Borrowing audio books from the library

Step 1: Get a Library Card

The Toronto Public Library website says that they’re not issuing new cards at the moment, but that anyone who lives in Toronto can get a digital access card (the instructions are at https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/register/).

 

Because my office is in Markham, I also have a Markham Public Library card, which offers something similar (https://markhampubliclibrary.ca/?post_type=bccms_faq&s=getting+a+library+card). The Markham Public Library also has a on-line chat function that you can use to get answers to questions: it’s very useful. Access it from https://markhampubliclibrary.ca/mpl-from-home/ - click the “Ask MPL Live Chat” button.

 

Step 2: Install a Player/App

You need an audio book player on the device you’ll be playing the audio books on (phone/tablet/computer). I like “Libby” for my phone, but use “OverDrive” on my laptop. Note that the same player is used for “ebooks”: for people who can read but have poor eye sight, you can make the print as larger as you need it on your device.

 

You can download either app for free from: https://www.overdrive.com/apps/. You can also use Libby online, without an app (see https://libbyapp.com/welcome).

 

Step 3: Search for and Check Out an Item

Once you have the app installed, you run it and log in with your library card number. That takes you to a site that you can use to search, explore (including looking for new items), and add items to your online “shelf” in the app you installed above. You can set preferences for format, and available items are grouped into “books” and “audio books” so it’s easy to find the right format. You can even put a hold on an item if it isn’t available.

 

Step 4: That’s It

Enjoy the book. The only disadvantage of this system is that when items are due, they just disappear from the app: to be honest, there have been times I've been happy to pay the fine that arises from keeping a book a few more days just to finish it. 

online support for parents/caregivers

The Ontario Caregiver's Association offers personal supports like a helpline and 1:1 peer support as well as a large number of written resources, including those for working caregivers and for young caregivers (15 - 25 years old). It is not disability-specific, it appears, but also offers supports for people caring for aging parents, for example. Materials available online often include worksheets, and there are numerous videos as well.

Family Services Toronto offers a weekly support group for parents of adults with disabilities, Wednesdays from 1 - 2 pm. Contact CeliaSA@familyservicetoronto.org for details.

Woodgreen Community Services offers a virtual "parent share" program Thursdays from 10 - 12 (scheduled until June 24, 2021). Zoom meeting ID is 381 033 8838, password is 398851.

With so many groups offering programs, it's a good idea to get yourself on the mailing list for these groups too, including Partners for Planning, Community Living Toronto, L'Arche Toronto, etc. Most organization's websites offer an option to subscribe to receive news via email. That said, there's a lot of information sharing so you may find you hear about the same event from numerous groups.

Specialdads  is "a place where you’ll find helpful resources for dads of children with disabilities". Sign up on their website.

on-line programming and resources for adults

Education

• the Community Access Learning Centre is offering fee-for-service online programming 
• Ontario high school courses are available online from TVO for free
• the Scholastic web site has some activities and downloadable pages
• Merriam-Webster dictionary has a bunch of weekly vocabulary-building activities

Entertainment and Arts

• Xenia concerts are now being offered online, and often include a downloadable booklet of background information about the performance
• the Book Depository (a great resource for buying books of all types) is offering "read together" sessions where authors read from their works, viewable on Facebook or YouTube
• Audible has a variety of free audiobooks as does Beyond Words
• the City of Toronto has a list of virtual arts and culture activities and programs
• the Idea Exchange has virtual programs for kids (including family games and trivia) as well as other resources
• Toronto Public Library has a wealth of resources, including audiobooks, ebooks, and videos; including Hoopla, where you can borrow "digital music, video and comics" for free
• Toronto Public Library also free cultural and literary events, such as author readings - check them out here
• for "click and colour" pages, check out https://www.thecolor.com/, https://www.online-coloring.com/, or https://colormandala.com/

Social Programs

• the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre (https://www.mnjcc.org/access) offers a variety of programs (typically for up to age 30) for people with disabilities and their families

