From May 25 to 31, communities across the province will commemorate 2025’s Access Awareness Week Nova Scotia (AAWNS) through community awards, marketplace, scholarship presentations, panel discussions and more under the theme “Our Voices, Our Votes: Disability Rights in Action.”
For 39 years, Nova Scotians have come together during Access Awareness Week to bring attention to the importance of removing barriers for people with disabilities. Through public awareness, community partnerships, education and dialogue, Access Awareness Week aims to foster an environment of equitable participation for persons with disabilities.
AAWNS is coordinated annually by the Partnership for Access Awareness Nova Scotia (PAANS) committee with representatives from community organizations, municipal and provincial governments. PAANS is chaired by Sherry Costa Lorenz, Executive Director of the Nova Scotia League for Equal Opportunities (NSLEO) and engages partners in the planning of events and raising awareness, culminating with the annual week-long celebration of inclusion.
“Access Awareness Week demonstrates the power of collaboration and engagement as communities from around the province and representatives from across sectors come together with a single focus for the week, to raise awareness on accessibility and inclusion,” Sherry Costa-Lorenz said.
Under Nova Scotia’s Accessibility Act municipalities are among those public bodies required to enact accessibility plans that guide commitments to inclusion and accessibility within their own organizations.
Collaboration and coordination have been instrumental in raising awareness, knowledge and capacity among municipal accessibility leads. The last few years have seen greater numbers of municipalities celebrating AAWNS with proclamations, flag-raisings, and increasingly creative and fun public events.
For details of these events and more information about how you or your community can get involved in Access Awareness Week you can visit https://nsleo.com/access-awareness-week-nova-scotia/ or by searching “Access Awareness Nova Scotia” online.
Nova Scotia League for Equal Opportunities