About Holland Bloorview and the
Dear Everybody campaign
About Holland Bloorview
Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital is a leader in helping young people with disabilities and their families to build resilience and achieve a world of boundless possibilities. Our research, inventions, and evidence-informed practice guidelines impact the lives of children and youth around the globe. Our efforts are guided by a goal to lead and model social change by advancing awareness and deep acceptance of disability as part of diversity.
Holland Bloorview is also an academic hospital fully affiliated with the University of Toronto. We focus on improving the lives of kids with disabilities, kids needing rehabilitation after illness or trauma, and kids whose medical complexity requires specialized care. We serve more than 8,300 children and youth annually, accounting for more than 1,000 unique diagnoses. We serve families from across Ontario, Canada in our inpatient units and specialized medical clinics, and provide outpatient therapy, life skills and recreation programming for families in the Greater Toronto area.
Dear Everybody position paper
Read the Dear Everybody position paper and learn more about stigma – what it is, why we do it, how it impacts people with disabilities, and how to stop it.
About Dear Everybody
Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital’s Dear Everybody campaign is a national movement to end stigma and eliminate bias against people with disability. The campaign returns for the fifth year with powerful conversation starters, inspired by the kids and youth we serve, in an effort to talk about and #EndAbleism. In a society that predominantly favours those who don’t live with a disability, it’s important we start talking about it to pave the way for a more inclusive and accessible world for all.
We are launching this movement to raise awareness of the stigma faced by kids and young adults with disabilities. Our purpose as a hospital is to create the most meaningful and healthy lives for all children, youth and families. Stigma is a barrier to creating this type of future. We want to change hearts and minds about disability and more importantly, get people to take action to create a more inclusive, equitable society.
Stigma is a set of negative and often unfair beliefs that a society or group of people have about something, in this case, living with a disability. Disability stigma includes barriers, bias and stereotypes that affect attitudes and behaviours towards people with disabilities.
Kids and young people with disabilities routinely face the consequences of stigma – staring, whispers, name-calling, social exclusion, bullying and outright discrimination – and many of us take little notice. And once they reach adulthood, young people face lower employment prospects on average compared to their peers without disabilities.
We are asking people to visit DearEverybody.ca to:
- Sign the Dear Everybody agreement and demand that advertisers and brands include diverse representation in the media they produce.
- Share the campaign images to challenge the existing media landscape that lacks disability representation. Be sure to tag your shares with #DearEverybody and @HBKidsHospital
- Become an ally: download our tip sheets, read our position paper, check out our videos and review the resources that provide concrete steps that you can take to end stigma.
About the Dear Everybody Agreement
The content created by the media has the power to influence thinking. But what about the movies, shows, songs, and ads that are not created? These have power too. Right now the lack of disability representation is telling us that 6.2 million Canadians do not belong.
As an industry, it’s time to make the media landscape more inclusive. As an industry we have to widen the context that people with disabilities are seen in. As an industry, it’s time to do better and be more inclusive within TV, film, commercials, photos, recordings and text.
And your company can be a big part of that help. By signing the Dear Everybody Agreement, you are taking the first step to creating a more inclusive world. Learn more about the Dear Everybody Agreement by emailing Molly McKeown, Director, Partnerships at mmckeown@hollandbloorview.ca and see our current partners list.
For all media inquiries between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, please contact Erin Pooley, Senior Media Relations Specialist, at epooley@hollandbloorview.ca or (416) 425-6220 ext. 3636.
For media inquiries after 5 p.m. on weekdays, weekends, and statutory holidays, please call the main hospital line at (416) 425-6220 and ask to be directed to a Communications and Public Engagement team member.
General Inquiries
For all other inquiries, please email the Dear Everybody team at deareverybody@hollandbloorview.ca.