Surrey Place Centre’s Barry Isaacs and Team Meet With Self Advocates

By: Sue Hutton

Self Advocates with Barry Isaacs

Self Advocates are experts in their living experience and can speak directly to issues as academics and staff simply can’t. To truly find out what is important to people, we need to hear directly from them. That’s why the slow shift in the world of research is very   exciting; involving people with intellectual disabilities directly in speaking their views. Barry Isaacs, director of research at Surrey Place Centre and his team came to spend time learning from a group of self-advocates interested in sharing their views on how they use the internet.

Barry’s approach of spending time listening and valuing the voice of people with intellectual disability is the best way to learn what’s important. As the People First saying goes, “Nothing About Us Without Us”. The group was paced in a manner that everyone felt included and had a chance to express themselves. Food and drinks were provided, and each participant was paid for their time and expertise.

The project that Barry wanted information for is something that Surrey Place, Community Living Toronto, Family Service Toronto and Developmental Services Ontario are working on together. They are developing a website to help people use their individualized funding such as Passport.