DSRF Introduces Director of Communications + Sustainability

We are pleased to announce that DSRF has expanded the role of our Director of Communications Glen Hoos, who is now DSRF’s first Director of Communications + Sustainability.

In addition to leading DSRF’s organizational communications strategy, the Director of Communications + Sustainability will:

1. Lead and develop DSRF’s overall sustainability strategy; including identification of opportunities to improve the environmental sustainability of DSRF’s operations.
2. Educate DSRF stakeholders, including staff, clients and families, and the broader Down syndrome community about the risks associated with climate change for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
3. Lead and develop DSRF’s advocacy efforts to ensure those with Down syndrome are represented in climate planning and policy development.

People with disabilities face greater risk from weather-based emergencies such as heatwaves, floods, and wildfires, all of which we have experienced in British Columbia in recent years, and which are expected to increase in the future. Such events have physical, social, economic, and emotional components which are exacerbated among those with disabilities like Down syndrome. There is a need for education among those with Down syndrome, and their families and caregivers, to ensure that every individual is prepared and equipped for the challenges ahead.

Furthermore, in the coming years, our society will be transformed through a combination of climate mitigation and adaptation efforts, and it is essential that the needs of people with disabilities be centred through these transitions, to ensure that such changes benefit all members of the community.

Glen’s communications expertise, combined with his passion for environmental issues and his role as a father to two children with developmental disabilities, make him ideally suited to this role. Glen is an active member of the BC Climate Emergency Campaign, and has recently joined the Campaign’s Just Transition Working Group to ensure that those with disabilities are represented. Glen is committed to amplifying the voices of those with Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities as it pertains to the most important issue of our time.

This change affirms DSRF’s commitment to sustainability and disability justice, and to creating a safe and healthy environment in which people with Down syndrome can live and thrive.

Listen to Glen on the CBC Radio program What on Earth: “A Dad’s Fight for Climate and his Child with Down Syndrome”

Interested in the link between disability and climate change? E-mail Glen