Virtual Programs

• There's a calendar of virtual (online) events (province-wide, not all are open for registration, and you can't click on an event to view details about it) as well as a lengthy list of links to other resources available on this page on My Community Hub.
• The monthly TorontoJewish Disability Network newsletter "Stuck at Home" offers links to a variety of services and resources
• check out Meetup for a group with shared interests near you: these have moved online for the interim
• Dream Weavers Collective offers a variety of virtual life and employments skills, as well as gaming programs, online. Excellent, high-quality programming, in my experience. 
• Reena offers a variety of virtual programs
• Springboard's Discovery Club offer a weekly "Socially Undistant" group that involves exercises, games, and social engagement, which runs Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 - 12:15. Register in My Community Hub.
• Reena is offering online painting programs: contact Grace Ceron for details
• there are lots of virtual tours available: see this Ontario list for just a few
• this organization offers online learning for the "learning disabled workforce"

The always-extraodinary Dramaway is moving all their programming online: if anyone can do this successfully, it's this creative crew  

Brighton Launch/Brighton School offers free Friday night social events from 7 - 8:30 for adolescents and young adults.

L'arche's "Try It For Size" program has a variety of virtual programs, including cooking. Register directly with them. Another group that I highly recommend.

Autism Ontario York Region offers free, short (30 - 60 minute) group activities online

Corbrook offers a regular set of workshops on the themes of money management, health and safety, cooking, self-advocacy, arts and creativity, life skills, and other fun activities. Programs run 1.5 hours and are offered throughout the day. Contact Corbrook to get on the mailing list for ongoing information about what is offered and when.

Corbrook also offers a peer support circle Monday afternoons: contact jennifer.watanabe@corbrook.com or louise.scott@corbrook.com for details.

The WM+A agency now offers a variety of onine services, including wellness check-ins, support with activities of daily living, and support for leisure and recreation options. Call 416.367.5968 or email

Housing and finances: Developmental Service Ontario has a page listing recorded webinars on a variety of topics.

Autism Ontario has a list of online resources, caregiver tips and more on their website.

Fun and Games

• Bamboozle.com/games has lots of games designed by teachers: all follow a similar format and are designed to be played by teams, plus they have options like time limits, elementary school age audience (note: this is a British game, so things like the answers to sports questions can be tricky, and it seems wildly sexist, at least in the game about guessing someone's job)
• although you have to be cautious around the ads, Buzzfeed has some fun Disney quizzes
• love Disney stuff? this site has colouring pages and games
• love bingo? you can use this site to generate a bingo card and to play a game 

Fitness and Wellbeing

• Variety Village has a bunch of exercise videos on their YouTube channel
• there are many Mindfullness videos on YouTube, and if you use a fitness/step counter app on your phone you may find it has links to mindfullness audio files or you can find them online and download them to your phone; also you might want to check out the free Medito app (one of the apps I can't live without) 
• this blog has a series of audio guided meditations of different lengths as well as live streams, and include some items specifically for sleep time
• keeping a daily journal might be a good way for your loved one to share their feelings and thoughts in a safe, private way - I like penzu.com for its simple and intuitive design (it sends positive reinforcement emails if you journal regularly, and gentle reminders if you haven't added to your journal in a while)

Social Skills

• Geneva Centre is offering online social skills groups for individuals of all ages, contact groupservices@autism.netd
• Dream Weavers continues its "Let's Talk About Sex and Relationships" program virtually 

Bring on the consequences!

 I am not a particularly Pollyann-ish kind of person (does that expression date me? of course it does!) but I confess I do find one tiny sliver of positivity in the current mess we are all living in. With so much less of my son's life being scheduled, with programs accessed by booting up a computer at the last minute rather than the usual routine: packing for the day, finding a jacket and hat, waiting for WheelTrans, travelling to and fro, dealing with weather-related and other delays, and so on, there is time  for stuff to just happen. Or, more importantly, not happen, but in a more natural way, without interventions. 

