Durham Accessbility Conference

Alethea Marciano, RPN 

Canadian Mental Health Association Durham

Each year the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) provides direct service to more than 100,000 Canadians through the combined efforts of more than 10,000 volunteers and employees in locally run organizations in all provinces and territories, and branches in more than 135 communities. The CMHA is dedicated to the promotion of the mental health of all people, and ensuring the provision of the best possible services for people with mental health problems.  

Donna has worked in the employment field for over 8 years, providing front-line services to all populations, including people with disabilites and injured workers. Donna has a BA in Disability Studies from Ryerson University and a Masters Degree in Critical Disability Studies from York University. Donna volunteers as a Peer Support Mentor for Spinal Cord Injury Ontario, providing support to individuals who sustain Spinal Cord Injury and/or living with Spinal Cord Injury. Although she is no longer a committee memeber, Donna sat on the Ajax Accessible Advisory Committee for over 10 years from 2009  to 202. Donna goes by the pronouns she/her.

AVROD

Manan Patel is the CTO of AVROD Virtual Reality Technologies. Manan holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and has built multiple aspects of AVROD’s backend design from the ground up – while directing and managing AVROD’s accessibility and social media projects. Manan is a true inventor and pioneer and advances the intersection between innovative virtual reality technologies, brilliant database design, and social media innovation. Manan has been the director and chief architect of the Council for Persons with Disabilities, Time in My Shoes VR accessibility project which helps bring to light many disabilities that thousands of Canadians live with everyday.

Kaitlyn Carmichael

SOUL

Kaitlyn has just celebrated her 5-year anniversary of being a Product Consultant in the Home Health Care Industry. Kaitlyn loves that she gets the opportunity to work with everyone from Pediatrics to Geriatrics. Prior to getting into the Home Health Care Industry, she spent 8 years helping people to re-integrate into home, community, and school/work-life following their Traumatic Brain Injury. On the side, she has been a trainer providing first aid coverage for varying levels of sports teams throughout the Durham Region for the past 14 years. 

Mike Frogley

Mike Frogley is highly regarded among the greatest wheelchair basketball minds in the world. He is a leader, mentor, and innovator who is actively involved in the development of the sport at all levels. He competed with the Canadian Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Team at the 1992 Paralympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, where Canada placed fourth. Frogley would later move behind the Canadian bench, serving as the head coach of the Men’s National Team from 1996-2004 and in 2008. He guided Team Canada to Paralympic supremacy for the first time in program history with back-to-back gold medals in 2000 and 2004, as well as a Paralympic silver medal in 2008. In addition to coaching in Canada’s National program, Frogley spent 21 years coaching wheelchair basketball in the US College system, where he led his teams to a combined 12 national championships.

In 2013, Mike returned to Canada to lead the development of Canada’s up and coming athletes as WBC’s National Academy Director. Most recently, he has joined Own the Podium as the Summer Paralympic Performance advisor where he will be working as part of the OTP team to help Paralympic sports maximize their potential and achieve greater podium success.

With unwavering dedication and an unparalleled work ethic, Frogley is renowned for his desire to empower those around him to achieve their very best every day, both inside and outside sport.

Accessible Technology – Axcessiom Technologies

Shanjay Kailayanathan