MAR Talks: NeuroInclusion and BIPOC Parenting

Moms Against Racism Presents: NeuroInclusion and BIPOC Parenting.

Racialized neurodiverse people’s experiences are often overlooked, leading to unique challenges and barriers. These barriers lead to common misunderstandings and assumptions about our lived experiences with neurodiversity.

Having a child with neurodiversity often means being their advocate, but being BIPOC and neurodiverse means navigating institutionalized racism on top of all the intricacies neurodiversity brings.

Let’s explore what these intricacies are, what our joys are and what our hopes are in creating more neuro-inclusion within our broader community.

Come listen to our panelists share their stories, hopes and insights as we dive a bit deeper into what it means to be a BIPOC parent with neurodiverse kids.

About our Speakers:

Levonne Abshire

Levonne Abshire is a dynamic educator with a passion for wellbeing, equity, and inclusion. She is a second-generation Filipina, whose family immigrated to Canada in the 1960s and has lived as uninvited guests on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples: Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututhfor over 40 years. With an impressive background spanning two decades, Levonne is a seasoned leader in K-12 schools, higher education and health promotion. As a Certified Organizational Coach, Levonne lends her expertise to organizations in strategic planning, change management, workplace well-being, and initiatives promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Beyond her professional endeavors, Levonne is the lone parent to a Filipino-Black Autistic teenage son. She is a dedicated disability advocate and ally, who understands the challenges and barriers of the intersectional identities of race and disability. She generously volunteers her time with organizations who are committed to supporting disability justice.

Joni Oldholff

Joni Oldhoff (Mihkoh Pîwâysis) she/her, is an Indigenous woman of mixed Cree and Scottish heritage, belonging to the Michel Nation. Born and raised on the stolen lands of the - lək̓ʷəŋən Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ nations. She is a mama with AuDHD, raising two neurodiverse kiddos.

An activist and human rights educator, she has written and presented over a dozen EDI workshops for private, corporate and public organizations. Her talks focus on reconciliation, decolonization, Indigenous insight, anti-racism, inclusion, lateral kindness, settler re-education and radical change.

Prior to her career in EDI, she worked in the childcare sector, where she advocated for mandatory anti racism and disability education for hopeful Early Childhood Educators. She is an advocate for explicit anti racism, that prioritizes strong values of empathy. With a passion for building bridges, community and highlighting stories untold. Her life has been focused on widening the margins for those who live there, creating more opportunity whenever possible and advocating for justice.

Karissa Crawley

Karissa is a white, mixed heritage, cis gender woman living on the stolen lands of the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ people. As a neurodiverse person with multiple disabilities, she has had an interest in inclusion from the disability lens since childhood. When Karissa started her teaching career, she noticed the disparity between how the education system treated Indigenous learners and different marginalized communities within the schools she taught in. Karissa’s children are biracial and black presenting. From an early age, they both showed signs of medical and neurological differences. She says “ I have had to do a lot of learning and unlearning, to create safe spaces for my children, and advocate for them to have a safe space at school”. Her passion in life is advocacy and creating spaces where people can be authentically themselves without fear.

MAR Talks Event Link / How to Join

Once registered, you will receive a confirmation email and reminder emails for the event. Use the Zoom link in your reminder emails to join the event on the day.

A recording of the event will be sent to attendees and may be made available on our social media channels at a later date.