Disabled Sailing Association of Ontario

Welcome to DSAO!

The Disabled Sailing Association of Ontario (DSAO) is dedicated to providing people living with a disability the opportunity to learn about and enjoy sailing. DSAO is a non-profit charitable organization founded, organised and run by people with disabilities and is uniquely attuned to the needs and desires of its participants.

DSAO's mission:

To provide sailing opportunities for Ontarians regardless of disabilities or age.
To provide unique, enjoyable experiences for its participants which include opportunities for social, recreational, rehabilitative and competitive activities.
To build confidence, self-esteem and enhance independence for people with mobility or other impairments.
To facilitate integration of disabled and able-bodied recreation and competition.

The success of sailing as a recreational and rehabilitation program for the disabled is evident in both the growing numbers of people with disabilities that participate in these programs, and in the enthusiastic support that DSA-Ontario has already received from the disabled communities, organizations and funding agencies. Supporters are inspired by the realization that the lakes and oceans of Canada serve as a great healer and equalizer – people with mobility impairments can leave their wheelchairs (and their disabilities) behind, and enjoy the independence and freedom that one experiences when wind, sun and spray join forces to make a perfect sailing day.

DSAO Annual General Meeting

Saturday, November 21st, 2009
1 to 4pm

The DSAO 2009 Annual General meeting will be held on Saturday, November 21st from 1 to 5pm at National Yacht Club, 1 Stadium Road Toronto, ON. All members, volunteers, sponsors, friends and family are invited to join us and bring in the new season!

If you cannot attend this meeting and you wish to have your voice heard, please complete this Proxy Form. A proxy permits your designate to act on your behalf at the meeting for elections and other matters requiring a vote that would normally come before the members at the Annual General Meeting. Please note and communicate with your delegate to ensure that he/she knows that they can only hold one proxy. Delegates must sign the Proxy Form and by doing so acknowledge this by-law requirement.

For those attending please RSVP to Ann Kennedy at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it by Tuesday, November 17th so that we can have a head count for food.

For the Agenda, click here...

For a Proxy form, click here...

For the 2008 DSAO AGM Minutes, click here...

2015 PanPara Games in Toronto

TORONTO — Toronto has won the 2015 Pan Am Games, on the first ballot. The victory was announced at a city-run party on Toronto’s waterfront just after 4:30 p.m. ‘‘It’s amazing,’’ said Deputy Premier George Smitherman. ‘‘A decisive first-ballot victory.’’ The announcement came after 42 delegates from the Pan American Sports Organization pondered the final presentations from Toronto and the other contenders — Bogota, Colombia, and Lima, Peru. A total of 52 ballots were cast, since past host cities get to vote twice.

Bob Richardson, a senior advisor to the Toronto bid, said committee members were confident heading into Friday’s vote. “You never know how these things are going to turn out. We feel that we’ve put our best foot forward and we’ve done all the things that we could do,” he said.

The news must come as a relief for some in Toronto — a city that endured losing bids for the 1996 and 2008 Olympic Games and failed to get a campaign for an Expo fully off the ground. With the win, the Toronto bid committee charged with securing the Games will be dissolved and a new committee in charge of staging the $1.4-billion event in 17 cities around the region will be struck. The Games are also expected to create economic spinoffs — both in the 15,000 construction jobs that would be created to build Games infrastructure and from tourism generated from the anticipated 250,000 visitors.

You can make a difference, please vote for DSAO

Michael Van Dusen has submitted a funding application for DSAO to Aviva Community Fund. The system that Aviva is using is by votes. Here’s how it works:

A proposal is submitted that will make a positive change to the community. This proposal is listed on the Aviva website.
The public can read through the submissions, and vote on ideas that they like (one or many).
The 25 most popular ideas, i.e. with the most votes, moves on to the Semi-Finals.
The top 25 ideas will move on to the Judging phase, when our team of impartial judges will score the ideas.
The highest ranked ideas will be funded.

Here’s how you can help

You can go to the Aviva website and vote for the DSAO funding submission.
When voting, the first step is to create a userid and password on the Aviva website. Once you have created the userid and password, you can vote.

IMPORTANT:

You can vote for the same idea, many times. You can submit one vote per day. There are 10 days left for voting.
Please promote the DSAO submission by letting your friends and neighbors know, so that they can vote for DSAO. They can submit one vote per day.

Here is the DSAO application: http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf4253

From Michael Van Dusen:

For the past 10+ years I have worked with the Disabled Sailing Association of Ontario, a not for profit organization that assists people with mobility impairments to have an active social and athletic life. (http://www.disabledsailing.on.ca/) For most of that time I have been involved in fundraising.

I have just submitted an idea to the Aviva Community Fund on behalf of the DSAO for a competition that could result in positive change in Ontario. If my idea receives enough votes, it will have a chance at sharing in $500,000. To bring my idea to life. I would really appreciate your help in pushing my idea to the finals.
The idea requires community support in the form of on line votes before November 29.
Please take a moment to read the proposal and vote for my idea at http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf4253

Spread the news, make a difference, and place your vote for DSAO!

QQDSP Accessible Parking

If you have a Blue disabled parking permit, you can take advantage of accessible parking spaces in any Harbourfront Center parking lots, including P3 which is the closest to QQDSP (north side of Queens Quay West north of QQDSP).

Parking in the disabled spots is $2. a day.

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