More than one in five (22%) Canadian residents aged 15 and older – about 8 million individuals – live with one or more disabilities. By age 75, that number grows to 47%. Getting access to appropriate, high quality oral health care, delivered with dignity and compassion, is a challenge faced by many of these people. Recognition of this inequity, and a strong passion to do something about it, is the driving force behind the Canadian Society for Disability and Oral Health (CSDH).
These and many other photos on our website courtesy of Rick Guidotti, positiveexposure.org
CSDH is a volunteer-driven, not-for-profit organization advocating for equitable access to oral health care for people living with disabilities. Our members include dentists and dental specialists, dental hygienists, researchers, educators, students and disability advocates from all walks of life.
Our Vision:
Highest Quality, Person-Centred Oral Health Care For Canadians Living With Disabilities.
Our Mission:
To Promote CARE Through Collaboration, Advocacy, Research and Education.
Explore our website to learn more about who we are and what we do. If you’re also passionate about our cause, please consider becoming a CSDH Member by visiting our Membership page.
Continue scrolling to read the story of our logo.
Our Logo:
To begin the design process, we asked all CSDH Board members to submit three words describing what they wanted the logo to represent, without sharing their ideas with each other. The one word that was common to almost everyone was inclusivity and that became the basis of the design.
Inclusivity is represented by the never-ending circle, in purple, the official colour of dentistry and oral hygiene.
The coloured streaks represent various forms of disability:
Red: physical disabilities
Yellow: cognitive and intellectual disabilities
Blue: mental illness
Green: sensory perception disabilities
The upward motion of the streaks and the shift from behind the circle to in front of it represent hope for the future where there is greater access to care for people with disabilities.