Bringing Down Barriers: Not Without Us

Advance registration required. Register at the Zoom link provided in this event posting.

Online: us02web.zoom.us

April 2021 is the 20th anniversary of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a time to honour the voices and experiences of victims and survivors, and to bring awareness to issues relating to sexualized violence. Everyone has a role to play in ending sexual assault, harassment, and abuse.

This year, Avalon has partnered with other community organizations working to support survivors of sexualized violence, to bring people together for conversation, learning and strategizing on bringing down barriers to service access. “Not Without Us” is the second of these conversations.

The Not Without Us Project gathered and shared the stories of women with disabilities in Nova Scotia who experienced violence, as well as the staff at organizations that work with survivors. In the project’s final report, there are recommendations we hope will remove barriers and help get these women out of situations of violence.

In this webinar, project coordinator Suzanne Rent will discuss the findings of the report and the recommendations. Sherry Costa, provincial coordinator of Nova Scotia League for Equal Opportunities, and one of the founders of the Not Without Us project, will talk about the background and impact of this work.

The Not Without Project is funded by a grant under the Standing Together initiative at the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women.

Suzanne Rent is a journalist and researcher in Halifax. She has worked in the media since 2001 and currently is a regular contributor to the Halifax Examiner. Sherry Costa is a proud Nova Scotian who has been a part of the disability community for more than 40 years and currently manages the Nova Scotia League for Equal Opportunities, a position she accepted after stepping down from serving on the League’s board for 14 years. In addition to leading the implementation and development of VoicePrint, now Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) in the Atlantic region, Sherry chaired the Partnership for Access Awareness Nova Scotia (PAANS) committee for seven years to shape and deliver Nova Scotia’s Access Awareness Week. She continues with PAANS as well as more than half a dozen other cross-sectoral committees raising awareness while working collaboratively with communities and all levels of government to address issues of accessibility, inclusion, and equity for persons with disabilities. Sherry holds a certificate in Non-profit Leadership & Management from Dalhousie University.

The Avalon Sexual Assault Centre is a feminist organization working to eliminate sexual assault/abuse, and to change the current socio-political culture that fosters sexism, social injustice and other forms of oppression.