Denise works for a supportive housing program in Kelowna as a Home Support Worker, serving a diverse population, including persons with mental illness, substance abuse disorders, and trauma. She was recently diagnosed with hearing loss in both ears.

“It has severely impacted my ability to communicate effectively over the years,” she shares. “[I work in] a position of support to participants in daily living, and that is all about communication. The ability to truly listen, learn, comprehend, and assess what the participants needs are is imperative. Not being able to hear and decipher in communicating with both clients and co-workers has been embarrassing, frustrating and created anxiety with many barriers.”

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WorkBC Assistive Technology Services has been helping Hailey get the assistive technology she needs as she works to find employment. Hailey has cerebral palsy, which makes her speech soft and she uses a power wheelchair.

“I have many physical barriers that challenge me daily and make finding employment very difficult,” she shares.

Hailey was working with her employment counsellor at NEXUS Community Support Society when they reached out to WorkBC, who referred her to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services. A WorkBC Assistive Technology Services occupational therapist came to Cranbrook to provide an assistive technology and ergonomic assessment.

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Andrea recently completed training to become a social and community service worker, and is looking for employment in that field. She has hearing loss, which makes it difficult to communicate without hearing aids.

Having received skills training from WorkBC, she was referred to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for funding for a new set of hearing aids.

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Over 35 years as a flight attendant, Wanda faced difficulties because of her hearing loss. During the pandemic, mask wearing made it even tougher to read lips, and she retired early.

“Financial constraints made acquiring new hearing aids impossible,” she says.

Still looking to work, her audiologist at Island Deaf and Hard of Hearing Centre referred her to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for funding for a new set of hearing aids.

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Today officially marks our 40^th anniversary! We couldn’t be more grateful to all of our participants, volunteers, supporters, partners, and everyone who has helped us on our journey to 40 years of impact.

When 21-year-old university student Neil Squire was paralyzed in a car accident, his cousin Bill Cameron, an engineer, worked with a small group of volunteers to create a device to help Neil speak. Before long, Bill realized that his mission was bigger than just helping family. When Neil passed away in 1984, a non-profit organization was formed in his name. Forty years later, Bill’s legacy continues, and Neil lives on everyday in the work we do.

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It’s hard for me to believe that we are 40 years in and counting. In some ways, it doesn’t seem that long ago that I was working with Neil as he was learning Morse code with his state-of-the-art Apple IIe computer — it had 64 KB of memory, and believe it or not, that was considered massive for a personal computer. (Compare that with the memory on your smart phone right now just to put it into perspective).

As we celebrate 40 years of impact, it had me reflecting on my early days working with Neil even before the organization was formally founded, and one particularly important lesson I learned early on.

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Mary has her own business, organizing and decorating homes on a contract basis. She has significant hearing loss.

“This hearing loss impeded my ability to deal with potential clients, clients, and coworkers. I was unable to hear anyone who wasn’t directly facing me,” she shares.

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Summer vacation is fast approaching, and you may be wondering how to keep your child engaged in reading and learning over break. And while trips to the library are a great way to do that, not everyone lives close to a library, and, for some learners with learning disabilities, printed text can be difficult to work with.

That’s what makes Epic so appealing. The app features over forty thousand books and audiobooks for kids aged three to twelve, and it’s designed to be as accessible as possible. Besides being integrated with users’ built-in accessibility features such as VoiceOver, Be My Eyes, and Live Transcribe, Epic also provides their own built-in features such as speech-to-text, audiobooks, and even their own unique approach to storytelling called Read-To-Me books. Read-To-Me books are professionally narrated books that automatically turn the pages and highlight words are they are being read.

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Rita is currently looking for employment, while working one day a week at a church in Trail. She is also taking courses to stay up-to-date on her skills. She has tinnitus, which she describes as “24/7” ringing in her ears.

Her employment counselor at the local WorkBC Centre referred her to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for funding for new hearing aids.

With her new hearing aids she received thanks to the help from WorkBC Assistive Technology Services, Rita feels much more confident in her job search.

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Thanks to funding from WorkBC Assistive Technology Services, Rhonda, a teacher, was able to get her first set of hearing aids.

“After 46 years of living with hearing loss, I was finally able to access technology that helps me hear better. I have heard things I never knew made noise! It is quite shocking to me to realize how deaf I am. I thought I had relatively minor hearing loss, but with the help of the Assistive Technology Services program, I realized that I was putting significant time and energy to struggle to hear daily,” she shares.

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