Dear Self-Advocate groups, Youth Leaders, and Self-Advocate Allies,
My name is Elizabeth, and I am the sister of Graeme Rush, who has profound low-incidence autism.
My mom has been working on a project for a competition run by the University of British Columbia that asks alumni to propose projects that benefit the community.
Her project is to create a dental clinic for adults with physical and developmental disabilities, so that they can receive access to urgent care for problems, like impacted root canals.
I am sure you know better than anyone else how many adults in British Columbia – like my brother – have coped with excruciating pain while waiting for access to treatment under general anaesthetic.
My brother’s pain was so bad that he permanently disfigured his ear and lost two teeth while waiting to be operated on.
No Canadian should ever face this situation. My mom and I believe this constitutes a particularly vicious form of discrimination against people with very specific needs and challenges – and that it excludes them from the community.
How can a person hope to have any quality of life, or participate in the social and political activities around them, when they are so devastated by pain?
If we win this competition, we get access to consultation time with dentists and lawyers, and support from the President of the University.
We do not need any money whatsoever – but we do need votes.
If you have any time at all, I would greatly appreciate it if you would be willing to vote for the project.
You will be asked to provide your name and email address (a verification email will be sent to your email address, and once you click on it, you can then vote for the project).
Or, you can vote through Facebook, which is easier, because it generates a voter’s profile for you.
If you are not a UBC alumni member, that is fine: if you state “no relation” to UBC when voting, you will not be asked for other information, like a student number. You will also not be spammed:
If you know of anyone who you think would vote for the project too, please feel free to forward this message to them.
Thank you so much for you any assistance with this campaign.
If ever you wish to contact me, my cell phone number is 604 347 7897.
Yours respectfully,
Elizabeth
