Introducing the Abilities Forum

By Raymond D. Cohen

When Issue 1, Number 1 of ABILITIES rolled off the presses in Calgary back in 1986, it made an immediate splash in the disability community. The goal of the publication -- to provide Information, Inspiration and Opportunity to people with disabilities, their friends, families and the professionals who work in their service -- while yet to be articulated, was as true then as it is today.

Throughout the decade since that first issue, ABILITIES has had many partners, and many of them are still with us today: partners who provide us with content, partners who help us with our distribution... and partners who join us in advertising their products and services to the ever-growing network of ABILITIES readers.

"Partners" is a term which gets bandied around a fair bit these days -- but here it is offered in the truest sense of the word: individuals and organizations who are willing to make the effort, take the risk and share in the success of this, Canada s longest-standing publication for people with disabilities.

Over the years, in a number of ways, the Canadian Abilities Foundation has served its partners well -- primarily through providing a forum in which voices from right across the country speak to issues important to Canadians with disabilities. Over the years, our community partners have offered the view from the "street" level; national and international corporations have "reported" on their activities; every level of government, up to and including the office of the Prime Minister, has utilized our pages; and ordinary citizens, too, have taken the time to share their perspectives.

So, when the IBMs and the General Motors of the world share common space with the Council of Canadians with Disabilities; when we find Prime Minister Jean Chretien s message and M.P. Andy Scott s account of work with the Federal Task Force on Disability Issues bound together with a report from the Canadian Association of Independent Living Centres; when word springs from such divergent sources as the Choices and Opportunities Project in Charlottetown, P.E.I., to the Ontario March of Dimes, to the Office of Disability Issues in Victoria, B.C... well, what have you got? At times, an incredible divergence of opinions, a multitude of views -- sometimes, it seems, anything but a homogenous take on the issues facing people with disabilities today. But it is very clear that it is precisely this variety which serves the interests of our readers.

The results of this interest have been that ABILITIES has grown in circulation from 20,000 to 50,000 copies, and presently has a readership network of approximately 150,000 individuals. In addition, more than 5,000 community-based organizations serving people with disabilities receive ABILITIES four times a year.

As of the previous issue of ABILITIES, we decided to formalize the service we have been providing all these years. We decided that this kind of potential should not go unharnessed. It serves the interests of our readership and the needs of our partners too well for it to remain a nebulous, undefined part of what we do. Besides, the mission of providing Information, Inspiration and Opportunity is one which we gladly share with our entire network.

Simply put, the Forum provides a "space-for-lease" opportunity, on a cost-efficient basis, to organizations wishing to share information with people with disabilities, employers, professionals and government. This, of course, is particularly advantageous to other non-profit organizations wishing to share opportunities and perspectives with the rest of the national community.

So, watch the ABILITIES Forum as it grows. Each issue, our partners in the Forum will be bringing you word on the goings-on with consumers in their organizations; the products and services being provided by their companies; and the social-policy and related developments occurring within their sections of government. This, in addition to the whole range of information our readers have come to anticipate in each and every issue of ABILITIES.

Keep your eye on the Forum. It is a new meeting place where consumers, professionals, governments and corporations join together -- and you are invited.

Stay in touch!