tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71698974115828424242026-04-30T16:01:51.358-04:00I blog about advocacy campaigns, how they work and how they could work better.Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05268928207063175136noreply@blogger.comBlogger296125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-37062463533992944252018-01-09T07:55:00.000-05:002018-01-09T12:18:53.708-05:00

I am delighted to share this guest post Healthline has contributed to my blog. I chose this topic because, as many of you know, I have this congenital malformation and I have struggled to find information about new symptoms I've had since my early 20s. I wrote about how they affect my life a few years ago. Healthline articles have been very helpful to me, so I am incredibly honoured that

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-33597034754770447962017-10-18T16:14:00.002-04:002017-10-18T16:14:39.276-04:00

I first learned of Gord Downie's incredible advocacy through my work promoting Green Heroes. His achievements with Lake Ontario Waterkeeper were a huge motivation for me to volunteer with the organization and I am still a very proud supporter. Thanks for everything, Gord.  Read LOW President Mark Mattson's moving statement.

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-38775089882689580272017-10-06T01:38:00.000-04:002017-10-06T02:06:54.079-04:00

A scammer calls me. For ease of reading, let's call him Ferdinand. After my cordial "Hello," Ferdinand responds "Good morning, sir," or something to that effect. That's my sexy low and husky morning voice for you. Unfortunately, unlike day and evening Ashley, who is a fountain -- no, a beacon -- of elegant retorts, morning Ashley doesn't have the temerity or wit to seize such a glorious

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-40314373062653340332017-04-25T16:39:00.002-04:002017-04-25T16:40:14.057-04:00

I attribute most of what I have learned about community engagement and social media to my days writing this blog and engaging with the blogosphere, so I wanted to let you know that I am doing my very first webinar! It's all about building key relationships online and converting those into signups, sales, donations -- whatever you want to do! I am a freelance communications professional, so I am

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-80806038063246493222016-10-13T05:14:00.002-04:002016-10-13T05:34:18.026-04:00

People see Bob Rae speaking out against indigenous team names and assume it's a PC NDP white guy initiative when actually there is huge activism against it from indigenous people themselves. See #NotYourMascot. Rejecting or ignoring indigenous voices and blocking them from not only the head of the table on their own representation, but a seat at the table period is an extension of the

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-14300871772236701672016-08-19T11:30:00.001-04:002016-08-19T11:30:22.384-04:00

Adele has a cold and had to cancel a show. She made this Facebook video to apologize to her fans and explain her situation. I love this. No matter who you are and even if it's just a cold, health has to come first. It's such an important issue for our society, where many people can't afford to take time off or get major grief about it. How can anyone perform optimally with a cold? Not to mention

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-67680861217655811242016-07-23T00:18:00.000-04:002016-07-23T00:49:42.809-04:00

Alejandro Dagnino | Floral Arrangement for a Funeral Ah, Arcade Fire's Funeral is still one of my very favourite albums. My introduction to it was hearing the first single "Rebellion (Lies)" on the radio and seeing the video on Much Music (Canadian music channel). I had either just completed my first year of university or was nearing the end and immersing myself in this beautiful album was my

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-24925679003661748862015-10-23T15:15:00.001-04:002015-10-23T16:40:41.531-04:00

Did you know that the Right to a Healthy Environment (RHE) is not a part of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms? Learning this surprised and angered me. 53% of Canadians polled thought that this right was included and most Canadians feel that we should have this right. I read this in an Ecojustice pamphlet earlier this week at an event the charity held about environmental rights and the

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-37407506226892140362015-07-06T00:27:00.004-04:002015-07-06T00:32:01.617-04:00

Credit: Helga Weber / Flickr  I was really glad to see a commercial for Multi-Grain Cheerios' anti-dieting campaign on TV. We are bombarded with messages in the media about losing weight, getting that toned tummy, getting "bikini ready." You are not good enough and your value is defined by your appearance and your ability to conform to society's expectations. Thin is in and anything

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-8524119186084713822015-05-21T19:32:00.004-04:002015-05-21T19:35:50.462-04:00

Federico has dystonia, a neurological disorder that affects muscle control and strength. He discovered that while walking in rhythm to Madonna's "Vogue" and then while dancing in general, his symptoms improved! I love this so much. I also find that I can tolerate my Dandy Walker syndrome symptoms better to an extent while dancing and doing things in rhythm. Keeping my balance is less of a

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-49395614868680413412015-05-13T21:00:00.002-04:002015-05-13T21:10:06.924-04:00

Poverty and homelessness impact health and healthcare. Canada can do better to support those affected. In preparation for the upcoming federal election, the great folks at the Canadian Association of Community Health Centres​ are calling upon all federal parties to address these social health issues by committing to taking these upstream actions and they need your help! Please sign these

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-23310526711293991022015-03-23T15:05:00.000-04:002015-03-23T15:05:47.741-04:00

I am thrilled to share that Easter Seals has asked me to participate in Thrive, the charity's mentorship program, which helps young women with disabilities navigate issues in their transition into adulthood! I wrote a blog post for Thrive about invisible disability advocacy and my experience with Dandy Walker syndrome and hydrocephalus. I started my web career by writing about my health

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-52180936986094980722015-03-18T00:06:00.002-04:002015-03-18T15:34:01.907-04:00

