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Through Entrepreneurship: How Disabled and Neurodivergent Students and Graduates are Paving the Path to Accessible and Inclusive Employment Opportunities

Entrepreneurship is a means of employment increasingly becoming more attainable for disabled and neurodivergent students and graduates than other employment opportunities. Not only can disabled and neurodivergent entrepreneurs actively contribute to society in a way that is most meaningful to them, but they can do so in an environment that accurately respond to both their access needs and expertise. Disabled and neurodivergent entrepreneurs innovatively assert their right to employment by generating employment positions wherein they can thrive in the workforce. They dismantle barriers and preconceptions related to productivity and work that are readily imposed by notions of capitalism.

Disabled and neurodivergent entrepreneurs will join the National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS) on August 12, 2024, from 10:30 am ET to 12:00 pm ET, as we unpack together the meaning of entrepreneurship in our daily lives and explore the possibility of entrepreneurship as an accessible and inclusive means of employment.

ASL and LSQ interpretation, closed captioning, and EN/FR interpretation will be provided. Registration is required – please register here. For further information and/or to discuss access needs, please contact Chloée C. Godin-Jacques, NEADS’s Lead Researcher, at chloee.godinjacques@neads.ca This bilingual event is a feature of our Virtual Access for All webinar series, which is generously supported by Employment and Social Development Canada's Supports for Student Learning Program.

Meet our Panelists

George Violet Parker

George Violet Parker is a disabled and queer writer, performer, producer, and workshop facilitator. They are a co-director of Queer Stage Revolution, the host of A. G. Parker's Cabinet of Curiosities podcast, co-host of Rebel Riot Poetry, Disabled and Queer Artist of the Year 2022, and an H&T slam winner. They were nominated for the National Diversity Awards 2023 as a positive role model for disability, and longlisted for a Space Crone Prize and Best of the Net. 

Their performance history includes the V&A Performance Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, Pride in London, Manchester Pride, London Fashion Week, Bar Wotever, Wrestival, Lese Majeste. Their work appears in Mslexia, The F-Word, Financial Times, Human/Kind Press, Arachne Press, Women in Jazz Media, Bi+ Lines Anthology, The F-Word, Elevator Stories, The Feminist Library, Sufi Journal, Earth Pathways, and many more. Their craft essay about disability representation in fiction features in Human/Kind Press' anthology Musing the Margins. Their novel Twisted Roots was published in 2023 by Reconnecting Rainbows Press. They secured Arts Council-funded mentoring with The Literary Consultancy to write their second novel. Their collaborative poetry pamphlet Not Your Orlando (Punk Dust) is out June 2024, and their debut collection Gynandromorph (Written Off) in Dec 2024. 

Hibaq Abdi

Hibaq is an immigrant and former refugee to Canada, living with a physical disability. Passionate and driven, she has just launched Ontario Without Barriers, a dynamic platform dedicated to helping adults with physical disabilities navigate resources in Ontario. A Registered Social Worker with both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Social Work, Hibaq brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her mission.

Her diverse background includes media and marketing expertise, thanks to her Bachelor’s in Media, Information, and Technoculture (MIT) from Western University and a Marketing diploma from Fanshawe College. Hibaq has always been a fierce advocate for bridging the gap in resource provision for people with disabilities. With her previous website, Froshability.com, she empowered students seeking post-secondary education and highlighted the critical shortage of resources for students with disabilities.

Hibaq leverages her unique lived experiences to generate awareness about accessibility and disability through her engaging YouTube channel and social media. Her personal and professional passions lie at the intersection of accessibility, resource navigation, and disability advocacy.

Join Hibaq on her inspiring journey by following her on social media https://linktr.ee/OWB.ON  

and visiting her website ontariowithoutbarriers.ca

Logan Wong

Logan identifies as a trans, bi-racial, Autistic wheelchair user as a social worker & equity, anti-racism, anti-oppression, & accessibility professional.  Logan has worked on numerous task forces and executive committees within the CHILD-BRIGHT Network and at CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research. As an entrepreneur and owner of IDEAA Perspectives Training & Consulting uses his understanding of the world, organizations, systems, and people to support the creation, implementation, and sustainability of diverse, equitable, and inclusive environments that reflect that everyone has different needs, strengths, and talents that should be celebrated. 

Chloée C. Godin-Jacques, M.A (she/they | elle/iel), Education & Research Consultant | Consultante en éducation et recherche, National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS), Rm. 514 Unicentre, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6

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