Daryl Rock
		ABOUT THE AUTHOR Daryl Rock was born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He moved to Quebec in 1981 to study engineering at the Collège Militaire Royale de St-Jean. In 1983, Daryl moved to Ottawa, where he still lives today, to continue his studies at Carleton University. In 1986 he graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Political Science and in 1988 he received his Masters of Arts Degree in Public Administration. He has been active in the disability field since a car crash in 1983 that resulted in his using a wheelchair. Working with others in his local community, Daryl helped establish or enhance local disability services, including accessible housing, transportation and education. In 1988 Daryl joined the federal government's Status of Disabled Persons Secretariat, where he undertook responsibility for building a nation-wide service delivery infrastructure for National Access Awareness Week -- an annual event, sparked by Rick Hansen's Man in Motion World Tour, to focus attention on the issues of access and integration. In 1991 he helped to establish the first-ever federal government strategy for the integration of persons with disabilities, a five-year, government-wide, $158-million initiative to improve the federal government's efforts at supporting equal participation. In 1994 Daryl assumed responsibility for managing the Disabled Persons Participation Program, which funded innovative research and demonstration projects to support the government's agenda of inclusion. The majority of projects funded were either led or co-led by organizations of people with disabilities. In each of these roles Daryl has worked closely with an array of local, provincial and national organizations of persons with disabilities. This work has resulted in an extensive network of contacts across Canada and an appreciation of the many successes of Canadians with disabilities. Since 1996 Daryl has specialized in the field of electronic information services with the federal government, helping Canadians access employment services via the Internet. He has, however, remained active as a volunteer member of several disability organizations. Since 1998, Daryl has been a board member of the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation (ONF), an organization which provides $5-million annually to researchers working in the area of biomedicine, injury prevention and rehabilitation. He is currently the chairperson of the ONF. He has also conducted hundreds of disability awareness workshops, emphasizing the theme of "ability, opportunity and equality." Daryl has travelled extensively, visiting many accessible -- and many more less-than-accessible -- destinations. Daryl has travelled throughout North America and the Caribbean, experienced the wonders of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, ridden a camel in the middle-eastern desert, hiked in the teak forests of Thailand and braved the streets and alleys of world cities such as Hong Kong and Bangkok. Wherever he has travelled, Daryl has spent time studying the various ways in which citizens with disabilities are able to participate in their culture and environments. It was the exceptional people he has encountered, both abroad and at home in Canada, that inspired Daryl to create Making a Difference. In 2000, Daryl took a leave of absence from government. He returned to the community to collaborate with the Canadian Abilities Foundation -- an organization which he has supported since its inception in 1986 -- to turn his idea into the reality now before you.