In the pink: GF Strong staff & clients celebrate anti-bullying
At Vancouver’s GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre, clients and staff came together to celebrate Pink Shirt Day and the anti-bullying campaign.
“For me, the day’s about raising awareness and the opportunity for discussion with others, including my children, about the negativity of bullying,” said Debbie Scott-Kerr, occupational therapist.
Bonnie Venables, RN, agrees. “It’s a reminder to spread the word that bullying is not tolerated and it gives us all the chance to talk about it.”
At GF Strong, many of our clients have spinal cord injuries, traumatic and acquired brain injuries, neuromuscular skeletal injuries and many other acute or chronic disabilities. Unfortunately, many of our clients have also faced some sort of verbal, social, electronic, racial, sexual, physical and/or disability bullying.
Disability bullying defined
Disability bullying takes on many forms. It includes behaviours such as:
- leaving someone out or treating them badly because of a disability
- making someone feel uncomfortable because of a disability
- making comments or jokes to hurt someone with a disability
Battling bullying throughout the year
At GF Strong, we battle bullying throughout the year. We deliver numerous education sessions for clients, families and friends on the different aspects of coping and dealing with others’ perceptions of disabilities.
Our aim is to help our clients live with confidence, dignity and respect, regardless of their disability — and focused, instead, on all their abilities.