Beyond Limits: Canada's Conference for Diversity and Accessibility 2025

Society often puts labels on people with disabilities, which in turn limits their ability to thrive. Beyond Limits brings people together to exchange ideas, expertise, and knowledge with a goal of enhancing the quality and accessibility of services for people with additional support needs.

We push beyond the limits of the possible into the impossible. It is here where we truly create a community of inclusivity, amplifying the voices of the people we serve.

With a focus on behaviour, research, technology, ethics, and best practices, Beyond Limits will leave you with practical tools, strategies, and information to allow professionals, para-professionals and decision makers to better support the people they serve.

Our theme for the 2025 in-person conference is Connection and Belonging. We all need strong relationships and community networks to grow and nurture a sense of inclusion, purpose, acceptance, and wellbeing. Join us at Beyond Limits: Canada’s Conference for Diversity and Accessibility as we explore how to support connection and belonging for others and ourselves.

Tickets include continental breakfast and lunch. All tickets are refundable up to 7 days before the event.

This 2025 in-person conference is geared to front line workers, family caregivers of those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, disability self advocates, clinicians and professionals working in or with the disability community.

The notions of loneliness and social isolation have been clearly identified as vexing issues in our culture today, and since the pandemic, have seemingly exacerbated. We know that when people are rendered isolated, bad things can follow including adverse health issues, unhappiness/depression, challenges with life success, and even shortened life expectancy. We also know that all aspects of our lives are affected, our families, our social lives, as well as our work productivity.

This session will explore social isolation and loneliness. Not only will we look at the research and data related to this concept, but we will explore strategies, such as Positive Deviance approaches, and actions that can be employed in addressing loneliness by accessing social capital principles. In an interactive format, we will introduce the UCLA Loneliness Scale and examine ways and means to building more effective relationships.

Objectives

• Participants will be introduced to recent data and research on isolation/loneliness

• The UCLA Loneliness scale, one way to measure loneliness, will be introduced

• The construct of Positive Deviance will be overviewed

• Blue Zone strategies used to combat social isolation will be examined

Continental breakfast and lunch are included in the cost of tickets. Ticket sales are refundable up to seven days before the event.

Beyond Limits is pleased to offer a limited number of subsidized tickets specifically for family caregivers of those with intellectual or developmental disabilities and for disability self advocates. If you belong to one of these groups, please select it from the ticket options.

Group ticket pricing is available for orders of 8 or more tickets. Please email [email protected] to purchase for your group.

We hold a limited number of tickets available at a subsidized rate for families and those with lived experience of disability. Please email [email protected] to inquire about subsidized tickets.

Please contact us at [email protected] to let us know of any accessibility accommodations you require and we will do our best to support you.

Beyond Limits strives to have our events accessible to all. If the cost is a barrier, please contact us and let's find a way to work it out.

Please be aware that Beyond Limits will be taking photos and/or video at this event. Beyond Limits may use the photograph/video in publications or other media material produced, used or contracted by Beyond Limits including but not limited to: brochures, newsletters, invitations, television, website, social media, etc.

To ensure the privacy of individuals, images will not be identified using full names or personal information without written approval from the photographed subject, parent or legal guardian.

If a person does not wish to have their image recorded for marketing purposes, please make your wishes known to the photographer, and/or the event organizers.

By participating in a Beyond Limits event or by failing to notify Beyond Limits in writing that you would not like to be photographed, you consent to your voice and/or likeness being used without compensation in any and all media.

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Host or Publisher Canadian Conference on Developmental Disabilities and Autism