Name
Breakout Session 7C: Moving Online During COVID-19: How it Affected Programming at Canadian Helen Keller Centre
Date & Time
Wednesday, July 26, 2023, 2:30 PM - 3:15 PM
Location Name
Room 205
Country of Submission
Canada
Description

CHKC is a training centre for individuals who are deafblind. We have historically run programming in-person through our training centre, or in individual’s homes. When COVID-19 started, and Ontario went into lockdown, CHKC could no longer offer the same type of instruction. CHKC moved to an online model of instruction using mostly Zoom to run virtual clubs, classes, and workshops. This presentation will highlight the challenge in respect to this new model of instruction from the perspective of individuals who are deafblind, the intervenors, the instructors and the program coordinator. This presentation will show how moving to an online model of instruction affected individuals who are deafblind and the ways that they interacted with their peers. It will also show how the instructors changed the way they facilitated their classes, clubs and workshops. It will show the ways the intervenors modified the way they worked with consumers, as well as how programs had to be modified to fit into an online model of instruction. This presentation will highlight the challenges, but also show some of the benefits that CHKC has continued to use going forward. The COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing, and knowledge of the challenges faced by our organization can help with future planning, not only for the potential of something like this happening again, but to make programming as accessible as possible for all consumers in the future.