Formed in 2010, the BC Spinal Cord Injury Network (BC SCI Network) is composed of five disability organizations working together to help make BC the best place for people with physical disabilities to live, work, and participate in the community. These organizations include Spinal Cord Injury BC, BC Wheelchair Sports Association, BC Wheelchair Basketball Society, The Disability Foundation, and the Neil Squire Society.
Through the complementary services that each organization provides, The BC Wheelchair Basketball Society (BCWBS) has been a catalyst in creating awareness about disability issues and has provided support to wheelchair basketball programs throughout British Columbia. Our programs are offered to people who have physical disabilities and people who do not, and to all age groups, from eight-year-olds to seniors. Wheelchair basketball is for anyone who wishes to participate.
In 2017, the provincial government, through the Ministry of Social Development, provided the BC SCI Network $5 million over five years to deliver more services to more people in more parts of the province. View our Strategic Framework to learn more about the BC SCI Network makes a difference.
Download our BC SCI Network infographic.
Although we share a common objective of serving people with spinal cord injury, each of our organizations serves a much broader range of people with different forms of disability, as well as family members, caregivers, students, athletes of all abilities, and others who provide support and care to people with disabilities. The support we have received from the government has allowed us to create collaborative service delivery positions, to share office space, and to keep our staff members, which include 47 people with disabilities, employed and providing service throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
This, in turn, enabled us to keep over 18,000 members connected, informed, and supported during the pandemic. In addition, it also allowed us to provide invaluable information resources and online support through 350,000 unique visits to our website-based services.
By working together, and with the support of the government, we have greatly increased participation in our life-changing services. Working with Indigenous partners, we have begun to co-develop programming for Indigenous persons with disabilities.
In 2021 alone, we served 18,343 people, welcomed 3,149 new members to our community, connected with 44,710 followers of social media, and received over 800,000 website page views from visitors looking for information, programming, and support on living well with a spinal cord injury.
BC SCI Network Annual Report 2022/23
SCI BC 2023 Annual Report
Going forward, our collaborative services will focus on four priority areas of impact:
The physical and mental health and wellness of people with disabilities and their families
Access and inclusion
Participation by people with disabilities in BC’s labour market
Advancing Indigenous reconciliation and co-development of culturally safe and relevant services with Indigenous communities
Within these areas of impact, our work will focus on five overarching priorities:
Supporting the inclusion of people with disabilities in BC’s pandemic restart
Providing services that support meaningful participation and quality of life of people with disabilities and their families
Supporting the implementation of the Accessible BC Act
Increasing the efficiency and efficacy of operations through shared resources, knowledge, and infrastructure
Securing ongoing funding and resources
Visit the BC SCI Network partner websites:
