Solaiman’s Story: Permission to Dream

Participating in Community Living Ontario’s Family Leadership Series opened Fauzia’s eyes to how Solaiman could lead a full life in his community. In early March 2020, Solaiman’s parents, Ahmed and Fauzia, watched with pride as Solaiman received his yellow belt in Karate, supported by his brother, Moazzam. Not long ago, the Reza family would never have imagined that this was … Read More

Long-Term Care Reports – Will the Right Thing Be Done?

Last week (end of April 2021), two reports were released that should influence the way government fixes its dysfunctional long-term care (LTC) system. The Office of the Auditor General of Ontario and Ontario’s Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission laid out their conclusions and recommendations to fix the broken system that severely affected those citizens and staff who rely on the 625 … Read More

Make Aging in Place a Choice: We Can Help

In my 50+ years with Community Living, I have known only one person who wanted to return to an institution. In 1972, that man was brought out of the institution where he had grown up in Orillia. There he had enjoyed a favoured role delivering mail to the staff, and he generally had the run of the place. He found … Read More

Audrey Cole on Aging-in-Place

In an op-ed in December 2020, Judith Sandys and Trish Spindel spoke directly to Canadians who, themselves, have never been forced into insulting, disrespectful and inevitably threatening living (or dying) conditions. They argue that the time has truly come for society to provide appropriate funding and “real choice” rather than what, currently, we broadly refer to as “long-term care (LTC).” … Read More

Maurice Voisin on Aging-in-Place

The pandemic we have all experienced over the past year has reaffirmed to me the important role local associations for community living have in supporting people with disabilities in the community. I would like to share the journey we had with a gentleman we supported for over twenty years at our agency – South-East Grey Support Services. This gentleman was … Read More

An Illusion of Care

Linda Till in her role as a policy advisor to Seniors for Social Action Ontario (SSAO) is quite qualified to comment on the illusion of care in the long-term care sector. Linda witnessed first-hand the effects of institutionalization in the 1980s on children with disabilities in Homes for Special Care when she worked for CLO. Linda deconstructs the myth of high-intensity … Read More

Older Adults with Intellectual Disabilities and Aging-in-Place

Judith Sandys, a long-time educator, advocate and thoughtful leader in the community living movement writes about the power of “assumptions” in determining the kind of life a vulnerable person may get to live out. Sandys calls out the danger of limiting assumptions that may put people in harm’s way. The relationship between how one thinks and how one treats another … Read More

Imagining Better: The Power of Aging in Place

Kay Wigle is a local association board member, social activist, and former Coordinator of the DSW program at Fanshawe College in London (retired). In this week’s Aging-in-Place series, Wigle raises the thorny question about the acceptance of long-term care placement as a normative part of the aging process. She challenges this orthodoxy for everyone, but especially for people who have a … Read More

Imagining Better: The Power of Aging in Place

In this week’s Supporting Aging-in-Place story, well-known community living researcher, activist, author and speaker Dr. John Lord writes through the lived experience of his parental role as he discusses the crisis in Ontario’s long-term care system. Expressing both joy and worry for his daughter, John reminds us of the concern shared by all parents – the uncertain future for their children. With … Read More

Community Living Ajax Pickering and Whitby Reflects on What It Means to Age-in-Place

Community Living Ajax Pickering Whitby (CLAPW) offer a profound definition of “aging-in-place” and share with us their knowledge of and commitment to what it takes to support people lifelong. Lisa McNee Baker, Executive Director, describes the association’s work with end of life and hospice care, the need to tailor supports to people as they age, as well as recent efforts to … Read More