Chances are high that you’ve been affected, either directly or indirectly, by someone with a disability. That’s why it’s important that the City of Timmins officially declared at City Hall yesterday that October is Disability Awareness Month.

Disability Awareness Month is an awareness campaign with the purpose of promoting the employment and inclusion of people with disabilities. It’s estimated that 53% of the population is directly or indirectly affected by someone with a disability, and, as Ainsley Armstrong, Team Lead with March of Dimes Canada, says, raising awareness is an important step to achieving full inclusion of people with disabilities in the workplace.

“That’s what we’re trying to do,” she said, “is raise awareness. This year’s theme is Inclusive Workplace Cultures. And we have several of them here in Timmins that we work with.”

The “we” Armstrong is referring to is EmployAll, a new organization made up of a partnership between the Canadian Hearing Society, Northern College and March of Dimes Canada. EmployAll brings these organizations together to increase services to people with disabilities. It also increases services for employers who hire people with disabilities. By approaching businesses, like Daily’s Independent, Pick of the Crop, and Giant Tiger, EmployAll provides awareness about changes and increases in support services provided to companies that hire disabled employees.

“We’re a new organization,” said Armstrong, “so we’ve come together as partners […] here in this community, to increase services to people with disabilities.”

This being the first year EmployAll has launched, Armstrong says they’ve been busy leading up to October, working on awareness throughout the summer.

Part of the support EmployAll offers is providing employers with job coaches, who go to a work site and help employers work with the person with a disability directly. They also work with the disabled employee to learn the job themselves.

“Some of it’s called reverse engineering,” Armstrong said, “where we’ll break down the components of a job to look at what components someone with a disability can do. So there’s quite a bit involved.”

Armstrong says this awareness campaign is important for all employers in Canada. An estimated 1.9 million Ontarians have a disability, and the unemployment rate for disabled people is quite high. With more than 50% of the population being directly or indirectly affected by someone with a disability, Armstrong says this issue matters to people.

“We’re very happy to have come together to increase services to have more people in our community included in the workplace.”

If anyone is interested in EmployAll and the services they provide, they can stop by Employment Options, Northern College, the Canadian Hearing Society or the March of Dimes Canada. They can also call 1-866-607-1336 ext. 5724.