Disability
-
Hope
Hope is a tricky thing. Sometimes it feels like hope will just lead to disappointment – like not only is there ‘no point’ but there is almost an ‘anti-point’ – like it will be net negative to hope for something. When I first got sick people really wanted me to ‘hope’ that I would get… Continue reading
-
Preventing Trauma for Complex Care Patients
I first entered the new wing of the Hospital for Sick Children in February 1993 – just over 27 years ago. Since that time I have had operations, birthed babies, spent time in the NICU, attended outpatient appointments, spent time in the ER, spent time with my kids as inpatients all in this building. I… Continue reading
-
Let’s Talk About (Disability &) Sex!
Had an incredible time today as I was interviewed on a podcast about disability, where I got to talk about not only being disabled, but being part of a disabled family, and the highs and the lows of that. One of the questions I was asked was, How do your different disabilities play a role… Continue reading
-
Canaries
What do you know about canaries? I’m about to do a deep dive. Surprisingly enough this directly relates to disability advocacy. According to Wikipedia, canaries were used to detect carbon monoxide in coal mining from around 1913, when they realized that toxic gases such as carbon monoxide or asphyxiant gases such as methane in the… Continue reading
-
Medical Trauma
I grew up at Sick Kids. I had multiple operations over the years. Almost every surgery came with excruciatingly painful complications. One of those surgeries happened 33 years ago today. I was seven. I remember it vividly, including being in a hospital room which – for all intents and purposes – could very easily… Continue reading
-
Pain
We’re getting our house ready to put it on the market and we’ve made a lot of progress this week, but I’ve still got a long way to go before we’re ready to list. Unfortunately I’ve done more than I should in the process and I’ve been tired and in pain physically. Time for some… Continue reading
-
Why it’s Time to Change our Perspective on Wheelchairs
The movie Wall-E doesn’t paint a great picture of people using wheeled devices to move around. In fact, it sort of suggests that wheelchair usage – especially from power wheelchairs – is just a great way for people to get fatter and lazier than they already are. Unfortunately, the confusion about wheelchair usage isn’t limited… Continue reading
-
Accessibility and Universal Design
I talk a lot about the value of building Universally Designed homes and communities from the beginning. That’s because the cost of modifications to our existing, inaccessible buildings is incredibly high! But until we change the world, we still have to shift from inaccessible to accessible, and the idea I think in most people’s heads is that… Continue reading
-
Foundations
It’s a cold and snowy morning but our footings for our foundation went in this morning. I always knew how important foundations were, but I hadn’t ever realised the level of work that has to go in BEFORE the foundation. These footings have been in the works for a couple of weeks now. The bars… Continue reading
-
Game Changers
My new power chair has arrived!! And with it, heights I have never before experienced! I’m still testing out all the functions, but this is a game changer for me! And that seems like a pretty good opportunity to have a quick chat about mobility aids in general and wheelchairs specifically. Because so often when… Continue reading
About the program
In 2017 I was newly self-diagnosed with atypical autism, struggling with burnout, and striking out when it came to therapists who could address the issues I was facing. At the same time, I was building skills around life coaching, shame reduction, and trauma-informed therapy for work. Gradually I realized that what I needed – an embodied, autonomous, agency-driven coaching approach to unmasking – was not something I was going to find “out there”, but something I was going to need to create if I wanted to recover my life. This was the moment the Values Based Integration Process was born.
Having developed the program for myself – and having seen the incredible results it brought in my own life – I began to use it with coaching clients. The results were out of this world!
After conversations with Dr. Devon Price, the technique was featured in his book Unmasking Autism. With it, came interest in the technique and the decision was made to begin training coaches and therapists to help make this toolkit more readily available.
Powered by Love 