Simon Cox's Speech

Good Afternoon

All people wish to contribute. Communication is a key component in expressing the need to contribute. The value that these kinds of devices and supports add to an individual’s ability to contribute is priceless.

We all know the value of communication in our daily lives whether we are in school, in government, being with our families or working in the community. Just think for a moment what it would be like if you couldn’t communicate for a day or a week or even a year of more.

This is the value of the CAYA project. It provides people with disabilities the opportunity to contribute and participate. Many of our non-vocal clients are working volunteering and managing their own care. Without the use of communication aids, this would be impossible.
BC has always been “forward” when it comes to providing assistive devices for people with disabilities. The first communication aids were provided for people with disabilities around 1970. They were very clumsy and mechanical but they worked to provide a basic level of communication

Today they are more intelligent and more lightweight.  They offer such features as digitized and artificial speech, word prediction and a large variety of access methods for varying levels of disability. But there is a cost to this. Costs associated with assessment training, delivery, repair and of course the equipment itself.

So here we are today, we wish to work so that all individuals with disabilities get an opportunity to contribute. Where in the past, funding for such devices was scarce and dependent on charitable donations; government has stepped into help by funding the CAYA project. We are pleased to work in partnership with government to match our expertise, supports and equipment with the government’s generosity in providing funding to assist us.

We congratulate the government on their efforts to make BC the most liveable place for people with disabilities through their disability strategy.

Thank you to Minister Claude Richmond for his ministry’s work in this area. Thank you to Minister Shirley Bond and all the others who have helped to make this happen.

On behalf of our clients with disabilities, we are most grateful.