Paige works with the Aboriginal community, particularly the disenfranchised and homeless. She assists them with everything from housing and finances, to mental health and addiction. Due to her various medical conditions including psoriatic arthritis, drug-induced lupus, and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Paige was facing multiple barriers at work. “Mobility-wise, it affects my joints, ligaments, and muscles,” she explains. “Everything from being able to hold a pen to sitting for any length of time, or standing for any length of time [is difficult].”

Her chiropractor recommended the Neil Squire Society’s Technology@Work program. “He saw how much I was struggling and I was coming in to see him weekly, I was having a lot of issues with my disability,” Paige says. “So I got the card, I made the call.”

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For the last 25 years, Lori has been a tireless advocate and volunteer in the blind community. Currently the National First Vice President of the Canadian Council of the Blind, she has spent much of her life giving back to the community.

Born with a genetic condition that affects the retina, Lori has had vision loss all of her life. “I’ve always been legally blind my whole life. I’ve always had ten percent vision or less,” explains Lori. “I’m down to about one percent [vision], I have no sight in my right eye whatsoever.”

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A web designer, inventor, entrepreneur, advocate, and much more, Ean is a man of many talents. His company, ICAN Resource Group Inc., is just as diverse, with services ranging from medical assistive technology to multimedia development.

Ean has Muscular Dystrophy (SMA Type 2). He requires a power wheelchair and is ventilator dependant.

Based in Kelowna, BC, Ean is an advocate for independence through technology. With help from his father, he invented a retractable straw device to remove saliva from his mouth, as he is unable to swallow.

With so many projects, Ean is a busy man.

However, he needed a tablet to communicate his ideas to clients, as well as a Bluetooth module to interface the tablet with his chair.

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“It’s absolute freedom,” Rahul Ray says about the hand controls installed in his car with funding through the Neil Squire Society’s Technology@Work program.

Technology@Work Participant, Rahul RayRahul was a partner at an environmental consulting firm ten years ago when he woke up with his right calf numb. A high level soccer player for many years, at first it seemed like it might just be a pinched nerve. But a few months later, he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis(MS).

“I was diagnosed almost to the day I became a partner at my firm. I asked what I am I supposed to do with this MS thing? Can I keep on working? After some research, I decided to stick with it, and became a leader and eventual owner of my company.”

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