The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission continues its online Courageous Conversation speaker series on Thursday, October 28, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. (CST).

Allard Thomas and Crystal Spooner will speak about their lived experience, as advocates for D/deaf and hard of hearing persons, and as members of the Commission’s D/deaf and Hard of Hearing Systemic Advocacy Committee.

The Courageous Conversation will feature a discussion about the creation and content of the recently released report “Access and Equality for Deaf, deaf, and Hard of Hearing People: Update to Stakeholders 2021”.

In 2016, the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission released “Access and Equality for Deaf, deaf, and Hard of Hearing People: A Report to Stakeholders.” The report described the challenges faced by D/deaf and hard of hearing communities and proposed 15 specific issues to be addressed.

After the release of that report, a Deaf/deaf and Hard of Hearing Systemic Advocacy Committee was formed with participants from the Commission, persons with lived experience, parents, audiologists, ASL interpreters, and others. Over the course of the next four years, the Committee heard from stakeholders, including experts and parents of D/dHoH children, and discussed ways to reduce barriers and address systemic patterns of discrimination.

On October 28, 2021, the Commission publicly released “Access and Equality for Deaf, deaf, and Hard of Hearing People: Update to Stakeholders 2021,” summarizing successes during the past four years and highlighting outstanding challenges still faced by D/deaf and hard of hearing communities.

The Courageous Conversation will take place on the WebEx video conferencing platform. An ASL interpreter will be provide simultaneous translation.

If you are intersted in attending, please RSVP via email to adam.hawboldt@gov.sk.ca.

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