Resources and Support for Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, Environmental Illness, and Chemical Injuries in Canada

Businesses Owned/Run by Those With MCS

Help support those with MCS who own or operate their own businesses by purchasing their goods and services.

Apsley Acers Studio Canadian content site Jewelry Artist - Sharon Birzvilkis - Living Out Loud! Although I started as a painter, I lost my ability to mix colour through a chemical injury thirteen years ago which resulted in Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS). I was devistated. About three years later I became addicted to beads and jewelry design, especially designs inspired by Apsley Acers, our beautiful private wild woods surrounding our circa 1875 log cabin. I certainly didn't go looking for a love affair with beads. People have been beading for many thousands of years. Never had I heard that beads were addictive. There were no warning labels on the first packages I purchased. Unlimited styles, shapes and materials from around the globe make design possibilities limitless, each piece is unique. Before I knew it beads had taken over my studio. When I added Gaia's rock slices to my designs; they became truly "One of a Kind" pieces of wearable art. These slices have an internal history almost as fascinating as the piece itself. People often tell me they feel a particular piece calling to them as soon as they enter my studio. I understand their surprise. Come and visit! Either in person or online at Apsley Acers Studio.

Artists with MCS This international group of artists offers some extraordinary art, including paintings, music, photography, sculptures and more. The site also includes a networking forum where artists with MCS will find recognition, where they can develop the chances for selling their art and where they can exchange knowledge about safe material and other things.

Cotton/Charcoal Masks and Safe Reading Boxes by Priscilla "I got tired of a smashed nose, red marks and black dust on my face....so I designed a mask that solved these problems!" — Priscilla Farrell: masks, regular and organic cotton, heavy and lightweight charcoal filters, from $18 -$24 U.S. Safer reading boxes, made from plexiglass and poplar, with dowels for turning pages, $89 U.S.

Maria Michaels Designs  Canadian content site  Maria Michaels Designs is a husband and wife Canadian design team. Combining expertise in art and needlework we bring you new, interesting, and original quilt, cross stitch, and needlepoint patterns and offer custom cross stitch graphs made from your favourite photos.

Non-Scents Environmental Products & Gifts Scent-free retail store in Truro, N.S. designed to specifically service individuals with chemical sensitivities and allergies (owner Trina Delaney has MCS). Personal care, household/laundry cleaning items and make-up that is unscented and non-toxic, etc. Order by phone or fax; located at: 1 Commercial Street, Truro, NS., phone: 902-843-3393.

Quilts for Sale  Canadian content site  Quilts for Sale provides a web site for quilters to sell their quilts and other quilted items, and for would-be quilt owners to find and purchase quilts they will love. Email: info@quiltsforsale.ca Telephone: 905-279-8394 (9 - 5, Monday to Friday EST)

Sharon Wachsler Writer, Teacher, Trainer. Sharon offers online writing courses, dog training and support and training on disability issues and chemical sensitivity. An award-winning poet and cartoonist, a short story writer and journalist, an internationally published essayist and humorist, Sharon's work has appeared in dozens of periodicals and numerous books. She is also a skilled editor and proofreader.

Sick Humour Postcards Sharon Wachsler's cartoons and writings make fun of chronic illness from a disability rights and disability studies perspective.

Solona Armstrong  Canadian content site Solona Armstrong has been a certified Web Designer for three years. Her unique and creative design talents are strengthened by her artistic background in such desciplines as photography, drawing, and printmaking. All of her websites are organized, easy to navigate, and capture the spirit of the person or company they represent. She gives her professional and personalized attention to each new project - sites are never created from 'cookie-cutter' templates.

Sungold Soap: fragrance-free soaps, balms & lotions. We are unscented soap specialists. We only make fragrance-free, natural soaps for washing hands, clothes, and one's hair. All of our fragrance-free soaps are are literally pure soaps with nothing else added. All the soap products are simply saponified vegetable oils. Sungold Soap products are both vegetarian and vegan. Our soap is both animal and dairy free. Many other soaps use animal fats, such as tallow, in their recipes. Tallow is usually derived from cattle and is much cheaper than vegetable oils.

Tikvah Run by Cyndi Norman, Tikvah is an online store offering products for people with chemical sensitivities including certified organic soap and North brand safety respirator masks and filters. Tikvah also carries 3M carbon masks.

Support for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Network  Canadian content site Membership is free. "Since 1995 EDN has provided support, inspiration and networking to help thousands of people with disabilities turn dreams of owning a business into reality. In 2003 we helped more than 1000 clients. Our membership includes 900 people and agencies, and that number continues to grow each year. EDN has members across the country and around the world, but most of our membership is in Nova Scotia. Half of our members are in this province and nearly 275 are within Greater Halifax. They are financial consultants, bed and breakfast owners, inventors, writers, storeowners, graphic designers, and countless other types of small business owners."

Virtual Mall Canada VirtualMall.ca is being developed as a result of a very innovative project, the Internet Business Development for Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Program, which has been generously sponsored by Western Diversification Canada. The purpose of the program is to teach individuals with disabilities how to develop a home-based Internet Web Store selling local Artisan's products. Revenues generated from the sales of products in the Web Stores are shared between the Entrepreneurs and Artisans.

DOUA: Disabled Online Users Association Mission: The Disabled Online Users Association (DOUA) was established as a way to bring technology to the differently-abled by means of support, resources, motivation, and whenever possible, financial assistance. The core of DOUA consists of both differently-abled and perfectly-abled folks who just want to "give something back" and/or to assist those with disabilities that would otherwise be considered shut-ins or that live at or below the poverty level. Our main focus is to assist people in becoming financially independent - a hand up, not a hand out. This is where Ebay comes into the picture.

It's all about a level playing field and that's what Ebay provides for us. We can work our own hours, at our own pace, as much or as little as we like. No one ever needs to know that we are differently-abled. The majority of us want to work - need to work - and love to work. It's just that we don't fit into the "mainstream" and sometimes employers are afraid to hire us. We're about people. It's always about the people. DOUA is here to help anyone who needs it. And we hope that anyone that can help, will jump right in and do so.


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