Despite my best intentions, and my attempt to polish my "mean mom" reputation, the reality is that I never really did let my son just miss a day's activities because he wasn't ready in time, or go hungry all day because he failed to make or take his lunch: the consequences for me were more than I was willing to put up with. But now  the world has delivered a whole new world of natural consequences. Didn't get dressed? Be (perhaps) embarrassed on your zoom meeting when you friends see you in your pyjamas. Didn't plan your outing for the day? Guess you'll waste valuable time figuring that out when your helper arrives rather than doing what you actually want to do. Didn't think ahead about lunch or supper for tomorrow? Forage in the kitchen like the rest of us. Admittedly, I have to pretty much tackle my husband, The Great Enabler, in order to execute on this, but I'm giving this a good old try.

A list of COVID-19 related resources

ARCH Disability Law Centre maintains a page summarizing all COVID-related information relevant to people with developmental disabilities.

Vaccination Appointments

• apparently you can text your postal code to 1=833-356-1683 to get a list of vaccination sites near you
• Vaccine Hunters Canada is a very successful grassroots group that helps people find vaccination clinics near them (my daughter got her vaccine that way), follow them on Twitter for real-time notifications

Emotional Wellbeing/Mental Health

• BounceBack Ontario is "is a free, guided self-help program that’s effective in helping people aged 15 and up who are experiencing mild-to-moderate anxiety or depression, or may be feeling low, stressed, worried, irritable or angry." The intro says you need a primary physician referral for some services or may need to self-refer. It offers coaching via phone but also has a series of videos. The site lets you look at resources on a one-time basis to see if they are of use to you.
• Integrated Autism Consulting has pointers to an Emotional Toolbox, an article about Self Regulation during COVID-19, and is offering their programming online: contact them for details
• the Planning Network has a set of tip sheets for "managing the next wave"

Financial

• walk-through of process for applying for CERB
• Financial Relief Navigator provides centralized access to financial aids available during COVID-19
• May 5 there was an announcement of a planned one-time payment of up to $600 for people with a Disability Tax Credit certificate
• submitting COVID-related expenses to My Direct Plan: use the "Other" category and enter "COVID-19 Purchase" in the Service Providers field
• DSO has produced a video that purports to explain the temporary wage increase for support workers

Please consider signing this petition - many parents are concerned that if their disabled child (of any age) becomes ill with COVID-19, they many not receive appropriate supports.

Wellness and Health

• Developmental Services Ontario can help with accessing vaccine clinics - contact covid@surreyplace.ca or call 416.925.5141 x 4444 and leave a detailed message
• for information on vaccine availability and clinics, see this resource
• for current (as of May 2021) information about cloth masks, see this resource
• to access the "Getting Ready for My Shot" resources, see these resources from Surrey Place
• here's a useful social story for use when preparing to receive the vaccine
• here's a Facebook video about preparing to receive the vaccine
• this article addresses mask wearing research 
• this site includes a Family Matters Toolkit for caregivers to use to support their loved one's health and wellbeing
• Surrey Place's About My Health site has a variety of text and video resources to support adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities
• Surrey Place also has some specific COVID-19 resources and tools
• HCAARD has a video on YouTube about virtual doctor's visits
• the provincial government's Health Care Options website offers information about health care services available near you
• the federal government's Wellness Together website says it provides immediate access to phone support for those struggling with stress during COVID; including resources like a "five minute assessment", self-guided courses and apps, and more - you can also create an account to keep track of the resources you have accessed

Other Resources

• HCARDD has a set of booklets, including "easy read" versions, on a variety of COVID-related topics 
• the Planning Network has developed a regularly updated COVID-19 resource kit and resources to help people stay connected
• Sick Kids has put together a good article about supporting children with developmental disabilities during COVID 19
• CAMH has produced a list of COVID-19 self-help booklets 
• The Growing Space (an Australian disability organization) has a variety of resources for individuals - although some of these are specific to Australian funding and services, others are more generally applicable
• Partners for Planning has a list of self-care resources for "managing the next wave"
• some guidance (circa Feb 2021) about masks
• Families for a Secure Future publishes a helpful newsletter with lots of good resources in it - to subscribe, see their website
  
  

