Disability Awareness Delivered with Humour

Welcoming Alex Valdez to Canada

The Greater Vancouver Business Leadership Network (GVBLN) presented its Annual Employer Recognition Breakfast, Tuesday, November 3rd in the Plaza Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Vancouver.  Over 50 Vancouver area businesses work with the GVBLN in promoting the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the workforce. This event focuses on this successful partnership and awards one business for Best Practices.  The 2009 winner was CIBC.

This year’s event featured blind comedian Alex Valdez who brings twenty-five years of speaking and entertaining experience to his audiences. Alex is a real pioneer having been the first comedian with a disability to gain widespread recognition. Winner of the first Norman Lear Comedy Competition, presenter of over 2,500 comedy shows and keynote speaker to over 250 organizations, he has won the hearts and admiration of his audiences of all ages.

In 1985 Alex joined Jim O’Brien to become one of the few successful comedy teams and the ONLY comedy team to have featured both a disabled and able-bodied comedian. Alex identifies several highlights that include appearances on:  “The Phil Donahue Show”, “Marilu”, “The Leeza Show”, CBS’s "48 Hours”, as well as being one of the features of the PBS special, “Look Who’s Laughing”.

Alex presented “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Diversity” combining his life experiences and years of diversity and disability training.  In addition, Alex facilitated a Disability Awareness Training Workshop as a thank-you to the GVBLN members.  His goal is “not only to help audiences accept his own and others’ disabilities, but to recognize that while we may all appear very different on the outside, on the inside we are all very much the same”.