This month we will host another learning and sharing event along the theme of Recognizing Capacity. Join us on Tuesday July 23rd for an evening with Audrey Cole to discuss Supported Decision Making as an alternative to Guardianship. Currently, if someone is found to lack the capacity to understand complex legal decisions, they can be appointed a Guardian who then makes ALL decisions on their behalf. As a mother, a life long advocate, and a clear voice on the rights of all, Audrey will help us explore the everyday, far reaching, life-long implications of having one’s legal capacity transferred to another and discover more about alternative, less severe and more supportive arrangements for assisting people to be as fully involved as possible in the decisions that shape their lives.
Registration and refreshments from 6.30pm. Speaker begins at 7pm in The Gathering Place.
Audrey Cole is an activist, educator and lecturer with deep roots in the Community Living movement. The birth of her son Ian energized her interests in human rights, values and ethics, the social well-being of disadvantaged people and the social roles and responsibilities of voluntary associations. Known for her expertise on guardianship legislation and supported decision making and her work on genetic discrimination, she has written and spoken on these matters nationally and internationally. She was a member of the Ontario Attorney General’s Interim Advisory Committee on Substitute Decisions. In 1997, she was invested in the Order of Ontario in recognition of her activism on behalf of people with disabilities.