Hotlines for caregivers

• Family Services Toronto is offering virtual counselling sessions, between 9 and 6 on weekdays: call 416-595-9618 to book a one-time session of up to 50 minutes with a counsellor
• JVS is hosting a "Parent Talk" hotline for caregivers of people with disabilities of all ages, call 416-649-1808

Resources for caregivers

• Geneva Centre is offering free remote parent groups for parents who are registered with Geneva Centre (contact intake@autism.net  to see if you can register)
• here's a blog posting about accommodations for people with disabilities during a pandemic
• Extend-a-Family's parent support group has moved online,  contact  kc@extendafamily.ca for details
• the Income Security Advocacy Group has use resources about potential income supports on their website
• strategies for supporting individuals with ASD through uncertain times resources 
• here's a useful summary of financial resources that you may be eligible for
• this article deals specifically with supporting children with ASD and has links to other resources 
• Partners for Planning is offering free check-in calls with a facilitator who may be able to offer support and suggestions for resources
• Advocacy Toolkit for Supports During Hospitalization, from ARCH Disability Law Centre
• Autism Ontario has its own list of resources
• Although much of their information is, quite appropriately, related to Australia, this site has some useful resources

Other lists of resources

Several organizations have compiled their own list of resources, which may or may not be covered in the lists above. 

• from Community Living Ontario
• from Autism Ontario 
• from Connectability 
• from Holland Bloorview
• from Reena 
• and here's another list of resources: caregiver tools, mental health, mindfullness and meditation, education, things to do, exercise, live and virtual events, financial assistance, food resources and tools
• and one more list-of-potentially-useful-links for people stuck at home

last updated May 9, 2021

End of Year Passport Submissions

Just a tip when making your end-of-the-fiscal-year Passport submissions (the fiscal year ends March 31): if you have a remaining balance that's less than the amount of the invoice you want to submit, the invoice will be rejected. My Direct Plan support said told me to manually adjust the invoice so that it was a figure equal to or lower than the remainder and submit that version. The system apparently cannot handle partial reimbursements (or do the math that would calculate them). This wasn't a problem for me because I could adjust the invoice received from my support worker to reflect fewer hours and therefore a lower bill. How this would work for people who just have invoices from agencies and the like that cannot be adjusted is uncertain: please let me know if you find a solution to this!

Lessons Learned from Changes to Passport Funding

Just in case anyone else has encountered the same issues I did, some
information that might be useful about Passport funding. 

• Family Services Toronto apparently no longer sends out annual confirmations of funding levels (unless those have changed). if you're not sure, you have to call them to confirm the amount. No annual paperwork is being processed, it seems.
• If you use My Direct Plan, you have to manually add your annual funding into your account at the start of the fiscal year (March 1): it is not automatically updated. Log on to My Direct Plan, go to Account Settings, scroll down to Fund Settings, and enter the annual amount (the rate for KM is 0.01). Note that no matter how tempting it is to enter the amount you actually need, the amount entered here won't actually be granted to you: once you've exhausted the funds allocated, you won't be able to submit additional expenses, no matter what MDP says is your account balance. If you have a submission for the new fiscal year, I'd suggest just going ahead and putting in an amount (say $1000) so you can submit receipts while you're waiting.
• Funding contracts do not appear to be automatically sent out. If you haven't received/signed it, you should probably ask FST to send it to you. Note that they apparently don't keep track of who has or has not signed that contract:despite how much they emphasized that in the funding changes a few years ago, but you should probably still ask for it in case someone actually, you know, checks.
• If you are using funds to pay a worker, the worker has to sign up for an account and you can't actually submit a specific claim for expenses related to that worker until they acknowledge that it's valid, by responding to an email they get sent from MyDirectPlan. 
• The MyDirectPlan support people are great, but they don't know anything about your funding.
• I'm having intermittent issues with messages saying that my submission did not pass verification (it seems to keep forgetting who I am) but when I check again later it seems to be OK.

If you would like to complain about any of this nonsense, I have the contact information for someone who is the interim director of FST and who was responsive the last time I complained.