September FASD Awareness Month is here and ABLE2 invites you to put your Red Shoes on all month long!

Did you know that consuming alcohol during pregnancy can have lifelong effects?

What is FASD?

When a developing baby is exposed to alcohol, the resulting damage to the brain and body is permanent and may lead to life-long impairments. The damage can occur during any stage of pregnancy.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a diagnostic term used to describe impacts on the brain and body of individuals prenatally exposed to alcohol. Individuals with FASD will experience some degree of challenges in their daily living, and need support with motor skills, physical health, learning, memory, attention, communication, emotional regulation, and social skills to reach their full potential. Each individual with FASD is unique and has areas of both strengths and challenges.” (CanFASD, 2019)

There is no safe amount and no safe time to drink alcohol during pregnancy.

What is International FASD Awareness Day?

First celebrated in 1999, FASD day is devoted to raising awareness of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, and to improve prevention, diagnosis, and support for individuals with FASD and their families. FASD Day was first started by three (3) parent advocates from Canada and the United States and is now a global movement. The International FASD Awareness Day, which is observed on September 9th (the 9th day of the 9th month representing 9 months of pregnancy) was chosen to highlight the importance of going alcohol free for the full nine months of pregnancy.

In 2013 Red Shoes Rock, which started as grass roots movement, has now gained global recognition, sees people who attend FASD events wearing their red shoes to bring attention to this disability. 

In 2020 the Government of Canada officially recognised September as FASD awareness month.

Ottawa’s FASD Walk, Saturday, September 9 at 10:00 to 11:00 am at Marion Dewar Plaza, Ottawa City Hall #FASDMonth2023!

To launch FASD Awareness month ABLE2 is hosting the Ottawa FASD Walk to celebrate International FASD Awareness Day and bring together people with FASD, their families, stakeholders, and partners to raise awareness, educate the community and celebrate the accomplishments of people with FASD.

The Ottawa FASD Walk will consist of a 0.9 km walk (representing the length of time for a full-term pregnancy) around the perimeter of the City Hall grounds, Deputy Mayor Gower proclaiming September 9^th as International FASD Awareness Day in Ottawa, Keynote speaker Shannon Butt, a dance performance by Ottawa’s Propeller Dance and the raising of the FASD flag.



Please click here for more information about the Ottawa FASD Walk. 

Heal Out Loud

We are proud to have Shannon Butt joining as this year’s FASD Walk Marshall and speaker at the FASD Walk on September.

After a lifetime of slipping through the cracks of our healthcare system Shannon Butt finally received support for living with the impact of prenatal alcohol exposure at age 33. Shannon believes in storytelling as a way of sharing perspective; she has created a life around sharing hers to empower others to discover their own.

Shannon is an artist, dog-mom, certified yoga instructor, meditation guide, and self-proclaimed forever student. She insists learning is built into every breath we take, and views her own life as a series of lessons. Using her schooling, personal studies, and lived experience with FASD as her lens in which she views the world, Shannon creates an environment where participants feel not only welcomed, but free to be their authentic selves.

Shannon is an advocate for disability & accessibility rights, mental health help for all, and an equitable future. Her motto is "Heal Out Loud". 

Thank you for our supporters of this year’s FASD Ottawa Walk

FASD 101

FASD 101 will give a general overview of how FASD is acquired, how it impacts a person with FASD both internally and externally, and what considerations need to be made to accommodate people who have FASD. This will be an one-hour presentation with time at the end for questions or discussion.

Date & Time: September 5, 2023 – 6 PM via Zoom

Guest Speaker: Donna Douglas, FASD Worker, ABLE2

FASD and the Criminal Justice System: Clinical and Legal Perspectives

Join ABLE2’s Reach Legal Services for a roundtable discussion on the clinical aspects of how FASD affects individuals involved with the justice system as well as legal implications.

Dr. Mansfield Mela, Professor with the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan; Dr. Kaitlyn McLachlan, Associate Professor at the University of Guelph; and Dr. Katharine Dunbar Winsor, Executive Director of the FASD Newfoundland and Labrador Research Network, and the Ottawa Victim Witness Assistance Program discuss the legal considerations available for individuals with FASD at all stages of the criminal process, how individuals with FASD navigate the system as witnesses or victims of crimes, what supports are available, what needs to improve with the current system, and recommendations going forward.

ABLE2 Brings Families Hope Through Its Fetal Alcohol Resource Program

Joey Desormeaux lovingly calls his three kids “the Zoo Crew.” His Stittsville trio – Aidan, 12, and 7-year-old twins, Hunter and Lily – are well-known free spirits in the neighbourhood and at school.

Until a few years ago, Joey, a congenial 44-year-old nurse, assumed that the kids shared his own attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Certainly, they were loud, unruly, and given to emotional meltdowns.



Joey recalls, “We knew something was up with their various early childhood milestones. They were slow to start talking and they had low reasoning skills. But they were hyper-accelerated at walking and running. At first it just seemed to be ADHD, but eventually we started thinking it could be a fetal alcohol disorder.”