked you what authentic inclusion means to you — and you delivered!

Member Organizations

Find member organizations near you and learn more.

VIEW MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS

Press

Interested in covering Community Living Month? Check out our press kit for more information and resources for journalists and media outlets.

GO TO COMMUNITY LIVING ONTARIO'S PRESS KIT