‘Hourglass’ figure | Community | pictouadvocate.com

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Jack MacIsaac, left, stands with Courtney Malcolm who received the Mel Hebb Encore Award during the recent Nova Scotia League for Equal Opportunities presentations in Halifax.

New Glasgow resident Courtney Malcolm says he’s pleased to receive a special award.

Malcolm, who turned 94 on May 24, received one of the six Mel Hebb Hourglass Action Awards on May 26 during the Nova Scotia League for Equal Opportunities (NSLEO) presentations at City Hall in downtown Halifax. It was among a number of events that coincided with Access Awareness Week from May 25 to 31.

He encouraged people with disabilities to do what they can to overcome them and contribute to the community.

“People with disabilities want to disappear,” he said.

Malcolm said people with disabilities of any age have value if they get involved with others.

“Although they may be old, they have things to pass on to future generations,” he said.

The Hourglass Action Awards were first presented in 1992 and became named after Hebb in 2000. He was nine when he contracted polio. He was totally paralyzed but regained half of his normal functioning.

The other awards presented are for community action, exceptional service, access and youth, as well as the Andre McConnell Award.

Malcolm’s long-time friend Jack MacIsaac was among those who accompanied him to the presentations. He said Malcolm was “very much entitled” to the award.

“He’s a guy who throughout his life has helped others,” MacIsaac said. “It’s an award for all the things he did through the years.”

Two other New Glasgow residents supported Malcolm’s candidacy for the award he received. Dawn Peters, a member of New Glasgow town council and the town’s accessibility advisory committee, nominated Malcolm and his close friend Lee Ann Dalling assisted.

“It was my support but she did the work,” Dalling said. “We are both thrilled that he received the award.”

Dalling said she appreciates how Malcolm has overcome his own disabilities to help others with theirs.

“Courtney and my dad were best friends,” she said. “It’s kind of like having a piece of my dad in Courtney. He’s really dedicated himself to the community. He became totally aware of the disabilities people face, making the town and county more accessible.”

NSLEO is a non-profit organization. It describes itself as a cross-disability consumer and public education organization whose members include individuals with a wide variety of disabilities, such as mobility, sensory and health-related ones. It helps give municipal consumer groups a way to represent their concerns at the provincial level.

NSLEO executive director Sherry Costa-Lorenz presided over the event last week and shared some of the organization’s nearly 40-year history of helping people with disabilities.

“NSLEO has continued to evolve but we realize the work that still needs to be done,” she said. “It’s the attitudes that we continue to come up against and have to fight.”

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