Associate Minister of Services for Persons with Disabilities Naresh Bhardwaj paid a visit to Barrhead last Friday as part of his Building Rural Capacity tour.
The goal of the tour is for the Associate Minister to learn more about some of the opportunities and challenges rural communities face in meeting the needs of and supporting inclusion for people with disabilities.
Barrhead is just one of over a dozen small communities in Alberta Bhardwaj has visited, where he has conducted round table meetings to ask and answer questions.
Basically, said Bhardwaj, this tour is a consultation and opportunity for community engagement.
Blue Heron Support Services was Bhardwaj’s first stop, where he met with many of the stakeholders and some of the parents. Here, he specifically asked questions in terms of employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
“How many people do they serve in this area? How many people are employed in this area? What are the employers saying and what are you asking employers? How are you engaging the employers?” said Bhardwaj, giving examples of the questioning session.
In terms of transportation, questions were raised regarding the challenges of transporting people with disabilities. Additionally, what some of the opportunities are and what seems to work working well.
During his time at Blue Heron, Bhardwaj said he heard many good stories about the Barrhead community.
“The volunteerism of this community is unbelievable. People go out of their way to help out,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a person with disabilities or with the seniors. It was so gratifying to hear that.”
Bhardwaj also toured the Dr. Doug Fleming Sunshine Room, which was unveiled earlier this year in Barrhead Elementary School.
The space is essentially a Snoezelen Room, which contains specialized equipment to create a soothing or stimulatory environment that is essential to the development and mental health of children and adults with varying special needs.
These needs can range in individuals with autism or developmental disabilities, to stroke victims or those who suffer from Alzheimers.
After the tours are complete, all the information gathered in each community is put together in a document called “What We’ve Heard.” The findings are then shared and confirmed with the communities.
From there, said Bhardwaj, the project can move forward.
“Based on that, whatever the challenges were we will try to address them,” he said. “Whatever the best practices and opportunities were, what’s working really well in Barrhead, we try to share that information across the province.”
Barrhead MLA Maureen Kubinec, who joined the Associate Minister on his tour, said she is honoured he came to Barrhead for the consultation.
“I think it was very important that he hear from the people who work on the ground, and the families involved,” she said.
