Contributed by Anna Ashbarry, Coach, Social Media Fellowship

This month, we welcomed our first cohort of adults with developmental disabilities to help build a Social Media Fellowship. These fellows will embark on a journey, learning about different social media platforms and discovering how to create content so that one day, they can become social media influencers!

posAbilities is proud to introduce this fellowship as people with developmental disabilities are underrepresented in mainstream and social media. “Social media is a relatively low barrier way for people to have their voices heard”, says Gord Tulloch, Director of Innovation at posAbilities. “It’s also a great way to be able to influence perceptions of difference”.

Five social media coaches have joined the team at posAbilities to help develop this program, providing workshops and coaching fellows to assist them with storytelling, strategy, campaigns, increasing their following, and much more. Coaches will also work to engage and collaborate with social media influencers across Canada to create networking opportunities and provide online allies for the fellows to connect with.

Throughout July, the coaches and fellows have been working together, both remotely and in-person, to get to know one another, find out what influencers most inspire them, reflect on how they’d like to enter online spaces, and brainstorm how the fellowship can be developed for present and future cohorts.

The fellows and coaches are excited for the months to come as they co-construct this first fellowship with the posAbilities team.

Meet the team

From left to right: Monique Nelson (Director of Community Engagement at posAbilities), Alicia Neptune (Communications Specialist at posAbilities), Elliott Hedley, Anna Ashbarry, Roshni Kashyap, Cassey Natura, Dina Nauli, Kevin Liu

Learn more about the coaches

Dina Nauli – Kevin Liu – Cassey Natura – Sukhmani Samra – Anna Ashbarry

Learn more about the first cohort of fellows

Roshni Kashyap – Zamaan Jivraj – Elliott Hedley

Be sure to follow posAbilities on all social media platforms to join along with and support the fellows on their influencer journeys. Facebook – Instagram – Twitter – YouTube