Starbucks presently has a corporate social responsibility campaign that is supposed to get baristas to talk about race to their customers. The hashtag is #RaceTogether and loads of people are using it on Twitter to call out the inequities within the company and express disgust that lecturing is the goal here instead of making changes to corporate social issues. It's the definition of a PR

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-6916490549752539732015-03-14T15:17:00.000-04:002015-03-14T16:16:17.876-04:00

This CBC Marketplace story reveals that Health Canada's review process for natural health product applications is scientifically insufficient. A Health Canada license implies scientific credibility and I am very concerned that natural drug company claims can deceive consumers. Over-the-counter natural health products should undergo the same review process as pharmaceuticals. Health

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-47567343381795601002015-01-28T00:05:00.000-05:002015-01-28T00:15:28.808-05:00

I'm really frustrated that so many people are okay with the word "Retarded," which its defenders so ironically guard tightly as if it belongs to them (It doesn't). A word that those awful PC people are trying to take away from them. It's common that r-proponents troll those who condemn the word, by calling them "retarded," for example. You know, because that is so clever and rubbing

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-7870358777210256842015-01-19T15:33:00.003-05:002023-05-04T14:53:18.482-04:00

Bee on aster - nutmeg 66 / Flickr Creative Commons I've been reading about the decline of bee populations for a while and it really alarms me because *about 75 per cent of our food requires bee pollination. My province, Ontario, is planning to take steps to restrict the use of neonicotinoids, the pesticides that have been linked to mass bee deaths, but we're not out of the woods yet. 

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-14635270173305042712014-09-12T15:47:00.001-04:002014-09-12T15:51:32.104-04:00

In jest, a high school student petitioned his school to use a portrait of him with his cat as his school portrait in the yearbook. The school rejected the petition, stating that the photo could be included in another section. Too bad. He would have had more luck if he had opted for something like this. My obligatory washroom selfie I just found out that Lassie is coming back! She's

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-70616000629258937712014-08-19T20:13:00.000-04:002014-09-08T13:20:03.112-04:00

We know that fun, gimmicky, irrelevant campaigns like the ice bucket challenge for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have a greater capacity to go viral than perhaps something more issue-based. I'm sure that's why many people participate. If you can have fun and do some good at the same time, why not? In general, I don't object to a campaign being fun and of course, I am pleased to see so

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-81331086095456006472014-08-15T03:20:00.000-04:002014-08-15T03:21:18.950-04:00

Robin Williams committed suicide a few days ago and it still feels surreal. I usually don't feel celebrity deaths personally and I seldom write about pop culture in this blog, but this is an exception. I think that the collective heartbreak over Robin Williams' death speaks to his power. I can't remember who said it, but the person said that his loss is felt strongly because so many people feel

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-54766862471017147652014-07-08T18:47:00.003-04:002014-07-08T18:47:57.434-04:00

I find it incredibly ignorant and disturbing that so many people use Rob Ford's mental health, specifically his recent addiction counselling, as a rhetorical tool to discredit and insult him. When you associate mental illness with undesirable character and policies, you're stigmatizing people with mental illness in general, not just insulting Rob Ford and his policies. There's no justice there

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-11227735502215587962014-06-23T19:15:00.000-04:002014-07-08T19:17:42.617-04:00

There is less than a week left to donate to my fund for the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association of Ontario (SBHAO)! Please help me raise $500+ to reach my new goal of $1000. This fantastic non-profit organization provides programs and services to people affected by these conditions, including me. I was born with hydrocephalus, which is excess fluid on the brain. It caused my Dandy Walker

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-11858799675349301462014-06-18T23:10:00.000-04:002014-06-18T23:10:03.540-04:00

I'm glad that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has cancelled the Washington Redskins trademark. It's racist. Im disappointed with its supporters who argue that Cracker Barrel is racist and should be next, under this logic.Actually, Cracker Barrel really just refers to crackers, not a colonization of white people and systemic racism against them... because these things never

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-39536301174701794242014-06-09T17:20:00.004-04:002014-10-03T12:41:15.476-04:00

The Canadian Cancer Society of Ontario's online Take Action campaign connects the province's citizens with their local and provincial government representatives and other policy influencers. The campaign coincides with the 2014 provincial election to motivate political action on issues that affect cancer. The current campaigns encourage the government to: adopt building codes in Ontario that

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-13004710383840083462014-05-25T19:55:00.000-04:002014-05-25T19:58:36.129-04:00

Laura Jane Grace, member of the band Against Me!, and many others, including me, have criticized Arcade Fire's video for "We Exist" in which Andrew Garfield, a cis male actor, plays a transgendered woman. Dear @arcadefire , maybe when making a video for a song called "We Exist" you should get an actual "Trans" actor instead of Spider-Man? — Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 22, 2014

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169897411582842424.post-150580264265482892014-05-23T15:27:00.000-04:002014-05-23T15:27:05.533-04:00

I am now a monthly blogger for Bad Rhino, a social media agency! Here is my post on basic community engagement tips. Not to toot my own horn, but I highly recommend it if you want to be popular and cool like I am. Tweet me and tell me how much you like my post and maybe I'll dedicate my next one to you or maybe I'll sing you a song.

Ashley Ashbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17283480344689668408noreply@blogger.com2