Speaking Up BC is my first website that I started in July 2021. I wrote over 200 blogs from July 2021-Dec 2025. I started it at a time when I wanted to scream at the top of the mountain top. It’s a situation that is hard to explain and one that is quite incredible. There is only one person in my life who knows the whole story. Needless to say, I wont be blabbing about it here. The point is, bad shit was happening, and the fact that the school district was in liability cover up mode, put me into fight mode.
Speaking Up BC was born out of desperation.
My scream from a mountain top is no longer needed. I am moving from being a wild fire triggered by a storm to more of a controlled burn.
Blogs will be continuing. My future blogs on P.A.T.H will mostly be tied to written authority. For example, human rights decisions, teacher regulation branch decisions, Ombudsperson case studies and information, Ministry policy, School districts policy and other documents and accessibility laws. I don’t want to be too prescriptive, but this is what I have planned at this point. Information that can help elevate someone’s advocacy. That is the purpose.
I want to thank everyone who followed my blogs, commented on my blogs and who reached out and had conversations with me. Your support was exactly what I needed, when I needed it, and it truly helped to carry me through. I felt heard. I hope all of my lived experience will continue to help other people. Pain into purpose. My goal has always been to pass along information I wished someone told me.
Now I am shedding the skin that no longer fits.
P.A.T.H is my future. My lighthouse.
Below is my sidebar on my website. The mosquito quote came from a parent in the BCEdAccess Society Facebook group who passed it along to me. I really appreciated the parents support.
ID Text:
Welcome to Speaking UP BC (Canada)
What does it take to be an advocate?
To put it quite simply…
You need to look at the pile of horse shit in front of you, view it as fertilizer, and then get to work. Oh…and be willing to fall ass backwards into it.
To all of the other parents who also make the decision to step into the advocacy role, however big or small, I cherish you. No one can ever make a difference, truly alone. We walk this together, even when we are fighting our own battles. And, it certainly can feel like a battle sometimes in these strategically designed systems.
“If you think you are too small to make a difference, you haven’t spent the night with a mosquito.” African proverb quoted by the Dalai Lama
Disclaimer: On this website are some general tips that I have learnt along the way that I wish I knew before I started down the advocacy path. I offer these as suggestions for you to consider for your own advocacy efforts. As a disclaimer: please see this list as a Sunday brunch buffet of options and not a prescription of exact steps that you need to follow. I hope this information empowers parents when moving forward to reflect on their own values and make their own advocacy decisions. I know for myself, that when I move down a path that aligns with my values, I feel that much stronger.
“Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine.” ― Alan Turing